Ever since the dawn of rock, countless bands have been pigeonholed by music critics and record companies into an ever-growing range of subgenres: From punk rock to indie rock, hard-core to post-hardcore, emo to screamo, the list goes on. It’s gotten to the point where the Minneapolis duo Atmosphere joked about starting a genre called “prom-core.”
Sadly, prom-core never materialized. But the rest of those labels have stayed the course, and the platinum-selling Canadian band Silverstein, which performs at Masquerade on Saturday, April 26, has, at various points in its career, been called all of the aforementioned ones.
“Whatever people want to call us, whether it’s emo or screamo or post-hardcore or just rock, it’s fine with me,” said frontman Shane Told, who sometimes uses the word “screamo” in a tongue-in-cheek way.
“I think back in the early days, we were trying to be an emo band,” he admitted. “At that time it was a new thing, and nobody in our area was really doing it. So for us, it was like this new exciting music. And then, of course, it gets watered down, and the mainstream takes it and runs with it. But we have thick enough skin and enough confidence to know that people will, hopefully, listen to our music and say, ‘Oh, OK, this is what they’re trying to do,’ regardless of what genre we get labeled or what bands we get lumped in with.”
With a dozen albums and a few thousand shows under its belt, Silverstein is out on its 25 Years of Noise tour, which is hitting dozens of stages across the country before the group heads to Europe to play a dozen more.
“We’re playing at least one song from each record,” said Told, who promises the band has upped its game in a big way with the production values for these 25th anniversary shows. “We’ve also set up a voting site where our fans can vote for the songs they want to hear. Of course, we’re also going to play some new songs — our new music is important to us — but we have 25 years of music that we want to celebrate and want our fans to enjoy. I don’t really think they’d want us to play a boatload of new songs and a bunch of covers.”
That said, fans can look forward to hearing at least a few songs from the band’s February release “Antibloom” and maybe a couple more from its successor, “Pink Moon,” which is due for release later this year.
“We originally had something like 23 songs and we managed to cut them down to 16,” Told said of the sessions, which were recorded at Fireside Sound in Joshua Tree, California. “So, we thought maybe we’d release one 16-song record. But who’s got the attention span to listen to all that in 2025? So, we decided the way to go is to do two short eight-song records, kind of like what punk rock bands did when I was growing up.”
Songwriting gets more challenging
As is often the case with the band, “Antibloom’s” first two singles could hardly be more different. “Confessions” is all clean vocals with pitch-black lyrics (“You were the savior/Holding the razor) while “Skin & Bones” reverses the formula, with guttural verses and an unexpectedly optimistic bridge (“Every darkness must pass/A new day will come”).
“I think the reality is that, as you get more mature as a songwriter, and write more and more songs, it doesn’t get any easier,” Told said. “You get better, but then you start to realize like, ‘Oh, I’ve already written a song about this. I’ve already used this phrase. I’ve already used this combination of words. I’ve used this melody before.’ And so you have to dig deeper within yourself, and you have to challenge yourself. And I think we’ve done that with each album. We’ve pushed ourselves harder and harder and spent more time on each one.”
Told and his bandmates — Josh Bradford (guitar), Paul Koehler (drums), Billy Hamilton (bass) and Paul Marc Rousseau (guitar) — are looking forward to performing for loyal fans and hope the current tour draws some newcomers to the band’s music.
“For people that haven’t heard us before, it’s not always easy to catch up with a band that’s already put out so much material,” Told said. “So one good way to do that is to just come to a show and see what songs we play. Maybe check the set lists before, if you want to, and then make a playlist of them so you can get ready to rock out. I think that’s a great way to jump in, and we would love to have you. It’s never too late to get into some screamo.”
Or whatever Silverstein’s music is called.
CONCERT PREVIEW
Silverstein
Saturday, April 26 at the Masquerade. With Real Friends, Broadside and Split Chain. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. $30-$50 in advance. 75 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive SW, Atlanta. 404-577-8178, masqueradeatlanta.com
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