by Zach Fraley
Taking a sizable respite can be a move that makes or breaks artists. Fans are left with a slight sense of dread in the back of their minds that the band may not reform, or that their most recent tour was their last. Some listeners will move on entirely in order to discover and focus on acts with announced plans to tour. If the band’s following is large enough, however, it can sustain the blows that time attempts to unleash upon it.
For 22 months, from October 2013 to August 2015, Silversun Pickups only played a handful of shows. News of a fourth full-length album release didn’t break until October of 2014, and it wasn’t until July of this year that a release date had officially been announced. Joe Lester, who adds keyboard and other sounds into the band’s concoction, realizes how crucial each album is to a band’s success, and desires to work hard at each album until it is completely polished.
“We all realize we’re lucky to get to do this. We approach every record with the mindset that ‘no one needs another record’ so we should make sure that there’s a record that’s worth making for us. We want something to put out that we can feel really proud of. We all really like what we do, and are shocked that we get to do it. We put everything we have into every record in case it happens to be our last. If we’re gonna do it, we should do it right.”
As a band, Silversun Pickups took off when one of the singles from their 2006 album Carnavas became a nationwide hit. The anthem made it into the popular video games “Guitar Hero World Tour” and “Rock Band 2,” and won over a fresh batch of ears. Lester notes that the band was so caught up in making that tour a success, that the popularity of “Lazy Eye” only mildly caught the band’s attention.
“It didn’t take off until three-four months after we started touring. In a weird way, we were just so into it in terms of touring that we never understood how well it had done. It was just part of the job. We were like ‘Oh good, people like that song and are coming to our shows, cool.’ We all know that the song did really well, and we play it at every show. But I don’t know that it has affected the way we make our songs. It was never like ‘We need to make another “Lazy Eye”.’ That song in the demo was slow and eight minutes long, but the version that ended up on the record was way different.”
Photos by Rebekkah Drake
With over a decade of experience playing together as a group, Silversun Pickups has released four unique, full length albums, an EP, and a collection of ten of their songs that also included a new single. Lester notes that although the recording process has changed slightly since the band has existed, getting back into playing live shows after a break is a natural feeling.
“The music industry has changed, but as far as live shows, it’s the same to us. Live performances are our bread and butter; it’s what we like to do over anything else. That’s the ultimate goal for us. We’re making the record to give people more stuff to listen to so they’ll want to see us perform. We just did our first real show for this record last week, and it’s funny how soon that comes back to you. If you haven’t done it in a while, and you start to perform, you think to yourself, this is why I do this. It’s very fulfilling.”
To help promote the new LP, Better Nature, the band appeared on DirecTV’s “Guitar Center Sessions” in early August. The experience, though hectic and sweltering, was a positive one overall for Lester. “It’s a really small place with a ton of lights, and they had to turn off the A/C to record. In between every take, we were running to the fan, so it was pretty intense. It was the first time we performed the new songs live. It was actually at the guitar center two miles from our house. It was a nice, early way to dip our toe in the water to performing live. It was nice to try out some new songs. It’s all starting back up again, which is nice.”
In tandem with Better Changes, set to release tomorrow, the band recorded a music video for their new single, “Nightlight,” last month. Garnering over 300 thousand views in a month and a half, the video features the story of a woman who has committed a terrible sin in an attempt to supply her life with elusive peace. Lester states that the band itself usually allows outside production companies – “Silver State” in this case – to hand the filming and storyboarding behind their music videos in order to maximize the creativity present in their miniature films.
“We have a real hands-off approach to videos since that isn’t really in any of our wheelhouses. If someone wants to make a video with us, we just let them pitch and idea and say ‘that sounds rad.’ The producer just happened to call us and wanted to make a video for “Nightlight”. We didn’t want to get in the way of what he wanted to do. The vibe of it was a cool idea to us, and we didn’t have to do much. We just drove up to Vegas and shot film. Performance videos…how many of them do you really need to do? After a while, we just want to do something else. They heard the song, liked it, and asked us to make a video. That’s how we treat videos generally.”
Better Nature hits digital shelves in less than 24 hours, much to the delight of die hard and casual Silversun Pickups fans alike. Though no tour date for Philadelphia is currently in the works, the band appeared last month at Main Street Music for a more intimate preview of their album. Though he wasn’t in attendance, Lester remains positive the show went over well. “I think they had a good time. We’ll try and get to Philadelphia again soon.”
