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Soundwave - Silverstein Silverstein are certainly no strangers to Australian shores, the Canadian band about to embark on their fourth trip over for the annual Soundwave festival, and it is coming close to time for them to drop their fourth studio album, 'A Shipwreck In The Sand'. While he didn't mention how the record is sounding musically, drummer Paul Koehler sheds some light on the theme behind the album. "Shane [Told, vocals] wrote a fictional story for the record and basically developed all of the lyrics and all of the songs individually off that story. It deals with things like social issues and different kinds of things and it may pertain to one song, but altogether it forms one big story for the album. It has continuity but it still makes it different from our last record. It's a bit more ambitious, it's fun and it's been challenging but it's great because it is different and is uncharted waters for us and it has come together quite nicely so far." A lot of bands venture off interstate/ overseas to work with their producer of choice - such was the case for their previous album 'Arrivals And Departures', which saw Silverstein venture to California to work with Mark Trombino (Blink 182, Gyroscope). This time, they chose to stay close to home and record with Cameron Webb who the band also worked with on their second album 'Discovering The Waterfront'. Koehler is quick to show his enthusiasm when talking about this reunited partnership. "We brought him back in because we really felt that that was our best-sounding and best-produced record and he brought a lot of good ideas into it so we were glad we're working with him again. We have spent a lot of time on the record too - because we have been at home in Canada we've had the luxuries of having that time. So we have used that time to add things to the record like extra guitars and stuff. I think it is going to sound a lot more layered and a lot more complex musically than the previous record." "The vibe has actually been pretty laid back for me and I think that's sparked the added creativity because we're home so we get to be in the studio all day and then we get to go home at night and reflect on what we did that day so we're always coming in refreshed and have a lot of cool ideas. Our producer is really great at capturing that kind of creativity and motivating us so it's been more like we went in with a plan for the record and it has become a lot more than we ever expected and we're really excited about that," he enthuses. Four albums down, and over half a million copies sold, Silverstein are about to hit a huge landmark that not so many bands reach these days - "just over a year from now will be our tenth year as being a band and I don't really know where the time went. The first couple of years we were still in high school and stuff but we have definitely grown a lot since then we just keep looking forward, don't see an end and we always seem to do well so we aren't going to stop anytime soon." As mentioned earlier Silverstein are about to embark on their fourth adventure to our shores for the Soundwave Festival. According to Koehler, the line up is incredible when comparing it to festivals in his country. "That festival would be huge in America, it is such a good line-up. The festival organisers have done a really good job with it and going all out. There is such a huge fanbase with this kind of music down there and what they've really done is looked at it and put all aspects of it together. It's like really all or nothing. They have delivered on quality bands and I think that's what's going to make it really successful as a festival. There's a lot of really good music that is on this festival including bands that aren't on major labels and aren't on the radio but still do extremely well so I think it's a really good statement for the genre." So if you're heading to Soundwave, be sure to check out Silverstein as they are undoubtedly one of the most energetic and seasoned performers on the line up, and there's also a good chance that they will be playing some tracks from their forthcoming album. Fiona Stafford |