THERE ARE
BANDS IN HEAVY METAL MUSIC THAT COMPOSE VERY GOOD SONGS AND THERE ARE BANDS
LIKE SILENCER THAT REALLY CAN WRITE GREAT METAL HYMNS. THE GUYS OF THE
BAND LIVE FOR HEAVY METAL AND WILL FIND THIS OUT WHEN YOU READ THIS INTERVIEW.
ANYWAY MY CONGRATULATIONS TO THE BAND FOR THE GREAT EP. WITH RELEASES LIKE
THAT WE DON'T FEAST ONLY TONIGHT, BUT EVERYDAY!!!
1.MY CONRATULATIONS FOR YOUR EXCELLENT
EP! IT REALLY BLEW MY HEAD OOF. NOW PLEASE MAKE A SHORT PRESENTATION OF
THE BAND FOR THE READERS AND TELL US WHICH IS THE CURRENT LINE UP.
Thanks man! Right now the band consists
of Nick Seelinger on drums, Jeff Alexis on bass guitar and myself,
Keith Spargo on guitar and vocals. We currently are searching for a full
time lead guitarist, but Dan Lynn from Ember has been filling in on lead
guitar duties for a few shows now, doing a great job.
2.FOR BEING A SILENCER, YOU ARE KINDA
NOISY! DID YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE THIS CONTROVERSY IN ORDER TO SHOW THE POWER
OF YOUR MUSIC? HOW DID YOU CHOOSE THIS NAME?
You hit the nail on the head. There
is an irony in our name. We think it interesting how our name implies quieting
something down. So we like to think that we can silence the audience with
pure volume. It also has a science fiction sort of implication, like the
"Silencer" controls information. More on this later.
3.HOW MANY RELEASES DO YOU HAVE TILL
NOW (OFFICIAL AND UNOFFICIAL) AND WHAT REPRESENTS EACH ONE OF THEM FOR
YOU AND IN THE BAND IN GENERAL?
First off is the five song EP Kozmos
that came out in 2000. It was a very straightforward EP for us and it was
good for the time. Most of those songs were written when it was just Nick
and I in the band. We hadn’t even hired Jeff or our then-guitarist Mat
Bolten yet. It did get us some good reviews for a young band and got the
ball rolling. Next was a live record we did, split with Serberus in 2001.
It was called Black Flames and Burning Worlds. Each band
had roughly 30 minutes on this CD. For us it was a good chance to capture
a few songs which were written after Kozmos was, or didn’t make that EP
for whatever reason. The night was sold out and it was good recreating
that vibe. Then this past November 2002 we released Structures, another
five song EP. The songwriting on it is much advanced over the previous
material and it shows our sound coming together the best yet. Other than
that there may be some bootlegs floating about as a fan of ours from New
Mexico tapes every show he sees of us. I’m just not sure how far
they’ve spread if they have at all.
4.TELL ME A FEW THINGS ABOUT YOUR NEW
EP "STRUCTURES". IS IT A CONCEPT? HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO PRODUCE IT?
IS TEHRE ANYTHING YOU'D LIKE TO CHANGE OR ADD?
It originally was going to be a concept
record full length. But we decided to do a five song EP instead, hoping
that we could secure a contract so we wouldn’t have to spend all that money
for a full length ourselves. So no, it is not a concept record, although
the album artwork does tie into the title track. It took exactly seven
full days to record and produce everything. Well, there was some editing
that went on after the fact, but it didn’t total too much time. There are
certain aspects of the production that we’d like changed if we had the
time, but compared to Kozmos it’s vastly superior. Overall, we’re happy
with the furthering of our sound on this EP.
5.RITCHIE WILKINSON ALSO APPEARED IN
ANGEL DUST AND DEMOSNA ND WIZARDS. CAN YOU TELL US YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH
THOSE BANDS? WHAT KIND OF PERSON IS JON SCHAFFER AFTER ALL? DO YOU PLAY
IN SILENCER AS A SESSIONIST OR ARE YOU A FULL TIME MEMBER?
We’ve only met Angel Dust, they were
a bunch of cool guys. In fact Ritchie got the job with them on a tour which
started in Denver here, and Angel Dust rehearsed in SILENCER’s practice
studio with Ritchie for the first time. Our drummer Nick actually got to
tour with Angel Dust for their "Of Human Bondage" tour because their drummer
couldn’t do that tour. I do think Nick has met Richard Christie from Demons
& Wizards once, said he was a cool guy. Pretty laid back for being
such a thrasher on the drums. None of us have met Jon Schaffer before,
but we heard lots of stories from Ritchie. Ritchie actually quit the band
last November, so that’s why we’re a three piece. He did appear on the
recording of Structures though. And no, I’m not a session player.
SILENCER is my full time band, as it is for Jeff and Nick.
6.LATELY I HAD THE CHANCE TO LISTEN
TO SOME REALLY GREAT RELEASES FROM U.S.A. IN THE CLASSIC METAL BRANCH.
IS THIS PERHAPS A SIGN THAT METAL KEEPS WINNING SOME GROUND? DESCRIBE US
HOW THE SITUATION IS NOW THERE.
Other than the big shows that come
through town that we see, we are most familiar with the unsigned underground.
The situation is getting slowly better and better, but not at a fast pace.
I don’t think metal will ever get as big as it did in the 1980’s here in
the U.S., but the quality of bands you do hear about will be better. As
long as Hollywood keeps its hands out of metal we’ll be okay. But yes,
people are realizing that good, well thought-out, non-trendy metal does
exist. You see real metal band playing to bigger and bigger audiences.
But there’s still some distance to go.
7.TELL US WHICH CLASSIC HEAVY METAL
BANDS YOU ADMIRE FROM THE U.S. ARE THERE ANY OTHER NEW BANDS FROM YOUR
COUNTRY YOU FIND TO BE VERY PROMISING? IF YES, WHICH ARE THEY?
By "classic" I think you mean, non
"nu" or what not, so I’ll go by that. Let’s see. I really like Nevermore.
The last Onward record was pretty killer. Iced Earth I haven’t been digging
as much these days, but they are still very tight live and true to the
good stuff. I saw Killswitch Engage last fall and they were really tight
live. There’s a band from Indianapolis called Amongst the Swarm which really
destroyed. In the Denver area here there is some great established talent
too. Excommunion, Deadspeak, Throcult, Drudgery and many more.
8.HAVE YOU DONE ANY LIVE SHOWS? TELL
US ABOUT THE FIRST TIME YOU GOT ON STAGE. HOW DID YOU FEEL AND WHAT DID
YOU THINK THE WHOLE TIME YOU WHERE ON STAGE?
Oh yes, we’ve done tons of live shows.
I think around one hundred shows under the SILENCER name in ten different
U.S. states. The first time I got on stage was in 1998 with the very old
lineup of this band. I remember it going by in an instant not a whole lot
of detail. I was really nervous thinking back. The crowd liked us though,
it was a great turnout. What was kinda funny was we didn’t own a PA back
then, and in practice I would sing into a mic that wasn’t plugged into
anything. The band had no idea what I was singing until that very first
show. Afterwards luckily they were impressed and were saying, "Right on
dude, that ruled!". I still sometimes can’t believe that, kinda
odd.
9.ARE YOU SATISFIED BY THE FEEDBACK
THIS FAR? WHICH WAS THE BEST AND WHICH WAS THE WORST REVIEW YOU HAVE RECEIVED?
Yes I am. The response is quite surprising
really. The band itself of course knows the limitations
of our music the best since we’ve heard it so many times. But when we read
some of these reviews when writers are comparing us to bands which we worship
it’s kind of odd. Like it hasn’t sunk in yet that we’re doing something
right. Make no mistake, we have a long way to go and the creative energy
of this band is still largely untapped in my opinion, but at least we’re
on the right track. With live shows I think we deserve the response we
get. We really play our hearts out and I think the audience can tell. Let’s
see, the best review we’ve gotten, there have been many good ones. For
our last EP Metal Maniacs and Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles gave us
both stellar reviews. For bad ones, honestly, unless there has been one
and the magazine didn’t forward it to us there really hasn’t been an all-out
bad one. One Italian metal zine did say the drums on Kozmos sounded like
tin cans or something. But that’s a production gripe luckily. For Structures
though the first few have been very positive.
10.WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO A METALLER
TO CONVINCE HIM BUY YOUR CD INSTEAD OF SOMETHING ELSE?
Well, I’d like to point to that metaller
out that our music offers quite a bit, it covers a lot of ground. I’d say
it contains a strong thrash backbone but also sports intelligent melody
and strong concept lyrically. And for around $5, it’s a great value.
11.WHICH ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE?
WHICH WILL YOUR NEXT MOVEMENT BE?
Right now we are working on a possible
two to three week tour of the west coast to support the new EP. We are
also looking into a couple shows in Colorado here. Big picture, Jeff and
I have already begun writing for our next release, however that may come
out. Although Structures is professional in appearance it still is essentially
a demo. We’d really love to release a full length album soon with proper
distribution. So I have song titles and many, many parts of songs already
going. We’d like to be ready when that time comes. We’re right now debating
whether to do the Milwaukee Metalfest again, we’ll have to see how the
money holds out. And of course we’re searching for a permanent lead guitarist.
12.IF YOU COULD BE A HISTORICAL CHARACTER
FOR A DAY, WHO WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE?
Hmmm. Being William Wallace, blood
soaked in the midst of battle would be pretty amazing. Fighting
for something worth a shit. Either that, or be John Holmes for a day back
in the 1970’s. Hah! Somewhere in the middle of those two, it would be fun
to be Emperor Magnus Caligulia for a day! Let’s see. Perhaps Galileo too.
13.IF YOU HAD THE CHANCE TO MEET THE
CREATURE THAT CREATED THE UNIVERSE,WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO ASK HIM?
Heh heh. Here’s where you and I disagree
my friend. As some of the lyrics in Kozmos allude to, I don’t believe there
is a creator. There’s definitely balance in the universe, but I’m atheist.
I wouldn’t mind meeting another form of life though. That would be interesting,
to be the first to interact with other intelligent life.
14.YOU ARE GRANTED ONE WISH. WHAT WOULD
YOU LIKE TO CHANGE IN THE WORLD?
Hmmm. You know, I always have a hard
time picking just one thing when asked questions like this. I know it’s
impossible or unrealistic to eliminate religion. And some people actually
do get something good out of it. But it would be nice if there was no war
because religion. It’s so ludicrous when you think about it. You have all
these people killing and torturing each other over whose god is more good
and loving than the other’s. Come on people! Another wish might be a way
to have a technologically sustainable way of living. Because we’re
killing our poor planet.
15.WHAT TITLE WOULD YOU LIKE THIS INTERVIEW
TO HAVE?
"At the table of the Bruising Feast".
16.THANK YOU! HAVE I FORGOTTEN TO ASK
YOU ANYTHING AND YOU'D LIKE TO MENTION?
You’re welcome. You and your zine are
a member of the metal underground, which most metalheads need to realize
is an incredibly precious resource that hardly ANY other form of music
has. We degenerates need to continue to band together! It’s us against
them! Thrash on brother.