{"id":4618,"date":"2021-03-17T12:05:38","date_gmt":"2021-03-17T12:05:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shindig-magazine.com\/?p=4618"},"modified":"2021-03-17T14:28:10","modified_gmt":"2021-03-17T14:28:10","slug":"silver-synthetic-a-certain-area-of-rock-n-roll-song-craft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/?p=4618","title":{"rendered":"Silver Synthetic&#8230; &#8220;a certain area of rock \u2019n&#8217; roll song craft&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>JON &#8216;MOJO&#8217; MILLS chats with Chris Lyons and Kunel Prakash of SILVER SYNTHETIC ahead of the release of their debut album<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-4619\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/SilverSynthetic_2020_AkashaRabut_press1-1-2-836x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"784\" srcset=\"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/SilverSynthetic_2020_AkashaRabut_press1-1-2-836x1024.jpg 836w, https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/SilverSynthetic_2020_AkashaRabut_press1-1-2-245x300.jpg 245w, https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/SilverSynthetic_2020_AkashaRabut_press1-1-2-768x941.jpg 768w, https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/SilverSynthetic_2020_AkashaRabut_press1-1-2-1253x1536.jpg 1253w, https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/SilverSynthetic_2020_AkashaRabut_press1-1-2-1671x2048.jpg 1671w, https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/SilverSynthetic_2020_AkashaRabut_press1-1-2.jpg 1686w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><em><strong>Shindig!<\/strong><\/em><strong>:\u00a0<\/strong>You guys have a very easy going chooglin\u2019 vibe\u2026 What have been some of your influences?<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Silver Synthetic:\u00a0<\/strong>Between the four of us we have backgrounds in, among other things, jazz, punk and\u00a0 free improv.\u00a0 What brought us together in this group is a shared appreciation of a certain era of rock \u2019n&#8217; roll songcraft.\u00a0 Name most any of the usual suspects from that time and you\u2019ll find them in our record collections.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">When it comes to chooglin, we are fans of it in all forms&#8211; from Elmore James to Endless Boogie.\u00a0 A lot of people aren\u2019t aware that our drummer, Lucas, is a well regarded blues guitarist locally so his influence on the chooglin aspect of the band is two fold.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Silver Synthetic - Chasm Killer (Official Audio)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YD0A9js-haw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><b><i>SD!:<\/i><\/b>\u00a0What are some of the contemporary acts you like? I hear a few similar benchmarks as The Nude Party.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>SS:<\/strong>We can\u2019t speak for them but Rose City Band, John Andrews &amp; the Yawns, and Cut Worms come to mind in terms of other bands that seem to be tapping similar, or at least adjacent, musical wells to ours.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">We\u2019re lucky to live in a city full of great bands that sound nothing like us.\u00a0 Video Age, Esther Rose, Quintron &amp; Miss Pussycat, Benni, Static Static, Sick Thoughts; the list goes on and on.\u00a0 It\u2019s a blessing to be part of a music community that isn\u2019t pigeonholed in sound, genre, or aesthetic.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><b><i>SD!:<\/i><\/b>\u00a0You are still referred to as garage\/psych in the press. I don\u2019t hear that at all. If you could coin a term for your sound what would it be?<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>SS:<\/strong>We\u2019ve never called ourselves a garage\/psych group and have deliberately stayed away from a lot of the signature sounds of \u201cmodern psych.\u201d\u00a0 We\u2019ve always considered ourselves as a straight ahead rock \u2019n&#8217; roll band \u2013 two guitars, bass, drums.\u00a0 We call it The Painters Street Sound in honor of where we made our first record.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><b><i>SD!:<\/i><\/b>\u00a0How did you hook up with Third Man?<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>SS:<\/strong>We did a short weekend run of shows in Tennessee in the fall of 2019.\u00a0 Some TMR folks were at the Nashville show and got in touch shortly after to ask if we had recorded anything other than our 3 song cassette that we were selling on tour.\u00a0 Luckily, we had recorded and mixed our album months earlier so it was off to the races from there.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><b><i>SD!:<\/i><\/b>\u00a0What do you like about the label\u2019s ethos?<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>SS:\u00a0<\/strong>Where to start?\u00a0 We really respect their commitment to releasing an insanely wide variety of music.\u00a0 If someone had told us when we started the band that we\u2019d be sharing a label with Sleep, we would have asked to hit whatever they were smoking.\u00a0 Whether it\u2019s deeply researched comps, crucial reissues, releases from huge bands, or smaller artists like us, the sheer volume of cool music they are sharing is astonishing. Add to that, everyone there has remained incredibly supportive, enthusiastic, and creative while trying to navigate the covid-hellscape music environment.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Silver Synthetic - In The Beginning (Official Video)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aTAo2JZ0DCA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><b><i>SD!:<\/i><\/b>\u00a0How long did your album take to record?<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>SS: <\/strong>One\u00a0week of recording at Chris\u2019 house. \u00a0One week of mixing at our engineer Ross Farbe\u2019s house.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><b><i>SD!:<\/i><\/b>\u00a0\u00a0You have a lovely vintage warmth to your sound. How important is old gear and vintage recording methods for you?<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>SS:\u00a0<\/strong>A lot of old instruments tend to sound better because they were built better \u2013 a simple product of higher quality manufacturing.\u00a0 None of us can afford large,\u00a0 expensive vintage instrument collections but we have managed to acquire what feel like the proper tools to make the music that we want to hear.\u00a0 There are a few special vintage gems in there but it\u2019s generally a mix of old, new, modified, and weird custom gear obtained as cheaply as possible.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">When making a record, we prefer recording to tape. Most everyone\u2019s favorite albums were recorded that way for a good reason.\u00a0 Tape documents sound, like film documents images, in a tangible and honest way.\u00a0 It\u2019s a bigger lift to make edits so the performances need to be stronger from the get go which makes for less fuss in the mixing stage and a better end product.\u00a0 Just play your shit right!\u00a0 That said, we do take advantage of certain modern conveniences in the interest of saving time, money, and sanity.\u00a0 The modern tools are especially important for us in the writing and demo phases. Ross Farbe has a well curated and very useful mix of old and new recording equipment so we got the best of both worlds working with him on this album.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><b><i>SD!:<\/i><\/b>\u00a0\u00a0Your videos are a lot of fun. I love the vibe you give off. It\u2019s important. Big question: what is that vibe?<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>SS:\u00a0<\/strong>We have a good time making all of the videos and really just focus on making them connect with the mood of each song.\u00a0 Everyone is going to walk away from the videos and the music with a different feeling but we\u2019d like to think the music speaks for us in terms of conjuring up any kind of mood or vibe.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Silver Synthetic - Unchain Your Heart (Official Video)\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bVP1yHHww7k?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><b><i>SD!:<\/i><\/b>\u00a0Bands, albums and singles important to the band?<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>SS:\u00a0<\/strong>That\u2019s going to make for a very long list but some things that were in the air around the recording of this album were Lou Reed\u2019s <em>Coney Island Baby<\/em>, Bob Dylan\u2019s <em>New Morning<\/em>, Sly\u2019s<em> There\u2019s a Riot Goin On<\/em>, Television\u2019s Eno Demos, Fairport Convention\u2019s <i>What We Did On Our Holidays<\/i>, Judy Collins\u2019 <em>Who Knows Where The Time Goes<\/em>, and JJ Cale\u2019s first record.\u00a0 Neil Young\u2019s ethos and entire discography, even the stinkers, are a constant source of inspiration.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><b><i>SD!:<\/i><\/b>\u00a0Hopefully we start to come out of COVID very soon after the April release of your album. What are your plans?<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>SS:\u00a0<\/strong>Just like all other musicians, we are eagerly awaiting\u00a0 the return of shows and touring. It seems like we\u2019ve all still got to be patient for a while longer but it does look like there are little bits of hopeful light appearing.\u00a0 Whenever it\u2019s safe for everyone involved, we\u2019ll definitely be out there playing these songs. For now we are just trying to maintain and keep working on music however we can.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Silver Synthetic <i>is released by Third Man on 9th April. Go <a href=\"https:\/\/thirdmanrecords.com\/news\/new-orleans-garage-psych-crew-silver-synthetic-announces-self-titled-debut-album-due-april-9-2021-via-third-man-records\">here<\/a> for ordering link and more info<\/i><\/p>\n<span class=\"synved-social-container synved-social-container-share\"><a class=\"synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-24 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-facebook nolightbox\" data-provider=\"facebook\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Share on Facebook\" href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fshindig-magazine.com%2Findex.php%3Frest_route%3D%252Fwp%252Fv2%252Fposts%252F4618&#038;t=Silver%20Synthetic%E2%80%A6%20%E2%80%9Ca%20certain%20area%20of%20rock%20%E2%80%99n%E2%80%99%20roll%20song%20craft%E2%80%9D&#038;s=100&#038;p&#091;url&#093;=https%3A%2F%2Fshindig-magazine.com%2Findex.php%3Frest_route%3D%252Fwp%252Fv2%252Fposts%252F4618&#038;p&#091;images&#093;&#091;0&#093;=https%3A%2F%2Fshindig-magazine.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2021%2F03%2FSilverSynthetic_2020_AkashaRabut_press1-1-2.jpg&#038;p&#091;title&#093;=Silver%20Synthetic%E2%80%A6%20%E2%80%9Ca%20certain%20area%20of%20rock%20%E2%80%99n%E2%80%99%20roll%20song%20craft%E2%80%9D\" style=\"font-size: 0px;width:24px;height:24px;margin:0;margin-bottom:5px;margin-right:5px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Facebook\" title=\"Share on Facebook\" class=\"synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" style=\"display: inline;width:24px;height:24px;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: none;box-shadow: none\" src=\"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/48x48\/facebook.png\" \/><\/a><a class=\"synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-24 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-twitter nolightbox\" data-provider=\"twitter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Share on Twitter\" href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Fshindig-magazine.com%2Findex.php%3Frest_route%3D%252Fwp%252Fv2%252Fposts%252F4618&#038;text=New%20post%20on%20our%20site\" style=\"font-size: 0px;width:24px;height:24px;margin:0;margin-bottom:5px;margin-right:5px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"twitter\" title=\"Share on Twitter\" class=\"synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" style=\"display: inline;width:24px;height:24px;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: none;box-shadow: none\" src=\"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/48x48\/twitter.png\" \/><\/a><a class=\"synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-24 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-mail nolightbox\" data-provider=\"mail\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Share by email\" href=\"mailto:?subject=Silver%20Synthetic%E2%80%A6%20%E2%80%9Ca%20certain%20area%20of%20rock%20%E2%80%99n%E2%80%99%20roll%20song%20craft%E2%80%9D&#038;body=New%20post%20on%20our%20site:%20https%3A%2F%2Fshindig-magazine.com%2Findex.php%3Frest_route%3D%252Fwp%252Fv2%252Fposts%252F4618\" style=\"font-size: 0px;width:24px;height:24px;margin:0;margin-bottom:5px;margin-right:5px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"mail\" title=\"Share by email\" class=\"synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" style=\"display: inline;width:24px;height:24px;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: none;box-shadow: none\" src=\"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/48x48\/mail.png\" \/><\/a><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>JON &#8216;MOJO&#8217; MILLS chats with Chris Lyons and Kunel Prakash of SILVER SYNTHETIC ahead of the release of their debut album Shindig!:\u00a0You guys have a very easy going chooglin\u2019 vibe\u2026 What have been some of your influences? Silver Synthetic:\u00a0Between the four of us we have backgrounds in, among other things, jazz, punk and\u00a0 free improv.\u00a0 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4619,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,7],"tags":[901,874],"class_list":["post-4618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-music-videos","tag-silvery-synthetic","tag-third-man-records","post_format-post-format-video"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4618"}],"version-history":[{"count":-1,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}