Blame Canada

The Metro
Chicago, IL

An Interview with Sean and Paul of Silverstein

Blame Canada..... for some hot ass music.  I recently had the chance to sit down with Sean and Paul, the singer and drummer, respectively, from Silverstein.  Victory Records has got a new Canadian sensation and they are kicking up waves wherever they go.

XROXX: I understand that you guys have a footing in both the hardcore and punk scenes.  Which do you think influences your music more?
Sean: The kind of music we play is just a mixture of all the bands that we grew up listening to.  I was really into skate punk initially and then hardcore and then into emo from that.  I just like all types of music, I don't really discriminate anymore.  I like what's good music and that's the bottom line.
Paul: That's basically how our band is.  It comes from listening to all the extremes and we still do it even and we bring that all together to create the music.  It's kind of in the middle of all the different genres.

XROXX: I think your new disc is quality.  The best way I can explain it is schizophrenic.  There are a lot of emotions going on.  What is the tone you think your disc portays?
Sean: I agree with you saying the schizophrenic thing because we do have a lot of extremes, like we'll have a quieter slower part of the song, then we go into something totally hard.  I think that's important to what we do.  I think that's what we're going for.  We're trying to use dynamics from soft to hard.
Paul: I think all of that flows through our music.  The transitions and the ups and downs are what make the music.

XROXX: A lot of critics have raved about your rhythm section.  Were any of you classically trained or mostly self-taught?
Paul: We all played in other bands.  That trained us and got us into what we are doing now.  We were never really trained in a school.  All the parts actually try to be extremely two sided.  Like, the vocals do both scenes.  The drums, I try not to play straight up things that we used to.  The guitars are always off doing other things and being creative.
Sean: At the same time, we're trying to write real music for real people.  We're not trying to wow anyone with any big technical off-time thing.  We just want to write stuff that we like playing and that people can rock out to and that people will find interesting on whatever level they want to.

XROXX: What do you want a person that has never heard you to think of your band when they leave a show?
Paul: I think I want people to understand what we are about.  We're pretty down to earth people.  We try to connect with the audience.  We want them to be a part of what we have created.

XROXX: What's it like being a part of the legendary Victory Records?
Sean: They are totally indie.  There is no major label backing or any bullshit like that that you always hear about these days.  They do it all themselves  They have a great staff.  We feel like family everytime we are in Chicago because we get to hang out at the office.  It's really great.  We are totally happy with VR.

XROXX: Do you think being a part of VR helped your CD release?
Paul: It's great that our debut was on that level.
Sean: To be an unheard of band and being able to jump out on VR and to do as well as we have is awesome.  When we first started the band, we used to joke about being on VR like it was our ideal label to be on.  We're excited.  I don't know if it has quite hit me yet.

XROXX: Having toured with Bayside, As I Lay Dying, and Spitalfield, what do you think of being a band on the road?
Paul: We have been lucky in that we've gotten to tour with bands of all different styles; from heavy to pop.  It's great that the kind of music we play can fit in with a lot of styles of music.

XROXX: Is it fun to tour with label mates?
Paul: It is a blast!
Sean: We get along with all the bands on the label.  I think VR is big on the VR family and they don't want to sign people who are assholes to their label.  It's very important that no matter how good a band is, if they don't like them as people, then they don't want to work with them.  I think that's why we get along so well with the bands on the label.

Silverstein has been spinning these discs in their regular rotations: Armor for Sleep, Bayside, Spitalfield, Brand New, Blink 182, and Everytime I Die.

Silverstein has hit the road with acts like Spitalfield, Bayside, and From Autumn to Ashes. They also caused some noise in New Jersey at the Skate and Surf Fest.

Check them out on the Warped Tour this summer.

Jayne*Star
jayne.star@XROXX.com