For more than two decades, Duncan Sole has been a quiet constant in Selwyn’s evolving music scene - a guitarist, promoter, DJ, sound engineer and, above all, a connector of people.
“I’m in a couple of bands,” he said, as he starts to list his many musical roles in the district.
“I do promotion and events, some for the Selwyn council. I also work as an MC or DJ.”
That list doesn’t include the recording studio he built at his Rolleston home, the open mic sessions he has run almost monthly since the Canterbury earthquakes, or the mentoring that has helped launch countless local musicians.
Although his passion for music is all-consuming, it was never meant to be a career.
“It’s always been a hobby. I got very close a couple of times to being able to stop working during the day and just do that. But there’s no contracts, and if you lose a gig or a residency, you’re stuffed.”
With a family to support, he chose stability – a career in sales and business development – while keeping music free from obligation.
“I do it because I love it. I would hate it to be a job, because it’s such a massive passion.”
Sole’s musical beginnings were humble and organic. Growing up in Oamaru, he found his first guitar in a coal shed at 13.
“It was just an old acoustic. A friend of the family had given it to my brother and he didn’t want it,” Sole said.
He taught himself to play by ear, learning by pausing tapes of songs recorded from the radio.
“There was no YouTube back then,” he said.
Music grew naturally from an early love of poetry. At 11, he was already turning poems into lyrics for a local band.
After stints in Queenstown and Dunedin – where he met Penelope, his future wife – Sole moved to Selwyn in the early 2000s for work. Music remained a constant, but the earthquakes proved a turning point.
“All the venues fell over. I realised there was nothing out here for musicians, anywhere to congregate,” he said.
Vice-president of the Rolleston Rugby Club at the time, Sole persuaded the committee to let him use the clubrooms once a month.
That idea became a music club – the seed of what would grow into one of Selwyn’s most enduring open mic sessions.
“I wanted to give people somewhere to go and meet, to listen and play music,” he said.
Those sessions have run ever since, now hosted at the Rolly Inn, with their 400th event expected later this year.
“It’s been a hub… a central point for local musicians to meet and hang out,” Sole said.
He credits the support of Damon and Marie Hills at the Rolly Inn, along with Garry Knight of Penny Lane Records.
“Initially, the event was for all-comers just to have a go – some people had just learned how to play. But as Rolleston grew, so did the talent pool and now we have these amazingly talented individuals and bands showing up at these sessions.”
Sole formalised that ethos under the name Ministry of the Mind – a phrase that captures his philosophy.
“It’s about pulling the stuff that’s inside you out and adding it onto a record. If you’ve played sport all your life, then you often end up helping to coach.
“I want to get people out of their bedrooms and garages, help them get a recording, book them a gig, help them with anything I can,” he said.
Selwyn’s rapid population growth, Sole believes, has only deepened the talent pool.
“The sheer amount of people and talent out here is mind-boggling,” he said.
“She has the most amazing voice you’ll ever hear,” he said.
Without hesitations, Sole describes the band’s guitarist, Hamish Ellis, as “one of New Zealand’s best guitarists”.
As both a band member and DJ, Sole has developed a nuanced philosophy of live music.
“There’s nothing comparable to live music.”
He understands why people choose DJs or Spotify playlists – cost, control, certainty – but for him, something is lost when the night is fully planned.
He compares a live band to a pilot.
“We’re going to take off, go on this journey, and then land together,” he said.
“Some people don’t like handing over any control at their function and want to know exactly what music they will get and they have every right to do so. But what they lose is the unmatched atmosphere a good band can create.”
After more than 20 years in Selwyn, four children raised and now three grandchildren, Sole remains deeply embedded in the local music scene – not chasing fame, but building it. Not commanding the spotlight, but making sure it exists
