Silverstein set to sizzle downunder

Thu 19th Jul, 2007 in Features

Canadian five-piece Silverstein, (*Shane Told* vocals, Neil Boshart and Josh Bradford guitar, Bill Hamilton bass and Paul Koehler drums) are set to sizzle on their third Australian tour next January promoting their latest release, Arrivals And Departures.

Silverstein grew up in the suburbs of Toronto and formed out of the local band scene. Diversity is a common thread for them, with influences encompassing everything from folk, classic rock, punk and metal to The Beatles.

The members met by playing shows along side each other’s respective bands, leading to their formation in April 2000. They played their first gig two months later at a benefit concert for a friend who had recently passed away.

“I was 16 at the time, and the oldest guys in the band were 18, so we were all pretty young at the time, and it was actually a benefit show for a friend of ours who had passed away from a car accident, and we got into playing the show because of the benefit, so it forced us to prepare a little set and perform…” Paul explained.

Not ones for wasting time, Silverstein soon began writing songs and recording. They released their first EP Summer’s Stellar Gaze in 2000. Their second EP, When The Shadows Beam followed in 2002 and made a great impression on Tony Brummel, owner of Victory Records. He signed the band that October, and released their debut album When Broken is Easily Fixed the following year.

Their second full-length album, Discovering The Waterfront was released in 2005. 2006 saw the release of 18 Candles: The Early Years which included reissues of their independent EPs and several live and acoustic tracks. Their latest album, Arrivals and Departures was released in early July this year.

Recording was not a new experience for Silverstein as they had all recorded with their previous bands, but Paul feels they have learned a lot and their sound has changed remarkably.

“”I think we’ve always done a good job, but particularly the early stuff doesn’t sound anything close to what we’ve done recently,” he said.

Paul describes their latest release, Arrivals and Departures. “I think it may sound the most focused and the best recorded album of our’s so far…it’s just catchier. I think we wrote better songs,” he said. “…we’ve come to a point in our lives where it’s a constant coming and going; our time at home, our time with our friends and family, our time on the road or with people that we meet, it’s limited to a certain amount of time, but we’ve learn to appreciate those as finite periods and try to make the most of it, and we’ve also lost a couple of close people in our lives…everything ends eventually and we’ve tried to just live for the moment…and that’s part of the message we’re trying to get across…”

Silverstein have toured with world renowned bands like Fall Out Boy, Hawthorn Heights and Matchbook Romance, and played the Warp Tour 3 years running. They toured 16 countries last year, but the most defining moment of their career was being nominated for a Juno Award (similar to a Grammy) for Best New Group Of The Year in 2006.

“…it’s a really pristine honour, so having that really defined us like, – œwow we’re a pretty professional band, we have a really serious career…’” Paul said.

Silverstein “do a lot of crazy things” on tour, but Paul found their first Mexican tour quite “insane.”

“…there’s all kinds of crazy bootlegging of merchandise…and the kids are wild, chasing us down the street…we had some of the loudest crowds singing along ever, a really amazing experience for us,” he enthused.

The January tour will be the band’s third trip to Australia, and they are looking forward to returning. They are particularly fond of the food, culture and people. ”(The) fans are awesome,” and can expect a lot of new material, and a high-energy, fun-filled show.

In future, Silverstein plan to break more territory, continue touring, and write better songs.

“…we dropped our third record but we’re not going to stop here, we’re gonna keep going so it’s only up from here…” Paul said.

He advises emerging artists to “Be professional, work hard, focus on your music and have fun with it. You’ve gotta take it seriously if you want to succeed but you’ve gotta have fun at the same time.”