Silverstein Have Arrived

01/22/08 3:00pm

by Trevor Morelli (CHARTattack)

It takes an awfully ambitious band to release three full-length albums over a period of just four years. But Silverstein's drive and determination have made them one of the world's most sought after post-hardcore acts. Their Arrivals & Departures disc is flying off the shelves and, much like the steam train adorning the album's cover, the band are ready to continue chugging along at an alarming pace.

Silverstein will embark on their first cross-Canada headlining tour this month, sharing the stage with Protest The Hero, IllScarlett, and The Devil Wears Prada. Drummer Paul Koehler was kind enough to take a break from his busy holiday schedule and talk to ChartAttack about how Arrivals & Departures came together.

ChartAttack: Christmas is less than a week away and you don't have much time at home. What are you doing right now?
Paul Koehler: I'm at home in Burlington, basically running around and getting some errands done. We're shooting a video tomorrow, so it's pretty busy.

For which song?
It's for "Still Dreaming," the sixth track on Arrivals & Departures. It's pretty involved. I'd probably ruin it by trying to tell you what it's about. Our guitar player Josh wrote the treatment for it and we were able to talk to different directors. Usually it's the other way around, you talk to different directors and listen to their ideas for the video. This time, the band is a little more involved.

Mark Trembino [Blink 182, The Bled] produced your latest album. What was it like to work with him?
He's definitely someone who's worked on a lot of records we loved. He was at the top of our list of producers. He was number one. We were so excited when we learned he'd do it, so it was an easy process.

How did he help you develop your sound?
He helped us out a lot. It's a lot more raw than our previous records, a lot more live-sounding. We didn't throw a lot of effects on things or experiment a lot with different things. In the future, we'll probably do it the other way and experiment more.

In terms of record sales, Arrivals & Departures is definitely your most successful album to date. Do you guys keep track of stuff like that?
We're pretty busy. We tour like 200 days out of the year. The music is more important to us. It's a good reassurance to know what you're doing is paying off, but playing shows and connecting with the kids is more important to us.

Your songs have referenced everything from Shakespeare plays to films like Fight Club and Session 9. Do movies and pop culture inspire you to write?
A couple of our songs have definitely referenced other art. We're very artistic and creative people and we're definitely immersed in a lot of culture. But we're mostly influenced by personal ideas, encounters, and tragedies — the things that are real to us. We tried to diversify each moment, idea and sound on the album.

Silverstein have toured with Hawthorne Heights many times over the last few years. How did you feel when you heard Casey Calvert passed away?
We were in London [England] when we heard the news. It came as a huge shock. When you're on tour, you're sort of living in a bubble, not surrounded by the news. Then you hear something like that and you need to get your mind out of touring. It was tough. Casey was a great guy and it made us really appreciate what we do for a living. He loved music and put his whole heart into it. It reminds you not to take it for granted. There's a big brotherhood between bands that tour. It's tough but you try to hang in together.