Issue 15 by Symphonatic Magazine

AT SUNSET PVRIS PERIPHERY RIVVRS ROOM 94 SILVERSTEIN

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STAFF FOUNDER EDITOR IN CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER & DESIGNER S H A N A MY E R S

co desi gner & photographer B R A N DY N N L E IG H

P HOTOG R A P H E R S Abby Gillardi, Abby Griffey, Alicia Rangel, Amanda Jensen, Amanda Puglisi, Amber Chillscyzn, Ashleigh Brooke, Brandynn Leigh, Brian Baker, Cassie Deadmond, Chelsea Gresh, Claire Tullius, Courtney Cook, Cydnee Burden, Hannah Christine, Jaclyn David-Martinez, Jacob Lahah, Kait Rairden, Kelli Coyne, Kim Marie, Kimberly Manfre, Lauren Zaknoun, Lori Gutman, Maeva Valbousquet, Matthew Howard, Meaghan Brown, Melanie Jacknow, Mika Schmeling, Penelope Martinez, Priten Vora, Shana Myers, Taylor Novak, Victoria George

W R IT E R S Alexa, Ayla Elder, Branda Cavanna, Candace Carter, Hannah Liming, Josie Adnitt, Lindsy Carr, Lu Lu Green, Maisie King, Mike Martin, Mila Hrisimova, Miriam Morek, Pitrina Gilger, Sarah Kempster, Scarlett Grant, Teigan Bond, Tom Robertson

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ON THE COVER

SILVERSTEIN

CONTENTS SHOW REVIEWS

ALBUM REVIEWS

SEETHER

U P O N A B U R N I N G B O D Y 14 INTERVIEWS

12 A T S U N S E T 16 P V R I S 26 P E R I P H E R Y 30 R I V V R S 36 R O O M 9 4 38 S I L V E R S T E I N

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album r e v i e w s 6

ARTIST: ANGELS & AIRWAVES ALBUM: THE DREAM WALKER RELEASE DATE: DECEMBER 9, 2014

There has been a long wait for fans of Angels and Airwaves. The Dream Walkis their fifth studio album and the follow up to 2011’s Love: Part Two. The band started in 2005 as Tom Delong’s side project and has since been overshadowed and compared to Delong’s work as a member of Blink-182. With the new album, the band continues their style of cinematic songs with distortion, synth, and their alternative rock sound. The first track to be released was “Paralyzed” followed by the single “The Wolf Pack”. The first is a mixture of their old sound with new elements but the latter is much more interesting and works well as a single. The mid tempo song is catchy with varied synth and balanced drums which provides a good idea of what to expect from the rest of the album. The first song on the album is “Teenagers And Rituals”, its strong instruments are what make the song work. It has a slow introduction with building piano and strong bass guitar. As in other AVA albums, some of the lyrics may be confusing but it adds curiosity and makes you want to listen to the song again to figure out its meaning. The biggest standout on the album is “Bullets In The Wind” which is interesting from the start and contains strong vocals with meaningful lyrics. Tom’s voice is much louder and easier to hear than in the other songs and it makes me wish that the other songs were produced in the same way. Another standout is “Anomaly” but for a different reason. The acoustic based love song easily has heartfelt lyrics that you can connect to and the minimal additions to the song allow you to easily pay attention to his message. The album has its hits and misses but as a whole it doesn’t bring in anything brand new in regards to their previous releases and is predictable at best. er

REVIEW BY: LINDSY CARR

ARTIST: FALL OUT BOY ALBUM: AMERICAN BEAUTY / AMERICAN PSYCHO RELEASE DATE: JANUARY 20, 2015

After over ten years since their first release, Fall Out Boy is a band that continues to change and make their sound increasingly dynamic. This can easily be heard throughout their sixth studio album, American Beauty/American psycho. The first half of the album’s name comes from an album by The Grateful dead and the latter comes from a book by Brent Ellis. It opens with the horn driven “Irresitible” and its lyrics contain references to culture, a theme found throughout the album. As lyricist/bassist, Pete Wentz has explained, the song was was inspired by Sex Pistol bassist, Sid Vicious, and Nancy Spungen’s deadly romance. While the first single, Centuries, became a notable radio hit containing a sample of Tom’s Diner by Susan Vega, the title track caused confusion when it was released as the second single in December. The layered vocal effects and use of too many instruments causes the song to be overly busy. However, the rest of the album makes up for it. The album’s catchiest song, “Uma Thurman” is a pop rock song which contains a sample of the 1960s sitcom The Munsters. Instead of taking away, it makes the song more interesting by adding an extra element to it that blends well along with the other instruments. In regards to who the song is named aftter, rather than going with the traditional Uma Thurman role, the song was inspired by her role in the movie Kill Bill. The chorus is about a woman being empowered while the verses are about what someone would do to catch that woman’s affection. My personal favorite, Fourth Of July, is simply powerful with Patrick’s strong vocals and varied drum beat. When they streamed the song, the only note posted along with it was “T’es la plus belle saison de ma vie” which translates to “You’re the most beautiful season of my life.” While it’s the kind of song you’d dance along to, the lyrics tell a different story. As the song slows down, Patricks sings “I wish I’d known how much you loved me/I wish I cared enough to know/I’m sorry every song’s about you/The torture of small talk with someone you used to love”. While the album as a whole is a nod to pop culture and how the world is constantly changing, they’ve managed to make a song that relates to one of their own releases. Containing a darker and heavier sound, “Novocaine” sounds like part two of Save Rock And Roll’s “The Phoneix”.The song states “this is our culture”, an accurate sum of what the record is.The band has continued to make songs with lyrics full of substance and know how to reinvent their 7 symphonaticmagazine.com sound with each release. REVIEW BY: LINDSY CARR

ISLANDER

PAPA ROACH

SEETHER

Tonight was going to be a good show at the Fillmore Silver Spring. The Papa Roach and Seether co-headlining tour hit the Fillmore in Silver Spring, MD with openers Kyng and Islander. This was a night to remember, and here’s what went down. First up was Islander. I had never really listened to Islander before but I know I was in for a show when the lights dropped and this dramatic red fog came out. Fans were waiting anxiously for them to come out and when they did, it was fantastic and hard. Fans seemed to get a good vibe from their sound and everyone was enjoying their set. The lead singer at one point walked on the crowd doing this monumental stance. The energy really got the crowd pumped for the rest of the show. Next up was Kyng. This was another band I had never heard before. Their set was full of fast guitar breakdowns. Attendees really enjoyed their set and this was another really great opening band for this show. Seether was next and everyone was anticipating on a great performance by them. When I walked into the photo pit, they started to let out fog onto the stage. Their lighting was superb. There were strobes that went perfectly along with the beat of their sound. It really captured the intensity of their music and got the fans pumped up for an awesome show. Seether was all over the place on the stage. From switching microphone stands to hair flips they were setting the mood for a crazy show. Seether knows what they are doing and fans were enjoying their music and live performance. They really set the bar high for Papa Roach to perform next. Papa Roach put on a phenomenal show. The lead singer was all over the place. Getting into photographers in the photo pits face and really rocking out to the sound of their music. You can tell that he loved doing what he does best, playing music. The fans reaction to Papa Roach’s performance was insane. They seemed to resonate really well with Papa Roach’s performance, and in return the fans went crazy. I don’t think during a single moment of their entire set did I see a concertgoer not jumping. At the end of the show, fans were certainly happy with the concert experience. Papa Roach and Seether were the highlight of the night in Silver Spring, MD, which made this event a concert to remember. R E V I E W & P H O T O S B Y: J A C O B L A H A H symphonaticmagazine.com

Opening first on the tour was The Last Ten Seconds of Life. I had never seen or heard of The Last Ten Seconds of Life but they had an interesting performance. They were full of energy. The lead singer was all over the place on the stage and really took use of the stage to create a very energetic show. After them was Gideon. This band seems to be one of those bands slowly creating a buzz in the scene. During their set you could see the crowd participation increase between each song. Everything about their sound was clear and powerful. They did a good job at getting the fans warmed up for the next band. Volumes was next and who I was most looking forward to seeing at this show. They had a phenomenal performance. These guys are known for having a “groove” to their metal music. They captured this perfectly live and it was absolutely great. You could tell that fans were really enjoying their set. The first headliner, Upon a Burning Body, was next. Their stage had this awesome display of their symbolic Texas horns on both sides of the stage. They had these tracks playing in-between songs that really set the mood for their set. It was dark, mysterious, and very intense at times. This band doesn’t get enough credit for what they put out. Their music sounded so clean live you could compare it to album quality. After watching them play you could tell fans were tired from partying to their set. But they weren’t done yet because of Veil of Maya was up next. Veil of Maya really surprised me at this tour. I had recently seen them at Mayhem festival this summer. They have set the bar really high for bands in the metal-core scene. Their set was very in-your-face. The production during their set was great. They had very fast acting flashing strobes and dramatic lighting that contrasted really well with the loud and heavy music. I definitely was shocked at their performance and also astonished by the fans response. It got really rowdy with crowd surfers and moshing everyone. Veil of Maya really showed their metal roots on this tour. Upon a Burning Body and Veil of Maya proved me wrong about this tour. It was definitely a show I’ll remember. 10R E V I E W & P H O T O S B Y: J A C O B L A H A H

SLOW YOUR TROLL AND KNOW YOUR ROLE TOUR

When I first saw that this tour was announced, I was very skeptical on how the metal-core and underground scene would respond to this tour. I wasn’t so sure how turn out rates would be for each date and how crazy the show would get. I originally thought that this tour would be disappointment. But to my surprise, the Baltimore, MD date of the tour shocked me as to how fans reacted. Let me tell you Veil of Maya and Upon a Burning Body know how to put a show, and with a staked lineup for the night, this was a show you’d never forget.

V E I L O F M AY A

U PO N A B U R N I NG BO DY

VOLUMES

GIDEON

THE LAST TEN SECONDS OF LIFE

THE LAST TEN SECONDS OF LIFE symphonaticmagazine.com

Can you give me your name and role in the band? Hi I’m Andrew and I play piano and sing.

We don’t usually fight on the road unless we are fighting about playing xbox.

One of your band members, Jae, left the band For those who have not heard of you how would just a few months ago, what was it like watching you describe your music? him leave? I like to describe our music as pop rock. We are still friends with Jae, so watching him leave wasn’t too hard knowing that we can still Are there any artists that you compare yourself catch up and be mates. to? We don’t compare ourselves to these guy beAfter he left Tom joined the group, what was cause they are incredible but we really look up this change like? How did you find out about too Jonas brothers, blink 182 and Simple Plan him? How did your fans react to this? The change was better than we ever thought. Andrew and Harrison are brothers, what is it Tom is such a great bloke. I mean, we aren’t like working with your siblings? Do you fight a just mates with him, Tom has become the third lot? brother. It’s not so bad, I mean, Harrison doesn’t fight We met him through a studio in our home town with me because he knows I’ll win ;) Adelaide about a year before he joined the band, since we met him, we would chill, hang symphonaticmagazine.com

out and play Xbox until we asked him to join the band. Our fans have always been incredibly supportive. Jae leaving, I’m sure would have upset some fans, but every one of them have welcomed Tom into the At Sunset family with open arms. What is it like going from a solo act to joining a band? (specifically for Tom) I speak to Tom about this all the time, he says, being a solo artist is boring, when your in a band, you can share all the amazing things your doing, with your two best mates. Since Tom joined you have re-released your song “Back In Time,” how does it compare to the original? What was it like being featured on MTV’s Buzzworthy? The song hasn’t changed too much, we got Tom’s vocals on the song and he really sings his parts amazingly. It was so surreal app resting on MTV’s Buzzworthy, I’ve grown up watching it and to have our song played is an amazing feeling. You do a lot of covers on YouTube, some reaching over a million views, what does it mean having so many people listening to your music? Which has been your favorite cover so far? YouTube is where we started, we know how hard it was to gain the first couple thousand views and we know how hard our first few fans worked to share it around for us. We appreciate every single little view and we know without our fans, we would never have gotten a video to hit over a million views. My favorite cover so far is ‘Wonderland’ by Taylor Swift. We really got to make this cover our own. Not to mention, the video was so funny to shoot! Which do you enjoy more, doing covers or playing your original songs? Playing our original songs for sure. Covers are fun but nothing beats the feeling of playing the music we write in our bedrooms, to thousands of people. What has been your most memorable moment since your band formed?Do you have any stories

you would like to share? I think, my most memorable experience was when we played a show in the US and had the audience singing our lyrics back to us. I mentioned earlier, these lyrics, we write them sitting in our bedroom at home and to travel to the other side of the world and have people sing them to us.... Most amazing feeling ever. SOCIAL MEDIA /bandatsunset /AtSunsetAus /bandatsunset http://www.atsunsetmusic.com/

I N T E R V I E W B Y: B R A N D A C A V A N N A P H O T O S: P R O V I D E D

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NOT A LOT OF BANDS CAN SAY THEY HAD as a remarkable year as PVRIS did. The New England three-piece made up of singer Lynn Gunn on rhythm guitarist, Alex Babinski on lead guitar and Brian MacDonald on bass and keyboard have a diverse sound that ranges anywhere gritty alternative rock to synthpop. 2014 saw PVRIS release their first full length album, White Noise, take a brand new spot on Rise/Velocity Records’ roster as their first and only female-fronted band, and tour relentlessly across the country. It’s only appropriate that the last couple days of the year should be spent at the top of their game as headliners. Is this the first time you’re headlining? Lynn Gunn: Yeah! This is our first time headlining. Alex Babinski: There were a couple one-offs here and there but now it’s starting to become a thing. How was the show last night? LG: Last night [in Albany] was crazy. We knew we sold quite a few tickets but we weren’t 18

expecting so much interaction and kids going crazy. We played that venue a couple months ago and it was like 40 kids and last night it was around 250 or something. We were like “What’s going on?” We’ve been following you guys for a while so it’s awesome to see you guys progressing like that. LG: Thank you. Symphonatic Magazine: And there are some kids that have been sitting outside since like 10AM. LG: We went out and saw them. We were like you guys are crazy, go warm up at a Starbucks or something. Do you guys get a lot of that? Fans that come from really far away and show up early? Brian MacDonald: We recently had that, last night. There were people coming from Mexico, California, Edmonton, all sorts of people flying in. LG: Some kids came from Chicago. They’re insane, but in the best way.

So 2014 was a crazy year for you guys, so much new stuff has happened. Has it gotten overwhelming at all? LG: Kind of. AB: When I get overwhelmed it’s more because I’m thinking about the future because crazy stuff’s about to happen. LG: Yeah. I mean, I do a lot of design stuff and a lot of the visual stuff so our manager is always like “Make me this, make me this, make me this.” [All laugh] It’s like, shit, I can’t keep up with this! So I feel like that stresses me out but I feel like we’re all overwhelmed equally with what’s going on but in a good way… It’s a good overwhelming.

of together and everything’s falling into place. Everything’s happening very quickly but we’ve been working at it for quite a while but now it’s cool to see it happening, like now it’s kicking in. SM: From an outsider perspective, I’m sure it’s more like “Oh, two years! That’s all it took them?” But when you’ve been working at it, that’s a different story. LG: We had a lot of plotting and scheming and just waiting around, making sure everything was right.

A lot of young bands have that pop punk “get me out of this town” mentality. Has that driven you at all? [All laugh] AB: I wouldn’t say so. Success has come fast for you guys, does it LG: I think that mentality is cool but I don’t think surprise you at all how quickly you’ve taken we really have it too much. off? AB: I like my town. LG: I don’t feel like it’s been fast because we’ve LG: I like my town, too. …I’m from Lowell, [Alex] is been working at this for two years or somefrom…kind of all over. thing? AB: I’m from all over New England, that’s really BM: Yeah, a couple of years. it. I’m from everywhere. LG: But now we finally have everything kind LG: And Brian’s from New Hampshire.

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SM: Then you guys have been touring so much, sometimes is it nice to just go home because it seems like you’re always on the road. BM: It’s refreshing to go home for a little bit and see family and friends but I like being on the road a lot, meeting new people and making new friends. LG: Yeah, you get kind of sick [of being home] after like a week. BM: After being home for a day or two then it’s like you’re itching to go out for that new show. You guys have a pretty big social media following, lots and lots of fans. Is keeping your fans accessible to you an important of being in the band? LG: Yeah! BM: Yeah, absolutely. And we always say they’re not our fans, they’re our friends. Because if they’re flying out from all over the world, they become our friends and we get to talk to them and hang out with them when we go visit them. SM: That’s a good mentality to keep. PVRIS has collaborated with a lot of other artists. What’s the most fun part of collaborating? LG: Just hearing different people’s brains. That sounds weird, saying hearing different people’s brains but you know what I mean? You’re hearing what they’re thinking when they sing and stuff. Who’s been the most fun to work with? LG: I think mostly Blake [Harnage, producer of White Noise and member of Versa]. What were you gonna say? AB: I was gonna say that’s mostly you, you’re the one who collabs mostly. LG: Well, Blake and I, we’re always collaborating because we do a lot of the record stuff together. Probably Blake because his brain is insane and all over the place and just as weird as mine so the two of ours is just [angel choir sounds]. How about in the future? Would you like to collaborate on a song with anybody? LG: So many different people. What about you guys? BM: Rihanna, Katy Perry. symphonaticmagazine.com

AB: [laughs] What would that be called? LG: Who knows! SM: I’d give my left arm to hear that. LG: I would give my left arm to do that. I would wanna collab with Florence Welch from Florence + the Machine. …Her voice is like my number one inspiration. You’re all pretty upbeat people. LG: We try. BM: Yeah, we’re very positive. I think it comes across pretty well. As far as

LG: We let it all out.

White Noise goes, that alternates between lighter sound and pretty dark themes. Is making that kind of music cathartic at all? LG: That’s my favorite word. SM: Glad I could work in those SAT words. BM: [laughs] LG: The first time I saw that word, I was like “that’s that feeling!” and I loved it immediately so I’m so happy you used that word ‘cause it absolutely is. It’s like… writing, for [us], is such an outlet and… you just get all the demons out. BM: Get all your emotions and everything out. LG: I think that’s why we’re so happy. AB: Definitely.

all the time. Like if you make the same record and the same songs over and over again then Do you feel different once you’ve let it all out? what’s the point? Put one record out and then BM: Absolutely quit what you’re doing. You want to progress LG: And it’s cool because a lot of the times the and you want to get better and evolve and songs will come back to our lives and relate to it always be stepping up your game from record in a different way than how we wrote them, so to record. So people should never expect the even hearing them is just as freeing. same thing from us. Always expect something a little different and left of center from what we PVRIS’ sound really changes from release to originally do. release. Everything sounds so unique. Can you elaborate a little on why that is? What are some of the lines or songs you’re most LG: We just like making music that we like to proud of from White Noise? hear and music we wanna hear is always BM: I love “Fire.” Fire’s my favorite. changing. I think it’s stupid to stick to one sound AB: “Ghost” and “White Noise” are my two fa-

vorites. The lyrics, those are just my favorite lyrics. BM: “Fire” punches, and…I always say it’s like so aggressive to the point where people listen to it and they can relate it to something in their lives. Like you know that one person who’s annoying them and kind of walking all over them [and] they can just get it out and get them out of their lives and stuff. LG: I think for me, either “Ghosts” or “Holy” because they’re the two most personal…for me. [They were] kind of hard to put out into the world, but we did it. BM: And last night we played, [Lynn] was…I saw her while she was signing “Ghost”… [and] the crowd was singing back. Everyone gets those emotions where everyone got something out. …a huge crowd of people singing back, it’s [amazing] you know what I mean? It was really cool to see it. LG: It was really crazy.

You guys recently wrapped up touring with Mayday Parade and Tonight Alive. AB: Best tour ever. LG: Oh, it was so fun. SM: Did you guys take away any fun memories or lessons learned? LG: So many. AB: A lot. Tonight Alive were our best friends and we miss ‘em so much. We always keep in contact with them and we’re always…you know, we miss them so much! Just such great people. BM: And Mayday Parade and Major Leagues as well. Everyone was just so nice and welcoming to us on the tour LG: That was the first tour that we left where we were like crap, we don’t wanna leave anybody. Usually we’ll be like “Oh, okay we’ll miss you but like… One of the best things about that album is there’s a we can survive.” But this one, when we left Tonight lot of interesting religious/supernatural imagery. Alive and we were almost crying. We were like LG: Yeah, we’re all super into ghost stories and [tearfully] “Bye, guys! We’ll miss you so much.” aliens and paranormal stuff and all that. It kind of fits into the aesthetic. Both of those bands were on Warped Tour the last BM: Yeah, it fits into our experiences. couple of years. Did you happen to run into them then or was [touring] when you really got to be Babinski’s Christmas sweater, lined cheerily with friends? satanic crosses, fits right in with their aesthetic as BM: We ran into Mayday. We met them before [the well. tour]. AB: Yeah, because they knew about the tour on AB: I didn’t know that’s what that was. I’m scared to Warped so we got to meet them. wear it now. BM: We got to exchange numbers and hang out. LG: Satanism isn’t a bad thing if you look into it. Tonight Alive weren’t there. BM: Satanism is a whole perspective on not just LG: They were there two years ago though. I rejumping to one conclusion. I looked up stuff on it member walking by their tent during a signing and and there’s a church and everything. Jenna was there and I was like “That’s the girl from LG: It’s not necessarily evil. Tonight Alive!” and I would never have thought that BM: I mean the name “Satanism,” it doesn’t neces- we’d be on a tour with them or anything. Just fast sarily come off well. forward two years. LG: If you look up the guidelines, it’s like “respect your neighbor.” That’s like, things most people Speaking of Warped Tour, how has that experience should probably live by! We’re not Satanists or any- been for you? This past summer, you went on it for thing but we look into other stuff just to see what an extended stay but the summer before you had it’s like. …We’re not Satanists. one or two dates. How’s that been from year to BM: We’re nothing! year? LG: We aren’t really religious, we’re just really into LG: Crazy. [the] supernatural so I guess we’re spiritual. We’re SM: Your following got a lot bigger between that open-minded and spiritual. time. SM: Didn’t think we were gonna take that turn LG: When we… found out we were doing the two there. weeks, we were like “Cool.” We weren’t expecting LG: No, no it’s fine! kids to go out of their way and come watch our set, BM: It was fun. we thought we were gonna have to try and lure LG: People have been like “Are you a Christian kids in while we played but almost every set we band?” And we’re like “No.” [laughs]. But I can see played this year, kids were already ready to see us. why they would think that. So it was cool to see the growth from year to year. symphonaticmagazine.com

Actually, being on [Warped Tour] was really cool. Made a lot of friends. Any good memories? BM: Oh yeah. LG: Do you listen to Bad Rabbits? There was one night where they hosted the [Warped] barbeque. They have barbeques every couple of nights. Bad Rabbits were DJing and they played a live set at the barbeque and it was basically just a giant dance party. It was one of the most fun nights ever. BM: It was like every band that was on Warped, drinking… LG: Drinking and dancing. BM: Everyone was friends, we were all laughing and stuff. It was just really cool to see. That was my favorite memory. [Alex] was sleeping in the van. AB: Yeah, I missed it. BM: Missed out on one of the best nights ever. LG: It really was. Are you guys going back to Warped for summer of 2015? BM: We don’t know yet. LG: I don’t know. We might be, we can’t really say. Maybe, we want to. SM: Fingers crossed. BM: Fingers crossed, yeah.

LG: He says that all the time. AB: Brian told me he’s gonna do it. LG: I’d say those two things ultimately. And then for goals, we like to keep our goals secret until they’re accomplished already because then nobody can be like “You can’t do that.” You’re just like “Look what I did, look what I did, look what I did!” You can just be like… AB: Look what I did! [laughs] LG: That way you don’t have anyone doubting you… That’s my mantra: don’t share your goals until you’ve made them happen. BM: Yep. I try not to and I always have people doubt me and you’re like okay, cool. But I use that as good energy to prove them wrong. Anything you guys would like to add? LG: Thanks for all the support. BM: Yeah, thank you for everything. LG: And [for] staying and hanging out with us. AB: Seriously. LG: Thank you for hanging out with us. SM: Any time.

There’s no question that things will keeping heating up for PVRIS. They’ll be hitting the road with Pierce the Veil and Sleeping with Sirens on their world tour beginning January 23rd. PVRIS ended 2014 with an intimate headlining show in Hartford, Conn., boasting a haunting, visceral set that had the venDo you guys have any resolutions or goals you want ue bursting with the thrill and power behind each to accomplish for 2015? of their songs. It won’t be any surprise if they end AB: What do you think? 2015 the very same way. BM: I always have to go first, everyone always looks at me. SOCIAL MEDIA LG: That’s ‘cause I’m always talking... AB: I don’t have a resolution, I never even thought /thisispvris of it. BM: I don’t know, just to have good vibes and stay /PVRISBandMa healthy and stay positive about the things going on in my life. That’s basically it, I try to do that all the /thisispvris time. I like doing that. LG: What about you? http://www.pvris.com/ AB: I don’t know. I’ve never had a resolution before. LG: Really? AB: Never in my life. LG: I know mine. Definitely wanna read more, stay off technology a little bit more and just do things that are actually practical rather than just surfing twitter for like 10 hours. BM: Yeah, that’s a good one. LG: So read more, exercise more with Brian, and then… AB: Oh, actually, I’m gonna get ripped next year.

symphonaticmagazine.com 25 P H O T O S & I N T E R V I E W B Y: L A U R E N Z A K N O U N

Your studio albums, Juggernaut: Alpha and Juggernaut: Omega come out January 27th, what was the inspiration behind them? Nolly: For the first time we actually had a go at doing a concept album, which is quite a departure from what we’re used to and quite a massive shift, and we’ve been talking about doing this for a while. Pretty much since Misha (Mansoor) started the band he’s wanted to do something under the title Juggernaut and actually started writing songs with Juggernaut in the title maybe 6 years ago or more so it’s been a long time coming. Ever since the self-titled album we’ve been getting questions about when there was going to be a Juggernaut album, so the fans are really excited about this. Spencer actually wrote a very involved story, which we’ll kind of expand on once it’s actually out, but because of that the music actually wraps in with the lyrics and musically it’s also less of a “shreddy”, instrumentally based album, and it’s much more about the lyrics and the instruments set more of a tone. It’s a little bit more cinematic and darker than our previous releases. Why a double album? Just because it’s so much music to ingest, its 80 minutes of material and also the story behind the concept has such a dramatic shift halfway through so the music echoes that. When you listen to the two albums there is slightly a difference to the two. The first has kind of an upbeat sound, although it’s still kind of dark, but the second album takes quite a turn off the darker/ deep end and the lyrics definitely echo that. It gives us a chance to give the fans more artwork to go with it and more to experience with the whole package Favorite part about touring? Exploring new cities, and meeting people from all around the world whether it’s in America or all around the world. It’s fascinating to see how different all these areas are, culturally, even in just the United States, here we are in the south and it’s much different from the north east coast or the Pacific Northwest. Which is so fascinating for me, being the only non-American in the band. One thing, particularly, about me is that I’m a bit of a coffee snob. It gives me a chance to enjoy all sorts of different café’s. I had a pretty fantastic cup of coffee today at a place called Weekend

Café. Least favorite? Missing home, it’s quite a tough thing to share this small space we’re in (bus) with 11 other people. Pretty much the only private space that you have is your bunk. Even the smallest things get on your nerves every once in a while, but from that we’ve learned how to communicate with each other and learned how each other work. But at the same time it’s so worth it to go and see different parts of the world and be able to play music for all kinds of people. Particular song or few songs that you enjoy playing live? Off the new album, Juggernaut: Omega, there’s a song called “The Bad Thing” which honestly as far as the record goes is not one of my favorite, I still like it, but it’s amazing that in the live environment it’s kind of taken its own life. That’s a really fun point in the set when it gets to that part in the set, the crowd really seems to go nuts for that one. So that’s a really fun part in the set every night when we get to that one, so it’s a blast. For our readers that haven’t encountered Periphery yet, what 3 songs would you recommend they listen to to get into your music? That’s a tough one because Periphery does cover quite a lot of different sounds. Perhaps it would be interesting to have them listen to a song from each album, so off the first album, Insomnia, super technical, very guitar based song, that’s very much what early periphery was about. From Periphery II, Ragnarok, which quite a heavy song and quite a marked difference between the two albums and it’s really quite a fan favorite. Then off the new album, a song like “The scourge” which is really not a typical Periphery song, it’s not quite like you’ve heard on our previous albums, It’s really a very Hans Zimmer-esque type chord progression, quite theatrical vocally as well. Music inspires Music, what musicians do you draw your inspiration from? The real answer to that is that any music that you listen to is going to inspire you in some way, but currently some artists that I’m really enjoying listening to are a jazz band called Snarky Puppy, who are just amazing and they film all their symphonaticmagazine.com

albums as they’re being recorded with the crowd in the room listening. An Armenian Jazz pianist called Tigran Hamasyan, he’s got this mix of eastern European folk melodies and seems to be influenced by a metal band which has had a lot of influence on Periphery, Messugah, cause some of it’s incredibly heavy music which doesn’t have any guitars in it so it’s really cool for us to hear. A pop band called The 1975, which you might have heard of, I was really into the album that they put out about two years ago, and everyone in the band is really into that album.

750 – 1000 people are the sweet spot for me because there are 6 of us on stage so it’s nice when you have a bigger stage so you have more space to rock out on, as much fun as smaller venues are it feels a little constricted and it can kind of mess with your head a little bit. But with big festivals there’s almost too much space, and there’s such a long distance between you and the crowd that you’re not really feeling any energy coming from the crowd and you’re not really identifying with faces in the crowd, it all sort of becomes one mass.

As far as live performances go, do you prefer big festivals, like Soundwave, or small, intimate venues? It’s kind of a critical mass, venues that hold about

Do you have any stories where your fans have related to your lyrics on a personal level? Spencer: I know that I’ve definitely gotten messages online from some kids about a song called

“Mile Zero” which is a song I wrote about one of my best friends who passed away when I was younger, they said it saved their life which is really cool, to be able to touch someone in such a positive way that can keep them from doing something that they’re going to regret.

songs with Juggernaut in the title maybe 6 years ago or more so it’s been a long time coming. Ever since the self-titled album we’ve been getting questions about when there was going to be a Juggernaut album, so the fans are really excited about this. Spencer actually wrote a very involved story, which we’ll kind of expand on once Your studio albums, Juggernaut: Alpha and Jug- it’s actually out, but because of that the music gernaut: Omega come out January 27th, what actually wraps in with the lyrics and musically it’s was the inspiration behind them? also less of a “shreddy”, instrumentally based For the first time we actually had a go at doing a album, and it’s much more about the lyrics and concept album, which is quite a departure from the instruments set more of a tone. It’s a little what we’re used to and quite a massive shift, bit more cinematic and darker than our previous and we’ve been talking about doing this for a releases. while. Pretty much since Misha (Mansoor) started the band he’s wanted to do something under SOCIAL MEDIA the title Juggernaut and actually started writing /peripheryband /PeripheryBand /periphery P H O T O S B Y: C O U R T N E Y C O O K I N T E R V I E W B Y: A Y L A E L D E R

http://www.periphery.net/

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RIVVRS 30

For those who have not heard of you how would you describe your music? Are there any other artists you would compare yourself to? This question’s always one that I have a hard time answering because it’s one that kind of paints the picture that you’re trying to sound like somebody or that you want to be someone else. I think it’s a good eclectic blend, I’m trying not to stick to one particular genre and just kind of blend all of my influences together. So I think my biggest influences that go into my music are like classic rock or classic singer/ songwriter, he’s not old but Tom Petty, or like Paul Simon. I like some of the newer artists, I think [I could be] compared to Ray Lamontagne which I think is pretty close. Then overall genre wise, personally, I’m trying to capture more of the bluesy, soulful side of music.

How do you spell that? How do I find you?” It was just way too complicated and also it was almost like a pigeon hole, it kind of kept me in that singer/ songwriter vibe. If you’re looking at a list of bands and then you see first and last names peppered in, you’re gonna have that perception of “ok this is some guy and a guitar.” I think it was more of an identity issue, I wanted the freedom to not limit what I was doing with my music and once I made that change from first and last name to, ok this is an arbitrary marker, I think I felt more comfortable doing things I wasn’t even used to doing. And the way that Rivvrs actually came about, which is super funny, it was actually because of the “About a Boy” placement, because my manager and I had just been sitting and we were meeting in LA, and I don’t live in LA, I’m in Napa of course, and he was kinda like “well we need to figure out what you want to call What made you want to become a musician? yourself” and we were still in that stage of figuring it I’m still figuring out if I want to be [a musician], but out. At the time I was just finishing this music project I think early on when I first started playing music I that I was just calling “River Shiver,” and it was pretwas maybe thirteen. I think I got a guitar when I was ty much the same thing I’m doing now, it was just young and never played it, and then I discovered more geared toward being an actual band. Then it when I was thirteen because I started listening essentially he told me “you got this opportunity to heavier classic rock music. Then I had a friend where they might put your name in the actual script who was really into music, even more so than I was, of the show and it’s probably important to know and he really influenced me to listen to music that what you want to call yourself because you know I hadn’t heard of. It got me into a whole different it’s gonna get you some attention and you don’t spectrum of music in general and then I bought want to change your mind after the fact.“ We had an electric guitar and it was kinda end of the story been thinking about Rivvrs for a while so it really put from there. As soon as I got the guitar I went on the pedal to the floor and so we felt a little more, YouTube I tried to do guitar lessons for like three not pressured, I think it worked out really well. But weeks, but it was just not what I was looking for so it definitely gave us a reason to be like “ok lets land I went on Youtube and started looking at covers of on something” and its been a little over a year since my favorite bands and artists and it just kinda gave then I think and I haven’t regret it at all. I really think me this idea of what I wanted to do. By the time it suits me well. I was done with high school I didn’t want to go to college and I didn’t really know where I wanted to So you already talked about it a little bit, but how go aside from like a legitimate career, so I just kinda did the producers of About a Boy discover your went for it and I think I’m still figuring out whether or song “I Will Follow You” to be featured on the show? not its right, but I like it for the most part. Definitely through my manager, so my manager and this company called “Primary Wave,” they’re a Why did you decide to go by Rivvrs rather than your publishing company and I’m good friends with some born name? What is the meaning behind the name of the people that work there, and so is my manRivvrs? ager. It all happened behind closed doors for me, It’s such a funny story, so my first name is Brandon, but I was basically just told “Hey, they really liked my last name is Zahursky, my family name, and this song.” The fact that the show was based in San that is not very marketable in terms of simplicity. I Francisco, and I base myself in San Francisco, it used to go by my first and last name for a long time worked well with the story, it seemed believable beand I released an EP on my own, I released a full cause it was actually true. And I think it was just timalbum on my own, just under the name and then it ing, for whatever reason they just connected to that just started to become really obvious to me that it song, and then what’s funny is that I hadn’t even wasn’t easy. People were just like, “Brandon who? released that song as Rivvrs when it happened, and symphonaticmagazine.com

impact your career in the future? This particular placement I don’t personally think is going to do much more. I mean we get little bursts here and there but I think my favorite thing about it, and at least I hope, is that with the things I’m What do you think of the show and their use of your planning for the future, I will be able to look back song, one of the characters even covered it at one and know that this was the actual starting point. point and so what did you think of that? Because it really was, I mean for Rivvrs it was literYeah, it was an emotional day I can tell you that, ally the symbol of that era and so the show itself is haha. I was totally blown away, it had been set up probably. Even though it is on Netflix streaming and for me and they told me what it was going to be its still going on and all of that, I think that the song, like. My manager tried to paint a picture, and there the episode is past, so I don’t really see it doing was an actual script they sent me and they told me a whole lot, but I think it serves as a really great “this is how it’s talked about.” I refused to believe it starting point for what I hope to continue to do. at first, I was like “ok, well lets see how it ends up” because it was my first TV placement, number The music industry is always talking about artists one, but it was really like my first accomplishment “selling out” when their music is featured in televiI guess. So I had a bunch of friends over and we sion shows and movies and that it ruins their crewatched it live on TV, I didn’t get the clip beforehand ative image . Do you think that you “sold out,” or that or anything so we watched it at the same time as an artist can ever “sell out” to begin with? everybody else. I just remember feeling this wave To be honest, throughout high school you listen to all of like “oh my gosh, is this really happening?” it was these bands and fall in love with all of these bands, just so surreal and I just feel really lucky. it gave me but they become so popular that a lot of people a lot of momentum which I’ve taken with me for the know them. I think the Black Keys are the perfect past year. I am just really thankful and really lucky. example, where they have changed direction with It’s number one a great music placement, but for their music, they have got a lot more fans, they are them to throw the reference into the script its just making a lot more money, but does that mean they like wow. I think it was unbelievable and I am just are doing things they are not proud of? Who knows, incredibly grateful. I mean as long as they are happy with what they’re doing and they are proud of what they’re creating, This, like you said, was really the first single you I think that’s all that matters. But personally have released under the name Rivvrs, so what was it like I sold out, hell no, I am still trying to make money, having this kind of success with your first single? and it;s not like that placement paid me a ton of I mean to be fair it wasn’t really a huge success, money. I mean it paid decently, but it’s not like i’m you know those moments kind of come and go. But driving a Ferrari. Ha, I’m actually without a car right the important thing with things like that is that you now, but it’s not affecting me or manipulating me to take from them the positivity and the growth from want to change my music at all or force anything, I it, but not to dwell on that and live on it. So pretam just really open-ended. The way that I explore ty much when it happened it was really validating song-writing and creativity is that I just wanna try and it made me feel good, but more so it was like new things and see what I can do that is out of my ok now I have to get my shit together. So it almost comfort zone, but it’s not like anybody’s feeding me kick-started the production of this whole EP that I or telling me what to do. I just like to experiment released and it was a big catalyst. In reality it just personally. so I don’t see anything really affecting made me feel like I needed to get it together, and I that because I am really eclectic to begin with. really feel inspired to be honest. knowing that could happen. That was really the first validation that I So you don’t ever think that you will solely be writhad gotten as a songwriter so I was just like wow I ing music for movies or TV Shows? think that i could actually do this. I think that more Oh, I totally have, and I do to this day. I get opporthan anything it was just a big catalyst and a big tunities to do things like I got the chance to, well it validation of like let’s try this and see how it goes. didn’t work out, but I got the opportunity to do a Def Leppard cover for Grey’s Anatomy, and it was I know that the show is on Netflix and people are for money obviously. They were like “ Well we’ll pay still watching it, so do you think that this is going to you this amount of money if you do it” and I said I wasn’t ready to or prepared to, it was just that I had that one song done and I don’t know, they just really liked that song. Which was great timing, hard work on my managers side and a little bit of luck.

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“sure why not!” Because I liked the band Def Leppard, and I liked the show, and I just really wanted to make it work. So if I get opportunities I do it, but when it comes to what I release, you know what songs I put into the world for people to listen to, those are the songs that I will always hold closest to my heart. I am always creating stuff, but I am not always releasing it so I think the stuff that you see released as Rivvrs is the real stuff, and then if I write stuff for TV or I write stuff for a movie I am mostly going to take it because its an opportunity to further myself as a musician and do as I said, try to get different genres that I haven’t done before which is really how you make a living. I’m blessed that I have a company that is All Media Music Group, and their job is that they pitch my music to other people. Like I’m going in on this Saturday and I’m trying to record a cover of “Hey, Hey, We’re The Monkees,” by the band The Monkees. I just get random opportunities and I just love music like to me if it is related to the music that I’m into I’ll do it, I’m just happy to be creative.

right songs. The process was like I traveled between Napa, where I live now, and Los Angeles and I would go down and I would have a lot of songs started and I would sit with co-writers and some would help me finish the songs and some would help me produce the songs. I went back and forth and accumulated, not a big pileup, but a good mix of songs to choose from and those four songs were what I felt were the strongest. I actually cut one song from the EP, it was going to be a five song EP, then I cut one off. I just released the four and I really felt that I was setting the tone and what I wanted it to be like. So the process itself was very natural and organic, it didn’t have a time limit or a deadline, I am not on a label and I don’t really have a lot of limitations right now, which I am really lucky for. So it was just really creative, it was actually really funny. Once I got to the point where I felt that I had enough to release an album it was just like a little snap of the finger and I just chose the best from there. The EP started in, early January of last year and then we released it in August of last year so it was nice.

It sounds like you do a bunch of covers, which do you prefer covers or writing your own music? No, I don’t really do covers, like personally I don’t sit around and do covers. I only do originals, but all of the placements I have gotten so far are only for original songs. I have gotten “About a Boy,” “Cougartown” on TBS, “Red Band Society” on FOX, on MTV there was a show called “Finding Carter,” right now one of my songs is playing on an NBC trailer, there’s another one coming up on the show called “Reign” on the CW. I mean I get the placements for mostly original stuff, but I also get a lot of opportunities where its like “hey, we need this and we think you’d be good at it want to try?” I just try it, I mean most of them don’t even work out or pay me anything, its just an opportunity to be creative. But I am definitely focused on the original stuff, you won’t see too many covers released, maybe YouTube videos and stuff, but I’m not really planning to push myself as a cover artist, it just depends on the mood and what I feel like doing.

You said that you were unsigned, do you think that you will ever sign to a record label, or do you like that you can be flexible and that you have your own time to take as long as you need on stuff? Whatever opportunities come, I don’t know. I can only really judge by how I feel in the moment. But I feel that there is a stigma around record labels that for some reason it is bad to be independent artists, and that may be true, but I wouldn’t take an offer from a record label unless I felt it was right and it were fair and beneficial to me and my life and my friends and family. So I don’t know, I mean I’m not opposed to the idea like some people are, but at the same time I don’t know what anybody would have to offer, so I will just have to wait and see. I am really more laid back with the way that I approach music so whatever comes comes whether it leads to that and regardless of if that happens I’ll always have that same creative approach to music.

So going back to the EP, what was the inspiration? You said that there were a bunch that weren’t even Speaking of your original music, your EP, Hold On, included so was there something specific that you came out in August, what was it like writing and drew from or was it just anything? recording this? What is your process like? For these particular songs I think the biggest inReally it was very creative and natural, like when I spiration was probably just the changes that I was came to the idea of releasing an EP, I didn’t have a going through in my life and the growth I was experelease date, I didn’t know which songs I wanted to riencing. I am only twenty-two, I turn twenty-three put on it. At the time that we decided to release an next week, but I am pretty young in terms of my album I had the songs written they just weren’t the life and my career. At the time all of this was being 34

done I was just barely twenty-two and the thought of finally getting to a place where I was really proud of my music, that in itself was inspiring. And I fell in love actually, with my girlfriend that I have been with for a while, in the last year and a couple months so she was definitely a really big influence on specifically “Can’t Get Enough” and “Hold On.” Then I’d say in general I was trying to approach it in terms of trying to inspire others and trying to inspire hope. When I came up with the whole “Hold On” theme, personally for my life I related it to like hold on, kick back, just let things happen naturally don’t force anything, its all waiting for you. It’s all going to happen, so the song itself was the title of the whole thing and it is definitely the overall theme. That’s why I left it as the last song, because I wanted to close it out as the theme of the album, and the lyrics of the song like “know that its waiting for you so hold on” was really just a mantra that I’ve picked up which is just whatever’s meant to be will happen and whatever it is you should just let happen. If you go through the song, I definitely wanted it to tell a story. So track one is definitely a love song, track two definitely leads into the same themes but its also the same mantra of not really forcing things and staying positive and you get what you give. Then “Save My Soul” leads into feelings of doubt, and feelings of loss, and not really being sure of yourself. Then it leads back into the track “Hold On” where its like, don’t worry about Save My Soul, don’t worry about it, be happy again. So it is just a total wave of the emotions I have been feeling over the past few years personally and in my music career. So I really think it relates to other parts of life, you know if anything my inspiration was hope and I just wanted them to translate into that. What do you have planned for 2015? I have so much planned, its ridiculous, my head hurts. One of the cool things that happened this year, I just got picked up by an agency in LA, called APA, and they are responsible for booking shows and setting up appearances. They just do a lot of the hard work and to have them on the team is gonna get me a lot of places in terms of areas, I should be able to travel a lot more. But also touring and stuff will happen a lot this year. My main goal is to keep writing and getting more songs done and more recording. I should be releasing something in 2015, I have enough stuff done so I don’t see why not. But otherwise, I have some TV placements coming up too, so the usual and then some extra stuff. But a lot more traveling, that’s definite, a lot

more traveling. I think with APA a lot of it when you’re a newer artist you will be opening for more established acts. I don’t know who I’m gonna tour with but it should be interesting, I should be able to get out to more people than I could. Well congratulations on signing to the new agency, that sounds exciting. I know, I’m pumped! You can only plan so much, the music industry is such a b-polar industry, people tend to change their minds a lot and emotions fuel a lot of things so that’s why I’m just trying to hold on, just trying to kick back. I’ve been working hard obviously, I’m always writing, I’m always taking these opportunities to try to be more creative. And other than that my other plan is to move down to Los Angeles. So I should be in LA sometime this year. SOCIAL MEDIA http://rivvrs.com/ /rivvrs

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ROOM 94 Can you give me your name and role in the band? Hey, I’m sean and I guitar and do a little singing/ shouting in Room 94.

we had some cool footage nobody had seen that shows a different side to the band and what its like being in an unsigned band on a daily basis.

For those who have not heard of you how would you describe your music?Who are some of your biggest influences? With this album I’d say our music is energetic fast pop rock with some R&B influences. We’ve always been into Blink 182/All Time Low & the whole pop rock scene, but we’re really into stuff like Drake & The Weekend and acts like that too.

Looking back on everything you put into that DVD, was there anything that you wish you hadn’t put in or anything that you would have liked to include? We were quite pushed for time with the editing and production of it, it would have been cool to film our headline show at KOKO and have that on there, but theres nothing major. Theres a few thank you’s on there that probably shouldn’t be if I’m honest.

What is it like being in a band comprised of three brothers (and a friend)? Does it make it easier to work together or do you fight a lot? Most people always ask if we fight, surprisingly we don’t and we all get each other and have the same understanding when it comes to song writing etc. Its the same for Kit, he’s just a brother from another mother.

It seems like you guys are big partiers, is it ever hard to get work done? Luckily for us part of our work is partying haha, when it comes to ‘real’ work like studio and promo we are so switched on, then when its the weekend shit hits the fan & we go hard. We actually have a beer pong table set up in our HQ

What made you decide that you wanted to form a band and become musicians? We just wanted to go out and have fun and explore the world. You grow up watching your fave bands doing it and you kinda just want to go out and live the same lifestyle! It doesn’t hurt we get to party in different places every night either.

Speaking of partying, your music video budget for “When I was a Teenager” was spent on a party. How did that go over with your manager? I think he was just upset he wasn’t invited to be honest. It ended up being a great party and we got enough footage that we could salvage a video out of it all.

What made you want to leave your record label? You also released a DVD several months ago called How did it differ from what you originally expect“Boys in a Band,” what made you decide to create ed? Was there anything that you did like about your something like this? label? We always film everything we do, so whilst we were Everyone in a band has an idea that when they sign on the label they had an idea to release a DVD, to a label its smooth sailing from there, and I’m sure we had such a hectic few years that we thought everyone who’s experienced it will say its far from

that, us included. We’re in a better place now so no wouldn’t be doing what we are doing. The crazy point worrying about yesterday, just out for ourones are actually really fun, the whole airport thing selves now! is nuts over in Europe, sometimes that gets intense and you don’t really know whats going on! Are you planning to sign onto a new record label, or do you think that you will remain unsigned? How is your clothing line, Lemon Clothing going? If the right label came along then we would never What made you want to have a clothing brand? turn our noses up, but we’re just out playing music What is it like being models for the brand? and having fun, and if people enjoy it thats great The clothing line is awesome, Kieran & Dean have and good enough for us. been building that brand the past 4/5 years, its just something they have always been interested in Through all of the band luck that you have had with getting into, I’ve been involved the past few years your label, you are still planning to release an album as we have been building the brand up more and in February. What can you tell me about it? How more, its something thats fun & creative, we have does it compare to your older music? graffititi, fashionable tshirts & we’ve just started The album is a true representation of who we are, filming YouTube sessions for upcoming bands and thats why we’ve gone for the self titled ‘Room 94’. artists that are just starting out, just to help supWe love our first album and the songs on it but port them. The modelling is fun, get to have some we were in a different place then and the circumcool photos and stuff haha! stances around it were different. It ended up not being the album we truly wanted, whereas this time What has been your most memorable moment round we’ve had more time and chances to put since your band formed? ourselves 100% into it. I think the whole roller coaster of 2014, we self funded an album and released it with no backing or What was it like writing and recording this album? press help, and it charted at 28, then to go on and What was the inspiration behind it? What is your play a huge tour and headline KOKO was amazing. It recording process like? was just a big milestone for us 4 after all the years It was really fun, we had no barriers to the song of handwork, just seeing it start to pay off. writing and wanted to try different things. We’ve I N T E R V I E W B Y: B R A N D A C A V A N N A got spoken word on there, theres beatboxing, theres ballads and theres punk songs. Its just all our influences taken and put into songs in our own SOCIAL MEDIA unique way. Kierans wrote a lot of personal lyrics and he usually brings it to the rest of us and we /room94 build a song from scratch, or he’ll have an idea of a guitar chord and we’ll go from there. its a really fun /ROOM94 process. How do you expect your fans to react to the new music? The general reaction we’ve had so far has been positive. You always get the odd few who think its ‘too heavy’ or ‘too pop’ but I think when people listen to the album they’ll get it and enjoy it. Perhaps fans who followed us from the start who wren;t maybe the biggest fans of our last album will get back into us on this album.

/officialroom94 http://www.room94.co.uk/

You are lucky enough to have been blessed with some die hard fans, fans that have even surrounded you at an airport, has there ever been a time when you wished you had calmer fans, or less fans all together? We wouldn’t change a thing, without fans we symphonaticmagazine.com

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“OH, TWO NOTHING! WOO!” screams Paul Marc whilst watching the Islanders vs Canadiens hockey game from the back lounge of their tour bus. “Sorry, I’m a huge Montreal fan,” he shares as he signs posters that would later be given to fans who pre-order their upcoming album, I Am Alive In Everything I Touch, at their merch table. This album will be Silverstein’s eighth studio album after 15 years of being a band. Comprised of Paul Koehler, Josh Bradford, Billy Hamilton, Shane Told, and Paul Marc Rousseau, Silverstein has seen the industry change and improve, as well as deteriorate in certain areas. “When we first started touring, social media wasn’t really a thing,” shares Josh. While they had Friendster accounts, it wasn’t until a fan approached Josh at a show that they discovered Myspace, one of the tools that changed their lives. “Somebody was like ‘yo, you got a Myspace?’ I was like ‘A who space? I got all kinds of space!’ It was a great tool, especially for us who were touring,” recalls Josh. But before Silverstein was a touring band -or a band to begin with- they were fans just like many of us. Attending shows to watch their friends play and later playing in their own bands would help them create connections within their local music scene- the scene that would go on to be responsible for bringing the guys together. Unfortunately, much like other artists have repeatedly mentioned, local music scenes aren’t what they used to be. “We connected over our mutual love for music and the underground music scene,” shares Josh, “but now it’s not the same,” adds Paul Marc. As time passes, it gets more challenging for small bands to find a venue to play at or to get an audience to listen. “It’s a shame, I feel bad for the kids,” expresses Paul, but one thing that gives him a glimpse of hope is seeing

kids at shows, whether it be for Silverstein or other artists. He stresses the importance of attending shows by reminding fans that it’s not every day that you can walk into a room where you agree on at least one thing with every single person in the room. After realizing they had more in common than they imagined, they came together and began to write music collectively. For the first couple of practices, Shane didn’t have many lyrics to share with the rest of the band. As he was trying to come up with melodies, he would take books out of a shelf in Josh’s basement –many being written by Shel Silverstein. They found themselves using

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Shel’s work more than the rest and were taken back to their childhoods since they were all fond of his writing, “His poetry is quirky and innocent with a wider grasp on the world,” explains Josh. Besides admiring his work, the guys found Shel interesting because for one, he wrote for Playboy as well as one of the most popular Children’s book, The Giving Tree. As their first show date got closer and closer, they realized they needed a name. At the time, many bands were using names like “Deep Bitter Winter Nights,” and in the attempt to avoid sounding generic, they chose Shel’s last name, something simple and clean that didn’t give an impression as to what they were about. Silverstein knew they chose correctly. Much like other bands, namely Chiodos, some fans tend to mispronounce the name but Silverstein is pretty quick to correct that, “Unless we’re in Germany because it sounds pretty cool. ‘Shilverstein, I love you! Shilverstein you’re my favorite band in the world!” Josh says with a very well and accurate German accent.

the Waterfront. While they could have celebrated their first release, they admit that DTW was the album that helped them get noticed, “It was the one the sold the most, of course that’s when people bought albums before downloading became so huge,” explains Josh. When Broken Is Easily Fixed was an album that demonstrated them trying to make a record and be a band whereas Discovering the Waterfront was a special record; their first international record, when it all came together.

With I Am Alive In Everything I Touch releasing in less than two months, many fans are anxious to hear more than the one track that has been released already, ‘A Midwestern State Of Emergency.’ As for now, it seems as though fans will have to wait until the album drops to hear more of Silverstein’s new material. The album will be a progression of This Is How the Wind Shifts, “it’ll be like putting a magnifying glass as to what we had done before,” they share. While this is the second –of hopefully many more- album that Paul As Silverstein continued to grow and focus more has contributed to, he held nothing back this time on music, they began to drive out to places they around. After informing the fans that they would hadn’t visited. Those small weekend trips slowbe taking Paul in as a new guitar player and getly turned into tour offers and the band said to ting positive feedback, working on this album, they themselves “We’re really loving doing this, and felt much more comfortable and confident to put people seem to be responding very well. Why out what they wanted. “Took 15 years to do it,” don’t we give it a shot?” Since it was around the says Josh, “People spend their whole lives trying time they were finishing high school, Billy’s parents to find themselves, some people say that’s what weren’t too fond of the idea of him leaving school college is for but I didn’t go to college -I went on to tour with a band, “He cried and begged. After tour. I think we’re figuring what Silverstein is.” some time they said ok but he had to get someSOCIAL MEDIA one to get the assignments and keep up,” shares Josh, “It’s a huge part of Billy’s character; being so /silverstein hopelessly in love with the idea of doing this that he could not stand not being able to go.” /silversteinmusic One fact that is difficult to ignore is that Silverstein has changed their lineup only twice. With /silverstein this in mind, it’s difficult to imagine them having disagreements but Paul assures us that their www.silversteinmusic.com/ relationship is much like that of siblings, “It’s like a family- you fight and don’t see eye to eye on everything. But you’re connected by something special, and, at the end of the day it’s worth fighting for.” Josh shares that “[They] all have a lot I N T E R V I E W B Y: J A C O B L A H A H invested in this and it means the world to [them] individually.” S T O R Y & P H O T O S B Y: P E N E L O P E M A R T I N E Z 15 years later, Silverstein is celebrating the anniversary of their second studio album, Discovering 42

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GALLERY

HOODIE ALLEN P HO TO S T A K E N BY : S H A N A MY E R S

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