SILVERSTEIN: WHEN IT’S GOOD, IT’S TOO GOOD NOT TO SHARE

Martin Wittfooth; the name sounded familiar.  As during our interview Neil had made a point of sharing Wittfooth’s website with us (www.martinwittfooth.com), I checked it out once back at the office and discovered that along with creating the cover art for Silverstein, Wittfooth’s art had been featured in such prominent TV shows  as Queer As Folk and exhibited in internationally known galleries such as La Luz de Jesus in Los Angeles and Yves LaRoche in Montreal.  Was it any wonder that Silverstein’s cover art was so striking?  They certainly know how to pick their artists.

We had been sitting with Josh and Neil for about half an hour when the rest of the band who had been doing an interview at Musique Plus – Montreal’s local music television station – walked in, allowing us to hear the sounds of fans aggregating outside.

It’s no great secret that Silverstein has benefited from their cult like following.  I mentioned to Josh and Neil that I was impressed with the dedication Silverstein’s fans were showing despite the horrible weather and asked them why they thought they merited such attention.  “We try to spend as much time with them as we can.  Every single day on this last tour we did meet and greets and spent time in the stands with the fans.  Every single day.” Neil said with a smile, his first of the interview.

“We hang out at our merch table too and we watch other bands perform from the crowd.  We’re not hiding in the backstage and it’s nice.  I don’t see a big difference between us.  We couldn’t do this if it weren’t for them.”  Josh said smiling also.  Their contact with their public being something they obvious enjoy.

“We’ve built our fanbase” Josh said thinking back on the past six years and all the work they have done over those years. “I mean there’s a lot of people out there that just want to be found.” Neil added when we were discussing instant Star makers like American Idol and the Rockstar series.  “They don’t want to go out and do the legwork.  They just want like flash in the pan, be successful.”

“And then they won’t be grateful for it.  Like, they won’t want to shake the hands of every kid that comes to show and they won’t want to thank them for coming to see them because they feel like they deserve the thanks” Josh concluded.

Silverstein is a band that truly appreciate their fans.  So much so in fact, that they have a section on their message board called Ask Silverstein where fans can address the band’s members directly and ask questions about their personal lives, life on tour, instrument choices and even ask advice about life’s little issues.

“We aren’t role models by any means” Josh told me when I asked how they dealt with being come to with existential questions.  In these situations, rather than ignore the questions or try to answer it themselves, Silverstein often refers the askers to the right resources be it a parent or a professional in whatever related field.  They understand that although they might have opinions on the matter, it isn’t their responsibility to steer today’s youth in any given direction.

Much like their namesake, Silverstein’s goal is simply to communicate; they do this by making good music.  And why not. “When it’s good, it’s too good not to be Shared” as Shel would say.