Recorded on a modest budget, Ontario (Canadian) based
emo-rockers Silverstein's full-length debut album 'When Broken Is Easily
Fixed' eventually ended up being one of Victory Records' surprise successes
of 2003, and helped establish the band as one of the genres brightest
newcomers.
Two years later, the five-piece act (consisting of vocalist/guitarist
Shane Told, guitarists Neil Boshart and Josh Bradford, bassist/vocalist
Bill Hamilton and drummer Paul Koehler) entered the studio once again
to start work on their follow up album, and in August 2005, they released
their conceptualised effort 'Discovering The Waterfront', which earned
immediate critical acclaim immediately upon its release.
Since then, Silverstein have rarely spent time away from the stage as
they continue to promote the album around the globe.
Twelve months since they made their first visit to Australia,
Silverstein are once again returning for an extensive ten date tour
in late May/early June (with support acts I Killed The Prom Queen and
The Getaway Plan) to give fans a taste of their new album 'Discovering
The Waterfront' in a live capacity.
Sitting in his bedroom in Canada, I caught up with vocalist/guitarist
Shane Told on a short three day break away from the road to get all
the details surrounding their upcoming Australian tour, Canadian Grammy
award nominations, the band's connection with American Idol and the
ongoing success the band continue to enjoy with 'Discovering The Waterfront'.
"Based on the sales of 'When Broken Is Easily Fixed',
which did really well, Victory Records definitely had some expectations
prior to releasing 'Discovering The Waterfront'. They really thought
that the album was going to be big. We were just kind of 'whatever'
about the whole thing. We didn't want to psyche ourselves up and then
be disappointed when the album didn't meet those expectations! (Laughs)
But we just made an album that we really liked, had a good time making
it and just hoped for the best. And so far, it's been doing awesome.
In fact, it's been doing awesome since the first week it came out. It
debuted at something like twenty-three on the Billboard chart here in
Canada, and thirty-four on the Billboard chart in the US, and it's continuing
to sell more than we could have ever hoped for each week since. I understand
it's been selling really well down there in Australia too, so that's
really cool. We're really excited. We're not scared of working hard,
and I guess that shows in the record sales."
The hard work that Told speaks of is the extensive touring
Silverstein have done since 'Discovering The Waterfront' was released.
"Apart from a little bit of time over Christmas,
we really haven't really seen much of home. Since the release of the
album back in August 2005, we've been pretty much been out on the road
the whole time. We've been everywhere, and I mean everywhere. Once we
see you guys down there in Australia and move on to Japan, we can safely
say that we've pretty much seen the whole world on this album in the
last six months. It's definitely been a hectic twelve months. It's been
a constant go. We've had a few days off here and there, but in the time
since the release of 'Discovering The Waterfront', we've played some
of the greatest shows we've ever played all over the world. The last
tour we did with The Taste Of Chaos festival across Canada was in arenas
and it was huge. We did really well on that. On the full US tour, we
had headlining shows that were amazing. And we just finished up after
playing all over Europe with Simple Plan, which were some of the biggest
shows that we've ever played as well. So it's been a busy year, but
a great one too."
Silverstein's success hasn't gone unrecognised in Canada
either as the band were recently nominated at the annual Juno Awards
for 'Best New Act'. While an award nomination itself comes as no great
surprise, to fall under the category of 'Best New Act' is somewhat strange
considering that the band have released two full length albums and EP's
(2000's 'Summer's Stellar Gaze' and 2002's 'When The Shadows Beam')
to their name.
"I guess that you could say that a Juno award is
pretty much the Canadian equivalent to a US Grammy. It's where they
recognise Canada's best. But you're right! We were nominated for 'Best
New Act'! (Laughs) The reason for that is because, believe it or not,
when 'When Broken Is Easily Fixed' first came out, we didn't have very
good distribution here in Canada. And the only reason that anybody there
knew who we were was because we had a pretty big local following in
our hometown. But with the release of 'Discovering The Waterfront',
we had the backing of Universal Records distributing us in Canada, which
meant a lot more mainstream attention for this album. That also led
to a lot more video play here in Canada, as well as radio play too.
So in other words, our music finally came out more on a mainstream level,
which led to us finally being recognised for the first time here."
Although losing out to street reggae act Bedouin Soundclash
(2005's 'Sounding A Mosaic', which was released through Side One Dummy
Records), Told believes that the recognition alone compensates for the
loss.
"Bedouin Soundclash is a real band and really hard
working. They certainly deserved that award. It's funny because we arrived
at the big award ceremony at the same time as Bedouin Soundclash and
I ended up talking to vocalist Jay Malinowski. I said to him how amazing
it is when you consider that only a year ago we were both kind of on
the side stages of the Warped tour selling our own merchandise out of
the tents under the blistering hot sun, and now we were standing on
the red carpet acting like celebrities! (Laughs) We both had a bit of
a laugh. But overall, the nomination itself was kind of cool. It was
flattering to be recognised rather than sit somewhere in the background.
Not winning wasn't all-important. It hasn't changed what we do. Even
if we weren't nominated, I don't think it would have upset me at all.
We never expected to be recognised on that kind of level before, so
for us, I guess you could say that it's a nice little bonus! (Laughs)"
Another odd bit of recognition for Silverstein came in
the form of Ryan Heart, who auditioned for 'American Idol' with a rendition
of 'Smashed In Pieces' from 'When Broken Is Easily Fixed'.
"That was very, very funny. We were in Austria at
the time and I was checking my e-mails, and there were a lot of them
from my friends telling me to check this thing out happening on American
Idol. Eventually, someone sent me a link to the performance, and the
band, along with the Simple Plan guys, all gathered around this computer
to watch it. We were all laughing our heads off because it was so funny!
(Laughs) But at the same time, it was very quite flattering too. If
he wanted to scream on 'American Idol', then that's his thing right?
And for all the bands in the world that scream to pick from, the fact
that he chose our band was pretty cool. The whole experience comes down
to having the best fans there are. Our fans are so loyal. They get tattoos
on their body with our artwork, they come to every show and they fly
and drive all over the world to see us. I know some bands get that sort
of loyalty, but I don't think that every band gets that. So that was
very flattering for us. Just to give you an update on the 'American
Idol' thing, it turns out that Ryan Heart is from Las Vegas. So the
last time we stopped through Las Vegas, we had Heart came to the show
and join us onstage to sing 'Smashed In Pieces' with us! It was really
cool. He's a good guy."
Coming full circle, the conversation once again turns
to touring, and in particular, the band's eventual return to Australia
after a year since their first visit.
"It's almost an exact year since we were last down
there. We love to stick with the cold weather I guess! (Laughs) I'm
sure that when we get down there, it'll be colder than it is now, but
that doesn't worry me too much because when I look back at my first
Australian experience, I would have to say that it was one of the greatest
experiences of my life. A lot of that had to do with the promoter that
brought us out. She showed us around a lot and did such a great job
that I almost felt like I saw the whole country in those ten days. I'm
sure there's so much more to see but I really feel that I experienced
Australia, rather than simply seeing the inside of a hotel room. I don't
know if I'll have the time to do it this time around but I would love
to go snorkelling in Brisbane. That's something I would really like
to do. As for the shows, I guess the last time we came over; we only
had one album out, so this time around we'll obviously have quite a
lot more material to play. I think we've also stepped it up playing
live now too. So I think fans will see a bigger show and a wider range
of songs being played, which will mean a lot more energy. All up it
should be a lot of fun."
The fun doesn't necessarily end with Australia either
as Silverstein plans to continue touring for the remainder of the year
throughout the US.
"As soon as we finish up in Australia, we actually
have a little bit of time off. I'm going to say that we have a lot of
time off actually because it'll be something like two to three weeks
off. Wow, I know! (Laughs) From there, we'll almost be doing the entire
Warped tour, which will take us all across the US. We don't know if
we'll be on the main stage or not yet because the organisers haven't
committed to final yes or no on that. But having said that, although
we might be moved around from time to time, I think we'll be there for
the most part. That has us very excited. The Warped tour is amazing
because there are so many people and so many great bands. It will be
a lot of fun. We've done the tour for the last two years in a row so
it's great to be able to do it all once again."
I would like to personally thank Shane Told for his
generous time and Darren Cherry at Stomp Records Distribution for making
the interview possible.
For more information on Silverstein, check out - http://www.silversteinmusic.com
© Justin Donnelly - justindonnelly@ozemail.com.au
