Silverstein holds a mirror up to reality with Dead Reflection

Silverstein:
Through the Looking Glass 

02 November 2017By Christine Leonard 

Named for the scary-looking children’s author who turned words on their ear and penned the lyrics to “A Boy Named Sue,” Burlington, Ontario’s Silverstein has been pumping out post-hardcore tunes since the band’s inception in 2000. By 2002, the upstarts had made enough noise to attract the interest of Victory Records and in 2003 the renowned punk rock label released Silverstein’s first full-length album When Broken Is Easily Fixed. Featuring 10 energetic tracks, including six songs from their early EPs, the introductory LP launched Silverstein into the public eye, ultimately selling 200 000 copies. 

Swept up in a whirlwind of international tours and press engagements, Silverstein enjoyed an upsurge in popularity that carried them through the next decade and saw them produce another half-dozen records. Notable for both their consistency and longevity, Silverstein has become a mainstay of Canada’s emo scene and Warped Tour royalty along the way. A pair of distinctions that lead vocalist Shane Told, rhythm guitarist Josh Bradford, lead guitarist Paul Marc Rousseau, bassist Billy Hamilton and drummer Paul Koehler have accepted with a sense of gratitude and responsibility.  

“It’s always challenging to write another record and with this being our eighth studio album there was even more pressure because we want to honour the long-time fans, but we also want to reach a new audience,” says Koehler.

“I think with this album we did a good job of balancing both of those things. It doesn’t get easier, it’s still a stressful process and we work through it as best as we can. It was a pretty insane beginning of the year; writing and recording it. In the end, we’re really happy with it and I can say it’s probably my favourite record that we’ve put out. And that’s a hard feat after seven previous albums, to be able to top it, but I feel like we did.” 

Rolled out with the singles “Retrograde” and “Ghost,” Silverstein’s latest effort, Dead Reflection, appeared via New Damage Records in Canada in July of 2017. An examination of the tribulations endured by frontman Shane Told, who also performs solo under the moniker River Oaks, the album surveys the group’s darker side but from a more mature perspective than ever before. 

“It’s a little bit about showing what we’re capable of,” Koehler confirms.

“We switched up the personnel for this record, which also resulted in a more modern production sound. It keeps the band feeling current and helps to showcase these songs in the way they were intended to be heard. So, that was the main motivation for it. Lyrically, Shane took a real deeply personal approach with that. Musically, we tried different tunings and tried to punch up the hooks and chorus to be bigger and better than ever and we also wanted the technical aspect to be more complex.” 

Despite being a well-conditioned melodic hardcore entity with a considerable amount of experience under their belts, Silverstein’s in-studio performances still benefit from harsh scrutiny. Their own worst critic, the group’s guitarist Paul Marc Rousseau rose to the rank of producer and assisted noted Toronto engineer/producer Derek Hoffman on polishing Dead Reflection to a mercurial lustre. 

“In the studio, the producer is always the one to say ‘that was good but you can do better.’ You’re pushing your muscles as far as you physically can to create the take in the studio, but when someone says ‘you can do better!’ that’s when you reach inside yourself and realize if there’s one bit of energy left I’m going to push it out and that’s when you get those extraordinary performances,” says Koehler.

“In the moment you can be dripping with sweat, beat-up and exhausted, and you don’t know that you can do better. And sometimes it takes that third party who’s sitting in the control booth to be critical about the performance and interactions. On Dead Reflection we were really pushing the performances. We pushed it further and came out with a better performance.”

Watch Silverstein perform November 9 at The Needle (Edmonton), November 11 at The Rickshaw (Vancouver), November 16 at Marquee (Calgary) and November 17 at The Exchange (Regina).

The Mahones interviewed by Christine Leonard

THE MAHONES SHAKE HANDS WITH THE DEVIL

"Pogue mahone!" is a variant of the Irish phrase póg mo thóin, meaning "kiss my arse"

Keelhauling ancient tradition and giving it forty lashes with a punk rock twist, The Mahones are a notoriously Irish band that just happens to harbour some very Canadian roots. Conceived in Kingston, Ontario one fateful Saint Patrick’s Day, the long-running outfit can proudly boast a 23-year history of music and mayhem. Running the gambit from dirty ol’ town murder ballads to hard-charging hardcore fisticuffs, The Mahones have come to embody the respectable revolutionary. With his ninth album on tap, the quintet’s lead singer/guitarist/mandolin player, Dublin-born Finny McConnell, admits he had a difficult time penning an album that could contend with their previous effort, 2010’s The Black Irish. He decided it was time to for The Mahones to raise the bar, instead of just polishing it with the sleeves of their coats.

“We started working on Angels & Devils almost as soon as we had finished recording The Black Irish,” McConnell reports. “There was no break, which is odd for us because we usually take a few years off between records. A couple times we’ve taken as long as five years in between. Of course, I was drinking a lot more back then. Now, things are coming out much faster for us. We wrote the songs for the new album around springtime, recorded in the summer and we were absolutely thrilled to be able to release it in November of 2012.”

The Mahones, Finny McConnell and his lovely wife Katie “Kaboom!” McConnell (accordion, vocals), Dom “The Bomb” Whelan (drums, vocals), Sean Winter (mandolin, banjo, vocals) and Paul “Cuzo” Mancuso (bass, vocals), each came to the table with big ideas for the dichotomous follow-up.

“You could say that Angels & Devils is a really big production. We felt it was the only way to take things further than we had already gone on The Black Irish,” he confirms. “We moved to Montreal two years ago and the best part is that the studio I work at is just across the street from our house. I get to just roll-out of bed and roll-in to work. That’s what allowed me to put so much time into the album. I worked closely with our producer to engineer and spent a lot of time in the studio adding more layers into the sound. I knew I wanted two things. One: really fucking big stadium sound. And, two: no shortcuts. Up until now, I’ve always wished we’d done more on each record we’ve put out. This time, I made sure we did things the right way and put the cherry on top.”

Applying their love of classic Celtic arrangements to their equally evocative politico-punk railings, The Mahones arrived at the crossroads of good and evil, where saints and sinners reconcile over Guinness and boxty. From the frenetic celebration of “Shakespeare Road” and the spirited “Spanish Lady” to the live off-the-floor feel of “The King of Copenhagen” and “Whiskey Train,” The Mahones throw an enthralling party. Purists can rest assured, pipes and strings a-plenty festoon the inexhaustible céilidhs that comprise the reeling hub of the album’s heady track list.

“I don’t remember the ’90s very well, the drunken heyday when we started up the band. It was all about ‘Drunken Lazy Bastard’ and ‘Paint the Town Red.’ I’m happy to say that I’m very focused on my music at this point. I’m married, I’m a father and I’ve matured a lot over the years. I’m a positive thinker and I think that, despite the fact that there’s a lot of darkness in the world, we’ve got to motivate people to reach for the stars. I always tell people that they can do anything and never to let anybody hold you back. I’ve had teachers who told me I couldn’t sing, let alone lead a band, and I’ve toured and performed all over the world. Never take ‘no’ for an answer. And, most importantly, follow your genre. I knew I was an Irish punk, so I followed that road… past the pint of no return.”

Catch the Mahones at the SAIT Gateway on January 18.

By Christine Leonard

Originally published in BeatRoute Magazine 14 January 2013

SQUARE ROOT OF MARGARET -- an interview with Jason 33 1/3

Endless rotation

Square Root of Margaret screams in library-voices

Completely incognito — Four-fifths of Ontario’s Square Root of Margaret find the perfect way to avoid unwelcome attention

The party house. Every old neighbourhood has one. Skateboard ramp ascending the front porch, flags instead of curtains, anatomically correct garden gnomes strutting their stuff in an overgrown yard. For the southern Ontario town of Chatham, a.k.a. The Maple City, that particular residence was known as The Briscotech. Its requisite resident house band — Square Root of Margaret.    

  “There was lots of LSD going on at the time,” explains keyboardist Jason 33 1/3. “The guys chose the band’s name by going into a room in The Briscotech that was known as the library. They began randomly opening books and pointing to words. The idea was to find a combination of words with no linear meaning. You could call it a surrealist statement. Other names that came up were Big Daddy Carnie and the Thumbsaws, and Bloated Policewoman.” 

Thankfully that one didn’t stick. Collaborating and creating infectiously good music in a non-linear fashion, Jason and guitarist Po Kadot, along with the house’s namesake rhythm guitarist Joshua Brisco, bassist Easy Reissner and drummer Todd Clark, have amassed an impressive body of work since the band’s inception. From their mind-bending early Outer Space(s) and Casual Man-Slayer EPs to their more recent LPs, Levitation Days and Cloud Nine Revisited, Margaret have displayed an uncanny knack for combining harmony and whimsy. Self-proclaimed “soldiers of misfortune,” the group has weathered an unfortunate era marked by venue closures, studio fires and a record label that crumbled, taking one of their best releases, the brilliant yet ill-fated Endless Rotation, with it.     

“The history of this band goes back to the beginning of time,” explains Jason, a two-year veteran of the long running troupe. “Po Kadot started the band as an instrumental trio back in high school. I know the term ‘musical genius’ gets bandied about a lot, but he honestly is one. He can literally pick up any instrument and moments later he’s working on a melody. We recorded one of our early songs, “Crisis in Space,” within 10 to 15 minutes of Po picking up an autoharp for the first time. Funnily enough, our guitarist, Joshua, lived in The Briscotech, too, and taught himself to play his instrument by listening to (the band) jamming out in his basement. One day he just came downstairs and asked to join.”    

Rotating on an axis of unbridled musical talent and unexpectedly auspicious coincidences, Square Root of Margaret continue to pursue the ideal of creating genuinely unique and enjoyable music that is at the same time deeply personal and widely accessible.   

“We exist in our own world, one we have created out of cultural necessity. The Briscotech is gone, but our new residence, The House of Bleen, continues to be a communal existence, ” Jason elaborates. 

“For a while there, Square Root of Margaret had stopped playing live and focused on making music. It wasn’t long before Po had accumulated over 100 songs. We selected 13 to make up the new album Teragram Photeur. Having our own recording and rehearsal space in-house has influenced the sound and feel of our albums. An interesting pattern developed where Po would wake up, go downstairs and record music inspired by his dreams. We consider ourselves thoughtful individuals and we believe that, within reason, we can do anything. As long as we have warmth, food and shelter and it doesn’t hurt anyone, we intend to customize our existence to suit our needs and perceptions. We like to mix and match concepts in our songs; they’re whimsical, abstract and only limited by our imaginations.”

Published September 6, 2007  by Christine Leonard