Das neue Album von Silverstein „Misery Made Me“ (VÖ 6. Mai 2022) steckt quasi noch in den Kinderschuhen. Was hilft da besser beim Laufen lernen, als erstmal fett auf UK und Europa-Tour zu gehen? Wir haben die Band beim Full Force in Ferropolis getroffen. Bei gefühlt 35 Grad im Schatten, haben Silverstein dort die letzte Show der Tour gespielt, bevor es am nächsten Tag zurück nach Hause, also nach Kanada ging. Man könnte meinen, dass man als Band am Ende einer Tour ordentlich durch ist und einfach nur noch chillen will. Wie sympathisch ist es bitte, dass sich Sänger Shane Told kurz nach deren Gig trotzdem noch die Zeit genommen und sich mit uns zum Interview getroffen hat!?
Frontstage-Magazine: Did you enjoy today‘s gig at the Full Force Festival?
Shane: Of course! Playing music with my friends is always fun. But it was so hot. And the sun was shining right on me. I had no hide from it. So to be honest… I was really uncomfortable on stage (lacht). But the crowd was cool. Obviously I think they were all a little bit been down because this is the last day of the festival. I think it was tough but they gave it everything they had. Shoutout to them!
Frontstage-Magazine: This month you‘ve been touring through the UK and Europe. How does it feel to be back?
Shane: Honestly like it‘s crazy because I think we kind of forgot how much we missed this. Not saying we took it for granted before because we didn‘t. But now just having a comeback and I remember the first time we gone on stage and we did the Slam Dunk festival because it was the first show. It was so much better than I remembered. Like the feeling of doing it. We just had three and a half week of so many good festivals like Full Force. And Vainstream is another great festival, too. It was really amazing. I‘m a little sad to leave tomorrow to go home. But I‘m excited to sleep in my own bed and sit in my air conditioned house. Because it‘s hard to find a cold room a lot of times over here unfortunatelly. (lacht)
Frontstage-Magazine: Was there a special moment when you‘ve noticed that you are back? I mean back with playing live, back on stage, back with doing all those things you love?
Shane: It‘s all amazing. All those little things. Some of which used to be annoying like warming up or soundcheck or those kind of things. I kind of look forward to them now. They are kind of fun again. It‘s interesting just how much of the passion has returned. I don‘t think it‘s just our band. I think everybody is feeling it, you know. All the other bands and all the people here. Everyone is just so excited to have live music back.
Frontstage-Magazine: Your new album „Misery made me“ was recorded during the pandemic. Normally musicians or peolpe in general take their inspiration from things like travelling or hanging out with other people. But that wasn‘t possible. Where did you get your inspiration from?
Shane: Quite honestly it was the emotions and mental health issues and frustration and drama that we faced during this. The fears that we had of not being able to do what we love anymore. How long is it gonna last? Is it going to ever be the same? All these kind of things. So it gave us a lot of material to write about. The way we were feeling throughout everything. The last two and a half years, you know. There were some discussion we had a little bit about like: „Okay, do we want or do we not want this record to be like the pandemic record? Is this just gonna be like a cliche thing?“. But honestly there was nothing else to write about. It was all about own struggles and own experiences with going through that awful time. So that was the most honest thing we could write and such a universal thing. Everybody went through it… in the whole world. So it‘s the most relatable topic. And I think a lot of people are still recovering from that or have gotten worse anxieties or even mental health issues from getting Covid. So for us it was just the only thing we could write about. It was maybe a little obvious. But it was also just really, really important for us to express ourselves in that way. I mean we could write a bunch of love songs or something. But it wasn‘t in the cards.
Frontstage-Magazine: Do you have a favorite song from the new album to play live?
Shane: Good question. We haven‘t played that many yet. We are still like figuring out. But I think I like playing „Ultraviolet“. It‘s gotta kind of a cool tempo and it‘s a little bit different from other songs. And I it‘s like really in my wheelhouse for singing. I feel I can always sing it pretty well. (lacht) It‘s a lot of fun for me.
Frontstage-Magazine: You also have this podcast „Silverstein: The Podcast“. Therefore you dive super deep into the stories behind the songs and the making of the album. I mean you are quite familiar with that topic because you have your own podcast since so many years. So that‘s where the idea came from?
Shane: Yes, exactly! I mean I‘ve been doing my own podcast „Lead Singer Syndrome“ for almost 7 years. So obviously I‘m pretty well versed in how to do it. And we just had this idea to try to use a podcast format to promote the new album and tell people some of the interesting things about it. It‘s pretty crazy because there will be 11 episodes. One for each song on the new album. So we‘re talking about probably 10 or 11 hours of discussing about the album. Which is crazy. (lacht) That‘s a lot of stuff and it‘s all very interesting. So I think it‘s pretty cool for fans. Especially for diehard fans to be able to have that at disposal information is really cool. It‘s a lot of work to put it all together but I think it‘s worth it. I think it‘s something that people are gonna go back and check out for a long time.
Frontstage-Magazine: When you talk so deep about the songs… how often is there a moment like „Oh, I did not know this was the idea behind the song“ or something like that?
Shane: All the time. I mean there is like songs that Paul Marc wrote with other people and I didn‘t even know. One thing that‘s pretty cool is we share all demo versions of the songs. Some of them are really, really initial. Like just ideas, very rough. And some of those I haven‘t even heard. Because you don‘t wanna send someone in your band something until you not know it‘s good. That‘s kind of pretty cool, too. To see a bunch of different takes on the original songs.
Frontstage-Magazine: So you made the best of the situation and used the time to create a great new album. In Germany it was a big thing to bake banana bread during the pandemic and lockdown. Because people had to stay at home and had a lot of time. To bake banana bread was like a hyped thing…
Shane: Oh really? I mean I‘ve always made banana bread. I love banana bread. I have a good recipe if you want it.
Frontstage-Magazine: That sounds amazing! But what about you? Did you discover any new hobbies? Any pandemic hobbies?
Shane: Yeah! I mean of course the music side of things. And I started a Twitch account. So I was doing a lot of Twitch stuff. Just kind of new for me. Some of the livestreaming that I wasn‘t really familar of doing before. Probably the biggest thing was that I did a lot of like work on the house and did a lot of DIY renovations and stuff. So I watched a lot of DIY YouTube videos. (lacht) I also did a bunch of work outside. Landscaping work… I put in big stones, knocked down walls and I built the walking closet. A lot of stuff with my hands which I always liked doing. But it‘s something that takes a lot of time and I had a lot of time. So over the pandemic that was something that I really enjoyed.
Frontstage-Magazine: Did you also do something to stay fit… I mean as a musician and with the band? Because two and a half years a quite long. I think I would probably forget half of the lyrics…
Shane: No we didn‘t. I mean we did a lot of livestreams and internet stuff. So we got together for that and practised for those. So I guess that was fairly often. To be honest we‘ve been a band for so long we don‘t really practise. You know, we get together before a tour or something and play through the stuff. But it‘s not like we have a regular practice schedule.
Frontstage-Magazine: For this UK and European tour you played a lot of festival shows but also club shows. Do you prefer inside or outside?
Shane: Today I would have prefered indoor because of the heat and the sun. (lacht) But you know, I think like when we do a bunch of outdoor shows it‘s kind of nice to get back in the clubs and then when we do a bunch of club shows it‘s nice to be back outside. It both have their benefits. I think I wouldn‘t wanna have just one or the other. It‘s nice to have the different environments to play for people. So it‘s never a dull moment with Silverstein.
Frontstage-Magazine: Today is the very last day of the tour. What do you look forward to when you fly back home to Canada tomorrow?
Shane: I think spending time out in the summer with my friends and my family, because we really haven‘t been able to. You know, last summer was canceled. The year before was definitely cancelled. So just to be able to go out and have a beer with my buddy somewhere. We haven‘t done that in a long time. So I‘m looking forward to that, spending some time with some loved ones and just resting up and getting ready for the next tours. We‘re coming back to Europe in November and December. So that‘s gonna be a lot of fun, too.
Frontstage-Magazine: So what about your plans for the second half of the year? I‘m pretty sure the „When We Were Young Festival“ in Las Vegas will be a highlight for you?
Shane: I‘m very excited for that. It‘s kind of like the event of the year. So for us to be part of that is pretty cool and pretty special. Also Las Vegas is like my second home. My sister lives there. I think we‘re really just excited for everything coming. I mean the European tour with Comeback Kid and Senses Fail is really special. Of course the US tour with Amity Affliction is gonna be great. Another thing we are doing is the „Emo‘s Not Dead Cruise“. So I‘m kind of maybe the most excited about that because it‘s gonna be a completely new experience.
Frontstage-Magazine: We can‘t wait to see you guys back on stage in Germany in November and December. But for the moment: Thank you so much for your time and have a safe trip back home!
Shane: Oh yeah, thank you! See you next time!
Fotocredit: Lisa Voigt
