Silverstein enters its 25th year with two full-length albums set for 2025. The band that NME calls “legendary,” and Loudwire placed among the Most Prolific Rock & Metal Artists of the 21st Century, continues to innovate and inspire on forward-thinking records and at crowd-embracing live shows.
They have announced their 25 Years of Noise Australian tour with special guest, Real Friends (USA). The tour will begin at Melbourne’s Northcote Theatre on August 2nd before heading to Sydney’s Roundhouse, Adelaide’s The Gov and wrapping up at Brisbane’s The Tivoli on August 6th.
Ahead of their August shows, we spoke with vocalist Shane Told about the band’s love for Australia, songwriting, school studies and sleeping on the floor…
Sean: Hey Shane, great to chat to you. It’s Sean from The Rockpit over in Perth Australia. How are you doing?
Shane: I’m great, man. I’m great. Everything’s awesome. We have a little bit of break right now. We’ve got about another week until we get back on the road for another U.S. tour. And, yeah, man, I’m just chilling, happy to talk to some of my Australian friends.
Sean: Of course, no stranger to Australia either. It seems to be a second home for you guys. There’s been so many visits over the years.
Shane: You know, we really have felt so welcome there. Even from the very first time we came down and before Destroy All Lines were Destroy All Lines, you know, they were a much smaller entity and they brought us down and they just, I don’t know, they treated us so well and they were so kind and we worked with them forever and it just really felt right out of the gate. Everybody was so excited that we were there and we were excited to be there because we were like, “We get to go to Australia and travel and see all this stuff and like play music and even get paid a little bit” [laughs]. It was really just a beautiful thing and after that first time, I think like on the last day, we were emotional leaving and we weren’t even there that long. We didn’t want to leave and it was kind of like we left a little bit teary-eyed and we were like “When can we come back, can we come back? When can we come back? Next year?” and I think we did and we came back a lot because we just wanted to be around people who love our band and it’s beautiful weather and great food. You guys really do have it all.
Sean: Yeah, we are pretty lucky here.
Shane: And, you know, we’re kind of sad that we feel like we’ve neglected it a little bit over the past, you know, little while. I mean, COVID didn’t help and the downfall of Soundwave didn’t help either. But for us to be able to come back now, this year, and kind of definitely bring our biggest show ever to the country, it’s going to hopefully make up for a little bit of lost time.
Sean: Well, 25 years of Noise is the tour. We won’t hold it against you but no Perth this time [laughs]. But fans over the other side of the country can get out to see four fantastic shows. I see you are in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane so plenty of cities to catch you playing in.
Shane: I will say it’s a good time to use those Virgin travel points or Qantas air miles or whatever to come on over. I know you get those pretty dirt cheap flights sometimes and I hope people do. I will say that when we were planning this and there wasn’t Perth I raised my hand and I said, “What’s going on?” and I guess unfortunately it wasn’t in the cards to work it out this time but I’ve defended our band a little bit about that because I think all the times we’ve come over we’ve only not played Perth once and yeah, there’s now gonna be the second time it’s happened. I hate to sound like that’s an excuse because we really wish we were coming over there. It’s like the most probably the most beautiful part of Australia there on the west coast, so untouched but yeah I hope we can make it up to the fine people of Western Australia as soon as possible.
Sean: [laughs] Well, we forgive you and as they say absence makes the heart grow fonder so we look forward to your next visit over. It’s a strange morning here at my house as I have four very tired musicians from a Melbourne band called Shotgun Mistress. They supported Kip Winger last night on the final night of his Australian tour so they crashed here and I’ll run them out to the airport later for the flight home.
Shane: That’s really nice for you to take them in man. I was gonna say take us in because I feel like we’re the same but you know it’s funny you bring that up because the first time we were in Australia ever, when we played in Byron Bay we slept on the floor of the Parkway Drive singer’s house. He took us in and they were on tour but what was even cooler because he wasn’t even there, his parents took us in and I remember his dad made me an avocado toast and I’d never had one before… my first ever avocado toast was at Winston’s parents house in Byron Bay [laughs] so the fact that you took a band in and that you know we’ve been taken in and we slept in a garage actually, which was kind of wild but we were comfortable. There’s times you’ve got to do it sometimes.
Sean: It’s been another huge year for Silverstein already with a full length release in ‘Anti-Bloom’ and another album coming out later in the year – ‘Pink Moon’ as well. Not only have you toured constantly over the years but you’ve been a constant creative force with an incredible collection of albums in these past 25 years.
Shane: Thank you man. We’re super proud of that. We’re proud of our longevity and we’re proud of the fact that we never went away, we never took a break or a hiatus and we’ve been putting out albums non-stop, like you know every two years I think. This is going to be now three years since our last album but we are putting out two so you know it still averages out to a little bit less and we’re excited man. It’s just we felt like this is going to be our 25th anniversary, we’re going to be touring hard all year and let’s you know let’s put out two albums. Let’s stretch it out and that way we have some singles coming out all year and a lot of material for people to look forward to and just kind of try to make this, you know, the year of Silverstein.
Sean: And it is certainly shaping up to be just that. How does it work for you with creativity & writing? The quality of the songs have never diminished. We see some bands trying to cram so much into keeping that regular two or three year thing or whatever. And sometimes it slips a bit.
They’re more forced on the timeline than the finished product. The classic quantity over quality. How do you keep that productivity fresh and vibrant?
Shane: Yeah, well, thanks for noticing that. I mean, I think we’re really proud of our consistency over the years and our quality and that we haven’t slipped. And if there’s been a track or two here and there, it was almost like intentional. We spent more recording. Maybe this time we need to spend a little bit more. We need to schedule more time to be creative, which is a sort of a weird thing to say. But it really is true. You really do have to put in the time, the work. Albums don’t get easier to make, dude. Like, they just don’t. It’s like, you know, they always say, you know, you have your whole life to write your first album and it’s true and your first album is your freshest ideas. Sure you might only be 22 years old but you have a whole bunch of stuff and then by the time we’re on like album twelve, it’s like “we’ve said a lot, we’ve used a lot of metaphors. Man, I don’t want to keep using the same ones” right, so there’s where it gets harder and harder and you have to put in more and more work and I think we’ve gotten much more skilled as songwriters, as creative minds, which is great but we have to put in that work, to have it come to fruition.
This time also, for the first time ever I worked with some outside songwriters. I did some co-writes and because i’m now in the U.S., I’m living in Las Vegas, so I’m just kind of a stone’s throw from LA. And I went down there and I just was like, “you know what, let’s do it.” And I had an amazing experience working with these people because some of these people were like fans, you know, and it’s cool to do something like that, I could talk all day about this. But like a few of the people, they were younger than me, and grew up listening to my band. They were like, “yeah, I saw you play here.” And even though a lot of the times these guys are working on bullshit pop stuff, you know kind of to pay the bills, they’re like “let’s write something fucking heavy!” So it was like a really great experience and it was not what I expected. It also really gave me a lot of confidence to be in the same room as some of these writers that have gold records all over their walls and have written some incredible songs for artists and to be there with them and be able to keep up pace with them on songwriting chops was a really cool thing too, so that once I did a couple of those, I was like “Fuck let’s go. Let’s keep writing! I’m gonna keep writing” and between the stuff that I did and then the stuff that our guitar player Paul Marc (Rousseau) wrote for the record… just an absolute monster with songwriting. We had tons of songs. We had like twenty-five songs, which is part of why we ended up doing two albums because we had so much. Because a lot of times, you know, back in the day, it was like, okay, the record’s eleven songs. Well, we wrote eleven songs, and then we’re recording eleven songs, and that’s the album. So this time we had like twenty-five, which was like crazy, like a lot. And I mean, and when I say twenty-five, I mean like twenty-five done songs, not like twenty-five ditties.
Sean: That’s incredible. Taking you right back before the 25 years of noise, when did you realize that light bulb moment that music was the way you wanted to go and wanted to life like this and be so creative over these years?
Shane: That’s a cool question. You know, I think, I never really thought I would be the guy that I am today. I was just watching an interview today actually with my friend Nothing, Nowhere, Joe – you would know him as just Nothing, Nowhere and he talks about when he was in high school like all he wanted to do was work on his songs and he was recording and he was writing and he was doing all this stuff and every day he was at school being like “I don’t care about this, I’m gonna be a musician!” I was completely the opposite. I was in a punk band in high school and I loved it on the weekends, we played shows but I was like “this is never gonna happen for me, I’m working on my school” and then at the end of high school Silverstein had started but I went to university like a nerdy shit and I did that. I was in university for three years. I started my third year and then that’s when our band got signed. And I had to tell my parents that I was going to leave school for a while to do the band thing. And they were fairly supportive of it. You know, they were cautionary, but we went in the van and we started doing shows and they got bigger and bigger.
And then, the records were selling and I still didn’t feel like that guy. I still felt like it was going to be the same way as all my favourite hardcore bands, which was like, you make two records and then you break up and then you go back to real life, you know? So for us to be here 25 years later, it’s weird. It’s a trip. Even in 2004, like the late, late 2004 into 2005, I was still taking courses and doing homework in the van because I thought like, “Oh, I’m probably going to go back to school. I might as well do some courses while I can on the road.” This is like ‘Discovering the Waterfront’ was like going to come out, you know, after that we were about to record it. So it is kind of wild.
And I don’t even know when I finally was like “yeah I’m probably not going back to school.” It was pretty late in my life. I mean this has now become my life’s work and what I’m going to be known for and and I’ve accepted that and I’ve come to terms with it and I’m definitely okay with it. I never was never going to be that guy telling my teachers, “oh, fuck you. I’m going to be a rock star.” No, that is not me. I got good grades in school. I worked hard because I thought that I was going to be doing some kind of like regular job. I just, because I didn’t know anybody that was a professional musician. I never knew anybody that like, you know, got signed and made it. And that never felt like my personality really like as that kind of a person. I never had any Axl Rose kinda ego thing going on. I just was like “I’m just a regular guy and this is probably not going to happen for me” and you know, I always said you have to want to be a musician, have a plan B you know and I didn’t even have a plan. I didn’t even think it was ever in the cards for me.
Sean: I’m intrigued now. What, what would Shane Told have done if he hadn’t have been a musician with these skills you were learning at school?
Shane: I was studying molecular biology and genetics. I probably would have just done nerdy lab stuff. [laughs] I don’t know how fulfilled I would have been though.
Sean: Well before we run out of time I would love to ask a few general questions if I may Shane.
Shane: Of course man.
Sean: If you could invite three musicians, dead or alive, to join you for dinner, who would you have sat with you for the evening?
Shane: Wow, now that is a very very cool question. The first person that comes to mind is Paul McCartney – He seems like such a nice guy and so open and honest and he just always comes across like he’s so forthcoming. I feel like if you got him privately he’d tell you all kinds of stories, so he’s on my list for sure. James Hetfield from Metallica – I would love to pick his brain. Third person… dead or alive huh? Let’s get Beethoven in there. I want to know what Beethoven would think about the new Turnstile song [laughs] Let’s get weird.
Sean: [laughs] An interesting combination of gentlemen right there. And I do think that Paul McCartney is immortal. He never seems to get any younger.
Shane: It’s because it’s the fake Paul, you know. Do you know that conspiracy theory? [laughs]
Sean: It’s the clone [laughs]
Shane: [laughs] That’s right.
Sean: What was the last album you listened to?
Shane: I listened to the new album from The Callous Daoboys (I Don’t Wat To See You In Heaven). It’s coming out in May (it was released on 16th). It’s an absolute crazy album. It’s like an hour long. You name it, they do it in this record. Everything from pop and synth to deathcore. The band is absolutely wild. We just toured with them in Europe and I cannot recommend their record anymore. They got a few singles out already, but this thing is like kicking my ass and I keep listening to it and discovering new stuff so yeah, The Callous Daoboys.
Sean: OK final one… If you could be credited with writing any song ever written, what song would you chose?
Shane: It’s such a weird question because I don’t want to be credited for something I didn’t write.
Sean: You can only have it for twenty-four hours then you have to give it back [laughs]. You’re not stealing it for a lifetime.
Shane: Ah okay then. ‘Hey There Delilah’ by Plain White T’s.
Sean: Great song and a new one to the playlist!
Shane: Yeah, it’s a big scene hit so I always liked it.
Sean: Well its yours for twenty-four hours and then you can give it back with glee.
Shane: Okay, sorry Tom! [laughs]
Sean: Shane, thank you so, so much for your time. We’re going to get the dates up alongside this interview and it’s great to have you coming back to Australia again. thank you and uh thank you for uh tour when perth will be on the list i know i know
Shane: And the next time we will make sure Perth is on the list. We’ll work hard to come back and thank you Sean not only for your support but for taking in a band and also for waking up so early with me. I guess it’s back to sleep for you.
Sean: No, no – I think I’m gonna put ‘Anti-Bloom’ on very loudly and wake the other band up that are sleeping in my house [laughs].
Shane: No, no, no. Don’t do that [laughs].
Sean: Take care. All the best Shane.
Shane: All right. All the best. Bye now.
