Interview with Silverstein frontman Shane Told

2006 is a huge year for Silverstein. They wrapped up a European tour with Simple Plan in February, then they were off on the Take Action! tour, and now, Taste of Chaos. On top of that, they just released their new video for “Discover the Waterfront”, the title track off their latest album, and they’re nominated for Best New Group for the Juno awards! Needless to say, lead singer Shane Told is constantly on the move, but he managed to spare a few minutes to sit down with me and chat before taking to the stage (with The Junction and Dear Jane, I…) at the Mod Club in Toronto on February 18, 2006.

When I last talked to you guys in January, you were just heading out on a European tour with Simple Plan. You just wrapped that up last week. What kind of reception did you get on the tour?
Shane: It was a really great reception. It was a very different tour for us, being just a very different kind of music, and a very different kind of people that come out to the shows. Our crowd is normally like, people who are a little bit more exposed to underground sorts of music. As well, they’re a little bit older, whereas on the Simple Plan tour they were very young, mainstream kind of kids. So, a lot of people had never seen any kind of band anything like us before – screaming or anything. That being said, they were very cool and very into it. It was really a fun tour for us. We’re really glad we did it.

Do you guys have any new favourite cities to play in?
Shane: Everywhere in Europe was beautiful. Sweden was awesome – Stockholm, Sweden – and Spain was really cool too. Switzerland was nice… all of the cities and countries over there were really great.

How difficult is it playing to a crowd who may or may not even speak English? Do you find it makes a difference?
Shane: Well amazingly enough, most people do speak English over there, at least a little bit, so you can still get up there and talk to the crowd and still get a good response. It’s really interesting, especially when we do shows in like, Germany, where… we did a bunch of headlining shows in Germany where all the kids know the words and they’re singing along even though they don’t even necessarily really know how to speak English very well.

It’s kinda like fans here would do for Rammstein.
Shane: I don’t think it’s quite that bad… [laughing]

Flipped around, ya know? Whatever. [laughing] So, in March and April, you guys are in a couple of pretty sweet tours actually. First there’s Take Action, and then Taste of Chaos – for which I’m ridiculously pumped. What’s on the agenda between now and then?
Shane: Between…?

Between now, and when you leave for the Take Action!.
Shane: Well actually, the Take Action! tour starts March 1, so it’s pretty soon. Between now and then, we’re doing a few headlining shows in the US with Spitalfield and Stretch Armstrong. Just some fun shows, kind of like this.

What’s the Take Action! tour all about?
Shane: It’s a benefit tour actually, which doesn’t really happen anymore. There aren’t really usually benefit tours. There’s benefit shows, but this is a whole tour, and it’s a benefit for 1-800-SUICIDE, and a suicide help line and stuff. So it’s all about raising suicide awareness, which I think is really important in our scene and in terms of the kind of music that we play.

What are some of the other groups on the tour?
Shane: Matchbook Romance and Early November are the main ones.

Alright. So, you guys are a group that ridiculous amounts of people look up to. Your record sales, your sold out shows, people get the tattoos, they buy the merchandise… Does that ever get completely overwhelming for you, or do you just take it in stride?
Shane: To be honest, I don’t really think about it… I just kind of do what I do. It always seems like I’m sort of, underestimating I guess, the band and myself and… I don’t know, I never really think about it. I guess it is. Sometimes certain things will happen that’ll kind of blow my mind a little bit. Even just doing these two shows and having them fully sold out, y’know? It’s mind-blowing. And then there’s that whole American Idol thing you’ve probably heard about, which was just overwhelming. It’s just, there’s always something that happens. And the Juno nomination we got, that’s just something that there’s no way I’d ever have believed that would’ve ever happened for our band, y’know? So, it’s really cool, but I don’t really think about it because I just kind of do what I do.

Okay, so just to clarify – with the Juno, it’s for Best New Group, right?
Shane: Right.

Do you know who else is going for it?
Shane: Who else is nominated?

Yeah.
Shane: Yeah… Bedouin Soundclash, Hedley, Boys Night Out, and Pocket Dwellers.