Silverstein Would Rather Sell Tickets Than CDs

Studio albums are almost an afterthought for Silverstein. The hard-rocking Burlington, Ontario five-piece are a live act first and foremost, and their studio output will never approximate the torrid aggression of their stage show. But big things are still expected from Arrivals & Departures, which landed at retail on Tuesday.

"The album hitting the stores is a big relief more than anything else and, yeah, it can be a bit anticlimactic," says singer Shane Told. "We flew into Toronto the day it was released for a press day, so it's not as if we were even playing a show the day the album came out.

"It's still somewhat exciting to see it in stores, but with the internet and file-sharing and all the rest of it, we knew that people had heard the album long before the release date, so it's a lot less special in a way. You definitely lose that element of surprise."

Silverstein were swept up in the screamo frenzy that hit early this decade 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, yet Told is still at a loss as to why his band have achieved their 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. 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."

Silverstein have sold more than half-a-million records worldwide and continue to be one of the hardest touring bands on the planet, leaving spots of venom in every city they hit. After crossing Europe on multiple occasions and headlining high profile tours of both Japan and Australia, you'd think complacency would set in. Not so for Told and his bandmates, who would rather sell a ticket over a CD any day of the week.

"Especially in this day and age, 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. Luckily, it's something we enjoy. It's given us a chance to travel the world, make friends all over the place and spread our music a lot further than you'd think would be humanly possible."

Catch Silverstein at these Canadian shows:
July 6 Montreal, QC @ Theatre Olympia w/Rise Against, Comeback Kid and 2 Cents
July 7 Toronto, ON @ Arrow Hall w/Rise Against, Comeback Kid and 2 Cents
July 16 Winnipeg, MB @ Winnipeg Convention Centre w/Rise Against, Comeback Kid and Holy Roman Empire
July 17 Saskatoon, SK @ Prairieland Park w/Rise Against, Comeback Kid and Holy Roman Empire
July 18 Edmonton, AB @ Shaw Conference Centre w/Rise Against, Comeback Kid and Holy Roman Empire
July 19-20 Calgary, AB @ MacEwan Hall w/Rise Against, Comeback Kid and Holy Roman Empire
July 22 Victoria, BC @ Victoria Curling Club w/Rise Against, Comeback Kid and Holy Roman Empire