Stephen (Cole) Rolland (born December 5, 1993) is a Canadian artist, producer, guitarist and social media personality known for his electric guitar covers, most notably the recreation of dubstep songs.[2] As of 2023, Rolland has more than 1.4 million YouTube subscribers and 300M video views.
Cole Rolland | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | December 5, 1993 Ontario, Canada | |||||||||
| Origin | Port Elgin | |||||||||
| Genres | Rock, Metal and Classical | |||||||||
| Years active | 2009-present | |||||||||
| Labels | Independent | |||||||||
YouTube information | ||||||||||
| Channel | ||||||||||
| Subscribers | 1.4 million[1] | |||||||||
| Total views | 300 million[1] | |||||||||
| Associated acts | ILLENIUM, Krewella, Adventure Club, DragonForce | |||||||||
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Last updated: October 2023 | ||||||||||
Biography
editRolland was born on December 5, 1993 in Port Elgin in Canada.[3] He started self-learning and playing guitar at the age of 10. At the age of 15 in 2009, he recorded and uploaded a YouTube video performance of DragonForce’s Through the Fire and Flames from the Guitar Hero video game series.[4][2] Shortly after, he also released a cover of Canon Rock. Both of these videos collectively gained 52 million views on YouTube.[5]
After school, Rolland worked as a process operator at Nova Chemicals before pursuing a musical career since 2019.[6] He performs rock, metal and classical covers on his electric guitar of artists including Skrillex, Krewella, Slipknot, Metallica and Avenged Sevenfold.[3] Rolland makes use of a variety of guitar techniques including slides/vibrato, along with various implementations of the whammy bar, and a killswitch.[2][4]
As of December 2021, Rolland’s YouTube channel had more than 1.2 million subscribers and over 209 million views.[7]
Acts
editRolland has performed stage acts with ILLENIUM, Adventure Club, Krewella and DragonForce.[8][9] He has also collaborated with Sershen & Zarítskaya for Guns n Roses’ song Sweet Child o' Mine,[10] and Sophie Lloyd for Beethoven’s 5th Symphony.[11]
Gear
editRolland has a signature guitar line in association with California-based guitar manufacturer Kiesel Guitars, Midnight and Moonlight signature guitars.[4][5]
Guitars
- CR6 Midnight Signature Guitar
- CR6 Moonlight Signature Guitar
- DC600 Custom Pink-Purple Burst
- DC600 Custom Purple-Blue Burst
- DC700 Custom
Hardware
- Axe-Fx III by Fractal Audio
- Jim Dunlop Wah
- Digitech Whammy Pedal
- Digitech Drop Pedal
- Fractal Audio FC-12
- Universal Audio x4
- Neumann TLM 193
- Neumann TLM 103
Software
- Logic Pro X
- Adobe Premiere Pro
- STL Tones
- Waves: Mercury
- SoundToys: Effect Rack
Discography
editSingles
- Echo (2023)[5]
- Lost (with Sophie Lloyd) (2023)[12]
- Ignite (2021)[7]
- Triple Helix (with Angel Vivaldi) (2020)[13]
- Equinox (2016)[14]
- The Last Night (2016)[15]
EPs
- Passenger (2019)[8]
References
edit- ^ a b "About ColeRolland". YouTube.
- ^ a b c Wilkinson, Dan (4 June 2014). "EDM Isn't Just Laptops, A Guy Has Recreated Dubstep Songs Using an Electric Guitar". Vice.
- ^ a b Charlton, Steve (21 August 2023). "Cole Rolland shreds DragonForce's "Through the Fire and Flames" like a boss". The Music Man.
- ^ a b c Torre, Chris dela (October 18, 2020). "Meet the Sarnia guitarist who quit his day job and earned 1 million YouTube subscribers". CBC News.
- ^ a b c Stewart, Peter (30 August 2023). "Canadian guitar wizard Cole Rolland brings magic to his cover of Canon Rock". The Music Man.
- ^ "Sarnia guitar phenom quits Chemical Valley job for music biz". The Sarnia Journal. 13 October 2020.
- ^ a b "Music career of online guitar star continues to expand". The Sarnia Journal. 15 December 2021.
- ^ a b Roche, Sam (17 February 2021). "Cole Rolland: "EDM allows me so much more freedom to be creative and make weird guitar noises I hope people haven't heard before"". Guitarworld.
- ^ Hebert, Sue (4 April 2022). "Guitar Heroes DragonForce Live Performance". Sound Check Entertainment.
- ^ Brow, Jason (9 December 2021). "Cole Rolland Sparks A New Chapter In His Life With His Inspirational Anthem 'Ignite'". Hollywood Life.
- ^ Owen, Matt (13 August 2021). "Sophie Lloyd and Cole Rolland join forces for monstrous, shred-heavy reinvention of Beethoven's 5th Symphony". guitarworld.
- ^ "This week's essential guitar tracks: two of YouTube's biggest shred heroes team up and a slide titan pays tribute to a Southern rock guitar legend". Guitarworld. 26 May 2023.
- ^ Stolzer-Gary, Isaac (13 December 2019). "ANGEL VIVALDI Releases New Music Video "Triple Helix" Featuring COLE ROLLAND". GearGods.
- ^ Maan, Reuben (July 20, 2016). "Watch guitar guru Cole Rolland perform his song 'Equinox'". CBC Music.
- ^ "Watch Cole Rolland totally shred while playing his song 'The Last Night'". CBC Music. June 8, 2016.