Give ‘em Shel: Totally Crushed Out v. Silverstein

by Ryan Pangilinan

Long-running Canadian outfit Silverstein have been steadily putting out records for over a decade and unlike many of their “screamo” peers that were popular when they were gaining a foothold in the States, they’ve been able to deliver consistent, yet challenging, albums, such as 2005’s “Discovering the Waterfront” and 2009’s “A Shipwreck in the Sand.”

Following the end of their run with hardcore label, Victory, Silverstein have found a new home in Hopeless Records and have already released three records, one of which is their new full-length, “Rescue,” an album that finds the quintet back to their more-aggressive roots.

Recently, singer Shane Told talked to Totally Crushed Out about the writing process for their new record, ending their run of concept albums, and their current outing on the Take Action Tour with Bayside and Polar Bear Club.

Totally Crushed Out: I know that “Shipwreck in the Sand” and “Arrivals and Departures” had a lot of connecting thematic elements to them, but I feel that “Rescue” is an album that has a lot of standalone songs. Was that a conscious decision when you were writing and recording “Rescue?”

Shane Told: Absolutely. The way “Rescue” was written and put together was so much different from the way that “Shipwreck in the Sand” was put together. I had the idea for the concept, which was based on the U.S. economy at the time, as uncertain as everything was, and putting a family in the story surrounding it. The way it was written was that we had about three months where we wrote all the music and I put all the words around it and it fit the concept.

With “Rescue,” we wrote over the course of an entire year and we could write a few songs, go on tour, and come back to them. We would rework the songs a bit and write new songs, so it was written in that kind of a way. Conceptually, it didn’t feel right to think of some concept that I wasn’t completely immersed in and try to work all these songs into it, you know?  It wasn’t in the cards and I didn’t want to force that kind of an idea.

Do you feel as the band’s primary lyricist, was it less stressful for you to write to something that has more standalone elements to it rather than compile bits and pieces of a whole story?

Yeah, there were times when we were working on “Shipwreck” when I thought I was kind of losing my mind and I was really stressed out and really worried about it…. Interestingly enough, sometimes when you’re writing something like [a concept record], it’s actually easier because you know where you’re starting.

Another thing I find interesting about Silverstein, is that you guys were tagged at the beginning of the 2000s with the whole screamo scene, but you guys have consistently put out records and stuck it out. What I find cool is when I talk to other hardcore kids, you guys are one of the few bands that everybody seems to agree on or generally like because there is a lot of diversity in your records. Is that sort of a weird thing to think about, especially considering you’ve been around for over a decade?

It is weird to think about how long we’ve done this and the shit we’ve seen, I guess. It’s funny because a long time ago, I was talking to somebody about some band – this is such an obscure conversation I had when I was 17 years old…but I think about conversation a lot. I don’t even remember what band we were talking about, but…I said, “I guess I kinda like this band, but I’m not sure if I really like their style of music or whatever….” And this guy said, “That band is great because they write great songs and maybe you don’t like that kind of music sometimes, but that band’s gonna be around for a long time because they write great songs and it doesn’t matter what kind of music you play. When you strip a song down to chords, melody, and lyrics – because that’s what every song is – and it’s still a great song, then it’s timeless.”

I’ve always remembered that and every time we work on something, I always think to myself, “Is this a great song? Can this be played in any genre of music and still be great?” And I think that’s kind of what kept us [with our] longevity.

“Rescue” is out on Hopeless and I feel like since you announced the signing, you’ve had a steady stream of releases – the “Transitions EP,” the “Record Store Day EP” and now, “Rescue.” How much material did you guys have from the end of Victory to transitioning to Hopeless, because it seems like there’s quite a bit, not that there’s anything wrong with that.

I’m glad you noticed. It’s funny because I think you’re the first person to notice that, but I’m glad you noticed because it really was true. The biggest reason – and I don’t want to shit-talk Victory because they did a lot of great things for us – but they were never down with us doing anything cool. We were never able to do EPs, and I fucking love EPs, but we were able to do “Transitions” on Hopeless, we did the Record Store Day 7” which came out a couple weeks ago – they put us in a studio and gave us money to record three old punk rock hardcore songs for that 7”, knowing full well that they wouldn’t make any money on it, we weren’t going to make any money on it. It was just something we wanted to do for fun, so the fact that we were able to do those things on Hopeless was just really cool. And video-wise, they were like “Oh yeah, we want you to do a video. Here’s some money, go do the video.” Just to have a relationship like that with the label is really good, rather than just be like “Make a record for us, tour for two years, then make another record, tour for two years…” that kind of cycle is just painfully boring and we wanted to be able to do lots of other things.

You guys are currently on the Take Action Tour. What is the charity that the tour is supporting this year?

It’s called Sex Etc. It’s basically a sex education awareness program, mainly geared towards teenagers because the sex education in schools is inadequate and there’s a lot of problems with teen pregnancy and things like that. That’s what they’re trying to accomplish.

And you guys are also touring with Bayside, which must be fun and seem like a reunion of sorts.

Yeah, it is. We’ve known those guys forever. We met them on our first US tour ever. We met in Columbus, OH and we didn’t think anyone was going to come to our show, so we walked around the Ohio State campus handing out fliers. It was a funny experience, but we bonded back then and we’re still friends.

Silverstein is out on the Take Action Tour with Bayside, Polar Bear Club and Texas in July. Their fifth album, “Rescue,” is out now on Hopeless Records.