Silversun Pickups Are Growing

Silversun Pickups lead singer Brian Aubert is taking a few minutes to speak on the phone between radio interviews.

"It has been crazy since February, but today was an especially busy one," he says.

The Los Angeles rockers are in the middle of a promotional frenzy for their recently released sophomore album, Swoon.

"We're excited, happy and relieved that it's out," Aubert says. "We have been so busy. We keep high-fiving each other for getting through it."

Silversun Pickups went through an entirely new recording experience over the past year for this album.

"It was the first time we wrote an album from beginning to end," explains Aubert. "There are no old songs and so on.

"We sat still and stared at each other for a year and wrote a cohesive album with each other in mind. It was kind of a blank slate."

Silversun Pickups' sound is often compared to the fuzzy, textured work of the Smashing Pumpkins and Sonic Youth, and Swoon is also something of a musical departure for the band. They used a 16-piece orchestra and vowed to create more varied tempos.

"I guess it's hard not to let songwriting be organic," Aubert says. "It's not like you dictate, 'OK, now we're growing.'

"But we did want to push ourselves. We knew we'd bring strings in from day one."

Aubert feels the need to place a disclaimer on that statement.

"I'm not trying to say we're not in love with the old sound. I mean 'Panic Switch' is still a familiar mid-tempo kind of song, but we wanted to attempt something difficult."

The band have been diligently touring and testing out the new songs before audiences over the last year.

"There are a lot of people getting into us now, and are picking up [2006 debut full-length] Carnavas," says Aubert. "But there are a lot of kids who have been with us since [2005 EP] Pikur, and we have to take care of their live experience, too.

"We felt obliged to play some new music for them over this year or they'd lynch us."

Silversun Pickups will play these shows:

May 25 George, WA @ The Gorge Amphitheatre (Sasquatch! Music Festival)
June 17 Berlin, Germany @ Magnet Club
June 19 Tuttlingen, Germany @ Southside Festival
June 20 Scheessel, Germany @ Hurricane Festival
June 21 Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Melkweg
June 22 Paris, France @ Point Ephemere
June 24 Athens, Grreece @ Gagarin 205
June 27 Nottingham, England @ Rescue Rooms w/Animal Kingdom and An Horse
June 28 Bristol, England @ Thekla w/Animal Kingdom and An Horse
June 30 Birmingham, England @ O2 Academy Birmingham w/Animal Kingdom and An Horse
July 1 Glasgow, Scotland @ Stereo w/Animal Kingdom and An Horse
July 2 Manchester, England @ O2 Academy Manchester 3 w/Animal Kingdom and An Horse
July 3 Brighton, England @ Audiow/Animal Kingdom and An Horse
July 6 Oxford, England @ O2 Academy Oxford w/Animal Kingdom and An Horse
July 7 London, England @ Heaven w/Animal Kingdom and An Horse
July 9 Lisbon, Portugal @ Passeio Maritimo De Alges (Optimus Alive! 09)
Aug. 2 Jersey City, NJ @ Liberty State Park (All Points West Music & Arts Festival)
Aug. 9 Chicago, IL @ Grant Park (Lollapalooza)
Aug. 28 San Francisco, CA @ Outside Lands Music And Arts Festival