Interview with Bill - English Version

(Silverstein)

13.05.2009 von Melanie Schupp

Before their concert in Hamburg we had the opportunity to talk to Bill Hamilton from Silverstein. In the very small but comfortable backstageroom of the "Grünspan"-Club he put his laptop on side and answered very courteous to all our questions.

Was your work on “A Shipwreck In The Sand” just a normal studio work or did something extraordinary happen?

Bill: I think it was kind of extraordinary just in the sense that everything just seemed to work. It was fun and it was just kind of perfect. We worked really hard and we had a lot of fun. It was good that we were working at home. It was really cold outside so we were in the studio the whole time and not disrupted. Before we did an album in California and there was too much interruption – you know: Hollywood, concerts and partys, bars, friends and drinking. At home we could just stay and settle.

But weren’t there loads of friends, too?

Bill: There were friends but it was good cause we’ve been at home for a while. Also in the studion it was good to have some friends around to criticise us and to give us input. Or have friends to come and sing on the record.

This is your first concept album; How did that come about? Did the album fall into these four chapters naturally or was it a "happy accident"?

Bill: No it was definately planned. Before we started writing the music Shane came up with the idea having a concept and kind of had not like the full lyrics but had a brief story about how it was gonna break down. And then we worked the music to that. Like make it like ‚Ok this is the happy song, this is the angry song…’. And then from there it came together more and more with the chapters and stuff.

Does it describe your own story or is it more a story most of the people experience in their life?

Bill: No it has nothing to do with us. It’s a story that Shane made up about a family and a man struggling with personal problems with his family, his friends and his country and his society. I mean it’s things we often see but not our personal life.

Why does “A Shipwreck In The Sand” doesn’t show a shipwreck in the sand on it’s cover?

Bill: Yes. There are two stories. The main story is about the man and his family and the house. And that’s why the house is on the cover. The first song is about the fire in the house. But the shipwreck in the sand is another story that mainly goes through that one song. Cause all the songs is one story and then “A Shipwreck In The Sand” is just one song that explains that story. It’s about a ship and the captain – and that’s the man and his family and that’s the world. He is trying to move forward with his life and chases his American dream. He’s looking for something like when people from Europe went to discover America. America is always representing freedom and white house with picked fences. And it’s a kind of failure of that – realising that’s kind of silly. So this is what “A Shipwreck In The Sand” is about.

You’ve got some guest musicians on your new record. How did this cooperation happen? How was working with them?

Bill: We just had some friends come into the studio. When we recorded the song “Vices”. And in the middle of it Shane sang the part that now Liam from “Cancer Bats” sings. And we listened to it and all were like ‘That sounds like if it would be good if Liam would sing it.’ So we phoned him. Same thing with Scott Wade on “Born Dead” he’s my roommate. We just had this song and we wanted the vocals to go back and forwards. We were like ‘This is a fast punk-hardcore song’ and we wanted Scott to sing on it cause he’s got such a different voice than Shane does. So we got him.

And for the last song… I’ve been friends with “Lights” for over a year now. She played a show in Toronto with a band we are friends with called “Protest The Hero” and everyone went to the show including Cameron our producer. And Lights opened and it was a weird show for her opening for a metalband. Some people were throwing stuff at her and yelling at her but everyone of us was so impressed about how good her voice was and how well she sang. So I got in contact with her. The next day I came to the studio and everyone was like ‘Lights blabla she’s such a good singer and she’s so great!’ and I was like ‘I got her number let’s call her up – let’s get her into the studio!’

How did she like the song she did with you?

Bill: She was really happy about it. And I guess she has been a secret Silverstein fan for a long time. She was really like nervous and surprised that we asked her to come in. And then everyone was threating her like she was a big star and she was just confused.

How about your working habits… now that your new record is released do you concentrate on promoting it and doing your shows or do you already concentrate on new songs. Is your writing process continuing all the time?

Bill: We usually write a record and then we promote it and think about touring and so on. But I’m sure some of the guys – our guitar players – have little things that they work on. But at the band we haven’t been songwriting we’re just concentrating on going on tour and spend our time off with our family.

You played a few shows in Germany during the years. In light of your success do you feel the audience has changed?

Bill: It’s weird with Germany. We’ve played a lot of different shows. We’ve done headline shows, we’ve done festival shows and we came here on a tour with Simple Plan. We’ve done lot of things in Germany and seems like it worked. I guess a Silverstein show in Germany is just the same like a Silverstein show anywhere. But the shows have been really cool. We played two shows of this tour in Germany yet and it was better than the shows in America. So we really like to play in Germany.

Remember back the old days in school - every grade of school has it´s charakters. For example there´s the clown, the rebel, the nerd and so on. What role would you say you took?

Bill: I was the fat kid. I got picked on a lot. And then I was the kid that liked punk music before anyone else really knew what it was. So people beat me up. And then a couple of years later they were like ‘Oh hey I’m in a band now you should let us play a show’ or whatever and I was like ‘Wait a minute… you beat me up before I was in a band!’

There are loads of bands in this business who do similar music like you do. They come and go but you stay. What do you think is your secret / your formula?

Bill: We never tried to force this band to be popular or anything. We’re not like some gimmick. We are real people and our songs are real. We know where we come from. And I think too it’s because we’ve always been the type of band that keep good friendships and we are really friendly and kindly. We never had like an ego or an attitude. And I think that goes a long way.

What was the worst thing in the early beginning and is there anything you wish back?

Bill: I don’t try to think back. Cause I think that every stage of life is preparing you for what’s next. And when you do mistakes in your life you learn your lessons. And I’m happy about the lessons I learnt in my life.

As your name comes from the writer Shel Silverstein – have you ever thought of doing a coverversion of one of the songs he wrote?

Bill: We actually did… or more a poem in one of our very first songs. We were practising and Shane picked up the book and started singing out of it. So one of our old songs before “When Broken Is Easily Fixed” we had a song called “Forever And A Day” and Shane reads a poem on it. I don’t know if we’ll ever do it again. Maybe not. Maybe we would cover a song of Johnny Cash. But we haven’t thought about it yet.

He used to live in the Playboy mansion for some time. Could you imagine living there for a while?

Bill: I think that would be stressful. Too many pretty girls.

What about the very first song you ever wrote? Is it on a record or has it never been recorded / released?

Bill: It’s called “Waiting For Years” and wasn’t on “When Broken Is Easily Fixed” but it we released it on “18 Candles”. And then you know what? That song “The End” with Lights on it is a pretty old song. It’s like 10 years old. We wanted to put it on the end of “When Broken Is Easily Fixed” and it just didn’t come together in time. So we forgot about it and then we took it for the new record. The music was originally written by Richard – our first guitar player – who is in Australia now. He wrote it like 10 years ago.

So will he get money now?

Bill (laughs): Maybe. He can take it up from Victory Records. He is still a good friend. He loves the song.

What do you relate to Germany?

Bill: I really love the bread. Germany has the best bread! So good. Everytime we come here – it’s the best bread.

What’s the first thing you’ll do when you’re back home… and when will that be by the way?

Bill: We’ll be back home by the end of this tour which is… we go back home like 30^th of May I think. And then we have 3 weeks at home before the next tour. I will probably get on my bike and ride to get some food. Hang out with friends and just enjoy Summertime in Toronto. Maybe go to a baseball game. Our baseball team is really good this year so…

We’d like to thank Bill for the nice interview. Also we’d like to thank Dagmar from Gordeon Music who made the interview happen.