2018 is kicking off with a bang in the Adelaide punk scene, as an impressive selection of concerts has already been announced for the small city. With bands like Rise Against, Parkway Drive, In Hearts Wake and Thy Art is Murder set to perform in the coming months; it’s looking like an exciting year for those drawn to heavy music. This week presented the chance to interview Josh Bradford, guitarist for the seemingly everlasting band Silverstein, to talk about their upcoming Australian tour, and how to make a band stand the tests of time.
The release of their latest album in 2017, Dead Reflection, has seen a great response from Silverstein’s fan base so far, and as we all know, with a new album comes a new tour – which is exactly what we’re getting! The post-hardcore group, who have been together since 2000, will be touring with old friends Comeback Kid, who have also been together just as long. When asked the secret to longevity in a music career, Bradford says it’s all about communication and finding band mates with the same mindsets,
“I think that a lot of bands struggle to make it last for reasons like they don’t really want to leave home and tour and travel, but we’ve always thrived off that and loved it. We were prepared for it, especially being a Canadian band. We always knew that we’d have to travel around a lot just to get a few shows, and its really about getting to know what each other needs as well when you’re spending so much time together”.
While the band has had major success since their early days, Bradford says he couldn’t be more proud of how far they have come since they first got together just over seventeen years ago,
“I think the experience has really developed us and it comes through in our sound, we’ve all come a long way with our skills over the years from playing live shows and creating more music and figuring out ways to synchronise. There’s also so much new technology coming out all the time which assists in the producing process, it’s been great to experiment with new things over the years”.
The new album follows themes of heartbreak and overcoming hardships, which Bradford says was based on recent personal experiences of his band mates. Referring to lead singer and long-time friend, Shane Told, Bradford says, “he went through a lot of turmoil this year and has come out the other side. We write a lot from our life experiences and hardships and do our best to make good, relatable music from it”.
With the recent announcement of the end of the USA’s most iconic heavy music festival, Van’s Warped Tour, and the discontinuation of Australia’s own Soundwave festival in 2016, we asked Bradford his views on the future of the heavy music scene.
“Warped Tour has been a huge part of our journey, we’ve toured with them over and over and it’s really sad to hear that they won’t be continuing. We actually played Soundwave a couple times too. It’s sad when festivals fail due to such a big focus on the business side of things with ticket sales and whatnot, but at the same time people have been embracing underground shows since before the festivals were even around, and I think that people will always continue to do that. Maybe the focus just needs to shift back to that as the scene changes and progresses” says Bradford.
However it’s not all sad news, as Bradford says individual tours can be more enjoyable anyway, “I really like that the club shows are later in the night because the nightlife and vibe is really great, and it gives us more of a chance to come out and talk with the fans after the show, so I think I prefer it”.
If you want to hear some new tracks live and relive the 2000’s with the epic pairing of Silverstein and Comeback Kid, you can still get tickets to the show on May 15th at Fowlers live online here.
Until then, the Eventalaide team will have Dead Reflection on repeat and we’ll see you at the show!
Words by Christie Thompson
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