Silverstein Finally Gain Parents' Respect

02/18/09 1:54pm

by Cameron Gordon (CHARTattack)

When it comes to packaging their product, Burlington, Ont.'s Silverstein are the ultimate no-frills operation. Their look is basic, their flesh is clean and yet their music is every bit as ballsy as the most decorated hardcore act. And as their recent Arrivals & Departures full-length proves, you don't need a ton of body ink or gratuitous f-bombs to get your point across.

"The first couple of times I attended the Warped Tour, I was pretty much the only kid in the audience without any tattoos or piercings," says vocalist Shane Told. "I think a bit too often, musicians try to rely on their gimmicks and their exteriors instead of the music and the songwriting. Luckily, that's something this band has done a really good job of avoiding and I think that's why we've managed to build the audience that we have.

"There is definitely a segment of music fans out there who appreciate something that's played totally straight, where the songs are front and centre. And that's always been the approach that we take, whether it be on record or in the live setting."

Silverstein were swept up in the screamo frenzy that hit during the early 2000s and, unlike a lot of their contemporaries in the hardcore scene, they've been able to grow their fanbase without compromising their guttural, earnest sound. Arrivals & Departures is hard proof of this suggestion, and, considering the band have sold more than a half million records worldwide, Told and his bandmates are still at a loss as to why Silverstein have achieved notoriety.

"The band comes from such a punk rock DIY background that any radio play or mainstream attention that we get seems strange, even at this point," he says. "Especially in this age when CD sales are plummeting, it's ever more amazing to
think how many people are buying our albums, not just in Canada but right around the world.

"The original goal when we signed with Victory Records was to sell maybe 10,000 records and tour a little bit in the States. But the band just gets bigger every song and every album we release. I still sometimes have to take a step back to believe it because it doesn't seem real a lot of the time."

While Silverstein are already an established touring force throughout most of North America, they've also conquered the European punk circuit on several occasions and had a string of headline tours in Japan and Australia. It's a lifestyle of necessity for a band who built their following one gig at a time, and it's this tenacity that allows them to plow forward with each new album.

"Especially in this day and age," comments Told, "you're not going to make a dime from record sales, so playing as many shows as possible is the only way you're going to get by. And over the last two years, we've played around 230 shows. Considering we normally have at least one day off a week while touring and then a pretty prolific recording schedule, there really isn't any downtime that is not somehow focused on the band.

"That's why I still live with my parents because when I'm only home maybe one month in an average year, there's no point renting an apartment when it's going to be vacant the whole time."

Unconfirmed reports suggest that Told's time off is spent resting his vocal chords and helping his mom out with household chores. But whatever the case, Told says his parents have long since accepted Silverstein's lively lifestyle and are slowly getting a grip on one of Canada's loudest bands.

"My mom doesn't like the screaming and, overall, they don't really get it. But at the same time, I think we've validated the band in their eyes. It's funny because we can play these massive gigs in New York or Los Angeles or London, but it's when my parents catch a second of our video on MuchMusic or hear our name on the radio - that's when the band somehow seems legit in their eyes."

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Making The Grade

If you ever posed the question "Who's your daddy?" to Told and his Silverstein bandmates, they'd likely finger fellow southern Ontario screamers Grade as their musical next-of-kin.

Grade toiled the hardcore circuit for most of the '90s and though they called it quits in 2002, they shared both a hometown (Burlington, Ont.) and a record label (Victory Records) with the brood that became Silverstein.

As Told confirms, "To think that we've sold 10 times as many records as Grade is totally absurd since they were such an inspiration to us early on, both as people and as musicians. They were definitely a band who was way ahead of the curve in terms of the aggressive hardcore music they were playing and, no doubt, if they were still around today, I guarantee you they'd be filling the large rooms and festivals alongside us."

The following feature article is from the September 2007 issue of Chart Magazine. To purchase the issue, go to the Chart Shop.