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 (1993-12-05) December 5, 1993 (age 30)
Ontario, Canada
OriginPort Elgin
GenresRock, Metal and Classical
Years active2009-present
LabelsIndependent
YouTube information
Channel
Subscribers1.4 million[1]
Total views300 million[1]
Associated actsILLENIUM, Krewella, Adventure Club, DragonForce
100,000 subscribers2015
1,000,000 subscribers2020

Last updated: October 2023

Biography

edit

Rolland 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

edit

Rolland 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

edit

Rolland 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

edit

Singles

  • 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
  1. ^ a b "About ColeRolland". YouTube.
  2. ^ a b c Wilkinson, Dan (4 June 2014). "EDM Isn't Just Laptops, A Guy Has Recreated Dubstep Songs Using an Electric Guitar". Vice.
  3. ^ a b Charlton, Steve (21 August 2023). "Cole Rolland shreds DragonForce's "Through the Fire and Flames" like a boss". The Music Man.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ a b c Stewart, Peter (30 August 2023). "Canadian guitar wizard Cole Rolland brings magic to his cover of Canon Rock". The Music Man.
  6. ^ "Sarnia guitar phenom quits Chemical Valley job for music biz". The Sarnia Journal. 13 October 2020.
  7. ^ a b "Music career of online guitar star continues to expand". The Sarnia Journal. 15 December 2021.
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ Hebert, Sue (4 April 2022). "Guitar Heroes DragonForce Live Performance". Sound Check Entertainment.
  10. ^ Brow, Jason (9 December 2021). "Cole Rolland Sparks A New Chapter In His Life With His Inspirational Anthem 'Ignite'". Hollywood Life.
  11. ^ Owen, Matt (13 August 2021). "Sophie Lloyd and Cole Rolland join forces for monstrous, shred-heavy reinvention of Beethoven's 5th Symphony". guitarworld.
  12. ^ "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.
  13. ^ Stolzer-Gary, Isaac (13 December 2019). "ANGEL VIVALDI Releases New Music Video "Triple Helix" Featuring COLE ROLLAND". GearGods.
  14. ^ Maan, Reuben (July 20, 2016). "Watch guitar guru Cole Rolland perform his song 'Equinox'". CBC Music.
  15. ^ "Watch Cole Rolland totally shred while playing his song 'The Last Night'". CBC Music. June 8, 2016.
edit