We at B-PB got the chance to talk to Silverstein a little while ago. After the cut find out about their upcoming special live DVD and its features, their ten year anniversary shows and exactly why they think websites like Napster and iTunes are ruining the futures of artists.
So how has the tour been so far? Have you had a favorite stop?
It’s been awesome! I really think we’re privileged to be on the best tour of the spring, all the bands are so super good not only that play music but as people too. We’ve been on this tour for about 3 weeks now I guess and it’s been really fun, everyone is really chill…there’s been a lot of hanging out between the bands. Every show has been sold out so far so that’s really good too. There is nothing really to complain about at all, it’s awesome.
You had an anniversary group of shows last month. How did those work out and what was the experience like?
It was one of the best experiences of my entire life. It was just such a special thing to do…something that not every band gets the chance to do, you know be a band for ten years then play all of their songs. It was really special and we had a lot of people come from all over the world to see it. We had people from Japan, the UK, Germany and all over the United States to see it. They just made it really special and people were so excited about it. We filmed it, we’re going to put it out on the DVD so it’s really cool.
Ten years later how have you changed and developed as both an artist and a band?
Well I think just the biggest thing is that we’ve grown up. We were kids when we started the band, I’m the oldest in the band and I was 18 when we started the band and a couple of the other guys were like 16 when we started. So the amounts of changes that go in anyone’s life from the age of 15 to 25 are enormous. When we made those changes hanging out together and being so close I think we’ve really grown up together and it’s been a really special bond that we’ve developed with each other. In terms of being a musician I think the biggest thing is just how much we’ve improved and gotten better from playing over 1200 shows. You start to get better at your instrument and better at performing…I think that’s the biggest thing, we’re a hell of a lot better band than we were 10 years ago.
Has there been a defining moment in your career at which point you thought to yourself “wow, we’ve made it?”
No there wasn’t one defining moment; it’s been a slow and steady thing for our band. We started out and we were like the smallest band ever. We weren’t even our own priority; we were just a side project. Over time the other bands broke up and we set goals and we didn’t even know if we’d ever play a show let alone record anything, put out a record or go on tour. Over time we just grew and grew. I guess it was just such a cool thing when we’d play a city for the first time. I remember we played in Chicago, the first America show we ever did, there was like 100 people there and we were stoked. Every time we went back it would double and every time we went back people were more and more excited about it. Over time things just grew to where they are now and it’s just a really cool thing to see that progression.
How would you say your sound has changed from your fist album to your most recent album?
Now we understand not only how to write songs better but we also kind of write songs with each other better, [as opposed to] when you first start a band and especially with us coming from such wide backgrounds and influences. When you tour with someone for 7 years now, you really start to understand what they like and what they don’t like and where everyone wants the songs to go. You kind of start thinking like five people start thinking like one person rather than five people thinking like five people. The direction is just a lot better now; it’s more efficient which is great…we just write much better songs.
After this tour ends, what plans do you have that you can share?
We’re putting out a live CD/DVD of our tenth anniversary weekend that we did. It’s going to be the best of the four days, we had it filmed by a very amazing music video director. It’s going to be cool because it’s not just like a concert DVD…it was filmed like a music video so it’s going to be a lot cooler than most live DVDs. So that is coming out I believe June 8th. We’re doing a tour this summer which I’m not sure if I can talk about completely on the record but we’re planning our tour in the United States with a bunch of bands, like 7 other bands, it’s going to be really cool and a great lineup. We have a new music video coming out too for our song American Dream which should be coming out in a couple weeks. Other than that we’re just going to continue to write more songs for the rest of the year and we’ve already written about 12-13 songs now so we’re getting to the point where we’re going to start thinking about making our 5th record. It’s an exciting time and we’re keeping busy and we’re excited about our band as we ever have!
What would you say you think are some of the biggest problems in the music industry right now?
Well no one buys records anymore and that is kind of a problem for the whole premise of the music business. So that’s a big issue, bands are putting out records and even big bands used to sell a million records or whatever and now they are selling a fraction of what they used to sell. It’s just really changed things around, where the priority is now and in terms of business. Like a lot of bands now are doing more touring because you can make money touring where as you can’t really make money on record sales. Touring is becoming more and more central for artists so is like merchandising and stuff because you know you can’t download a t-shirt! Those things are really becoming more and more prevalent. For us we’ve always kind of been in that direction with our music so it hasn’t affected us as much. Definitely it affects everyone, it doesn’t matter who you are or what genre of music you play no one is selling anywhere close to the amount of records that they were before. The problem there lies not with the artist so much directly but a lot of it is from the record companies are just making so little money that they just have a lot less money to really support the artist. It’s not a direct thing like if someone doesn’t buy your record [they think] “oh you know someone doesn’t buy your record it only affects the label” which is silly because obviously the label supports the artist so if the artist isn’t generating any income for the label then the label can’t give the artist any financing either. It’s a real problem right now but I don’t think it’s going to be fixed any time soon, I think it’s going to get worse and worse until a lot less artists exist on a main stream level, I think that’s going to be the way it is.
Do you think that it is going to get to the point where it’s affecting artists and labels so much that they have to quit? Or do you think that it will be more selling records will not happen and they will have to focus more on touring?
I think both of those things are going to happen, but I don’t know. The music industry f*cked up so many years ago when Napster came out and they didn’t really do anything about it. They kind of did but they should have outlawed that and they should have found a way to tax that and get money from the music that was obviously being pirated. Then when iTunes came out and they decided to sell songs for 99 cents, that was the dumbest thing ever because for so long you were selling an album (I’m talking about mainstream labels) but promoting a single. Basically Napster’s revenue was from people buying an album for one song, the single, so they’d pay $12.99 or whatever for a collection of 10-12 songs but they only really wanted one song but they couldn’t buy just one song! Well now when someone can just buy one song for 99 cents why the hell would they buy an album for $8.99 or $12.99 or whatever. So it’s just such a flawed idea…so instead of the label making $12.99 per sale, they’re only making 99 cents. It just sucks, they’re losing so much money every time that happens, and not only that but you’re not supporting the artist. Let’s say you buy the new Pink! record for one song and you’re not going to go pay $50 to see Pink! in concert because you only know one song. If you bought her record and you listened to the rest of it and you actually like all of her music then maybe you would go see her in concert for $50 because you would know more than one song. These things just perpetuate themselves, there’s been so many blunders over I guess the last 15 years …HUGE mistakes that the mainstream record labels have made that’s just really ruined it. That’s why we’re seeing what we’re seeing today.
Tell me about Decade. You said it was going to be more like a music video as opposed to just live footage, is there going to be anything else on it?
Yeah, there’s a bunch of stuff. To be honest it’s not finished yet so I’m not exactly sure how the final product is going to come out because I haven’t seen it. The way it’s made, it’s got faster cuts like a performance music video would be, there’s going to be other stuff in there like other cuts going in and out of it, like the setting up of the show..sort of like a documentary style video as well. So it’s just going to be a lot more special than just a singer-cam, drummer-cam, guitar-cam, it’s just going to be a lot more going on. We’re really stoked about it, it’s something we’ve wanted to do for a really long time but it’s just never really worked out and now finally we get to put it out. It was really cool to film 4 dates then pick the best rather than just have one show that was just “eh.”
Would you say there’s anything that sets you apart from other bands?
Well I don’t know I don’t know the other bands; I don’t know what other bands talk about when they’re together. I’m only in one band so I don’t know what other bands do; I only see what everyone else sees. I know how my band operates and I love how we operate and I think the way we operate and we don’t take ourselves too seriously, we have a good time and we always put having fun as the first thing. I think that’s the reason why we’ve had the same 5 members for 9 out of 10 years of the band. I think that’s what’s different about our band and why we don’t have people leaving all the time. I guess just like musically we’re perfectionists about it, we care about every song we write and every note we right, we care about our fans, we actually care about our fans, and we don’t just say that! I think a lot of bands are worried about their image and hiding behind some false image and we don’t have that…what you see is what you get with us, I wear the same clothes on stage that I wear all the time I don’t care about that shit at all, it doesn’t affect me so that’s how we roll!
What do you think you’d be doing if you weren’t on tour all the time or in a band at all?
I was going to school for biology and genetics, I did 3 years at a university before I dropped out to be in the band. I don’t feel like that was my life’s calling or anything but I did enjoy that and probably would have stayed on that path. I probably would have gone on to more school and gotten a Master’s or a PhD or something so I’d probably be doing some kind of science research just because that was the path I was on before. Obviously it doesn’t matter what I would have been doing, it just matters what I am doing, just the band full on and totally committed to it. I don’t really consider what-ifs like what if I played more baseball as a kid? Would I be in the major leagues? Maybe, but you can’t think like that. I’ve never thought about that. I just know that I’m here today and I’m motivated and I’m happy and that’s all I really care about. The second that I’m not motivated and I’m not happy I’ll find something else in my life to pursue.
What are some smaller artists you’ve been listening to that you think are worth giving a shot?
Yeah, I have a record company that I run, it’s called Verona Records and I basically started it about 5 years ago because there were so many great local bands in the Toronto area where I live that I just wanted to help out, help get their music out there and help them get on the road and start playing shows. I’ve worked with about 10 bands now and some have them have broken up and some of them moved on to bigger and better things. A couple bands that I’m working with right now that are fantastic are, one is Counterparts…they are awesome everyone should check them out myspace.com/counterparts. They’re kinda a technical hardcore band but their songs are very meaningful and they have a lot of feeling. They’re not just chug-a-chug-chug whatever we’re cool; they have a lot of heart in the music they play which is why I think they’re awesome. There’s another band that I’m working with called I Am Committing a Sin and they’re great as well so I think those are two bands people definitely need to check out
How would you sum up what your music stands for?
I think the main thing I’m always trying to instill is the idea of hope and that no matter what is happening in your life there’s always something to strive for and always something to be positive about and always something to look forward too. Everyone can improve themselves and I think that’s really what I’m trying to say. Some people call me out on it and say ‘Well why are your songs so negative? Why do you sing about depressing things?’ sometimes you have to sing about depressing and downer things to really keep that element of hope and make that element of hope there. If I was singing about rainbows and ponies and stickers all the time there would be no message. People have to understand that they can not only relate to me and things I’ve been through but I’m trying to help them with my music and every album we strive to have a hopeful message.
Interview by Clarisse Hansard
