NYC POPFEST 2008

Hey there. So, we’ve decided to start the summer off right with a proper festival. Touted as “The best four days you'll have this year”, NYC POPFEST draws together the very latest indie pop bands from around the world and, with the help of certain sponsored beverages, puts on one hell of a summer festival.  So get your sleep and join us if you can! We’re playing the closing party…

Sunday June 15th@Union Pool: Pop Celebration Show & BBQ

The Cannanes (Australia)
The Frank & Walters (Ireland)
The Hermit Crabs (UK)
The Silent League (NYC)
One Happy Island (MA)
Bears (OH)
Steve Goldberg and the Arch Enemies (PA)
Dent May and His Magnificent Ukulele (MO)

A limited number of festival passes are now on sale. Click Here  A $55 pass gets you into all shows and after parties and guarantees that you will be on the list and not have to pay individual ticket fees for each show.

Not willing to be outdone by the success of last years "Appetite for Construction", the folks at Something in Construction spared no expense in bringing us "Building with Strings", the third installment of their much sought after label compilation series, featuring 19 tunes from the likes of LoneyDear, Emmy The Great, Young Husband, Damn Arms vs Midnight Juggernauts, Akira The Don, The Silent League, Ambassadeur, Depreciation Guild, and a bunch of other super bands from their roster.

Best of all, the U.K. site The Line Of Best Fit is hosting it as a free download all week. So make sure to grab it while its available. click here

Also, those of you in and around the London area are all invited to the CD launch party on April 14... Christian Silva is playing. Young & Lost's Naked & The Boys are too. It is free entry. There have even been rumors of free shots, burlesque dancers, a string quartet, black balloons and lots of toy guns.

Easter has some staunch competition. The Silent League are playing an early show at the Mercury Lounge (Houston St, NYC) with the much hyped Le Loup, and The Ruby Suns…so, make your way downtown after dinner and join the evening festivities. We promise there will be no holiday themed sillyness…just plenty of good old fashioned electric soft rock.

Someone might be wearing bunny ears though. We’ll see.

Le Loup – “proves both complex and catchy, boasting an ambitious conceptual narrative, apocalyptic imagery, swelling melodies, and an eccentric compositional approach.”

The Ruby Suns – “Anyone who says there isn't any good new music around clearly doesn't have a) a pair of ears and b) any imagination whatsoever. Take Auckland-based three-piece The Ruby Suns. The word ‘eclectic’ simply doesn't do them justice, as one listen to their record will prove.”

Come EARLY if you can because we go on promptly at 8:30pm. Advance tickets are recommended.

The news is good my friends – Thanks to the goodwill of our new friends at Universal Records in Quezon City, the Silent League’s “Of Stars and Other Somebodies” is currently on its way over to Southeast Asia, where it is to be released sometime in the not so distant future in the Philippines. Details are scarce at this point but hopefully this means we’ll be making a lot of new friends pretty soon, and possibly heading over to Southeast Asia to visit one, if not several, of the archipelago’s many beautiful islands. Yay!

In other news, any day now, our good buddies over at Something in Construction (UK) are going to be putting out yet another of their usually amazing label compilations featuring many of the fun to listen to bands on their roster including a track off “Of Stars…”

and also possibly

possibly

a track off our new album…

if we can manage to get it mixed on time that is.

…

Please pardon the recent inactivity on the Silent League message board, folks. We’re not trying to appear elusive and we certainly don’t mean to be bad at keeping in touch…we’ve just got our heads stuck between speakers at the moment, listening to the beautiful sounds of our soon to be finished 3rd album. Huzzah! It’ll be complete very soon… and we’re excited to show it you.

But, hey, the good news is we’ve got plans to go outside soon and play some shows in our big beautiful New York City. So, mark your calendars and join us for some fun if you can.

Mercury Lounge
w/ LeLoup and The Ruby Suns
March 23rd, 2008, 8pm
217 E Houston Street, NY, NY
Doors 8pm
Tickets

Last summer, several members of the Silent League journeyed upstate with friend and journalist Alex Hannaford to commune with nature, break bread with the locals, and revisit a bit of their own musical history…here’s the story.

The Catskills: Music of the mountains

The Catskills, just two hours from New York, have inspired many artistic types Thoreau and Dylan included. Alex Hannaford can see why..


Mohonk Mountain House: a huge Victorian castle above Lake Mohonk in the Hudson Valley

We're sitting on the edge of a damned-off section of the Coxkill River a tiny tributary that eventually flows into Long Island Sound and onwards to the Atlantic. It's a beautiful place that has long attracted musicians in search of peace and creativity. But what's really impressive is that just two hours ago we were negotiating the traffic in downtown Manhattan.

The Catskill mountains are a welcome respite from the Big Apple's clamour. My guides are Justin Russo and Shannon Fields from the orchestral alt-rock band The Silent League. Justin grew up in nearby Hopewell Junction, just across the Hudson River, and he comes from a long line of musicians and artists who have been inspired by the majesty of these mountains.

In the late Sixties, Bob Dylan headed for the Catskills, holing up in a house in the town of Saugerties with his then backing act The Band. Dylan's Basement Tapes album emerged from that session, as did The Band's Music from Big Pink. In the Nineties, local band Mercury Rev recorded Deserter's Songs, which name-checked the Catskills and brought global acclaim to the band. The Silent League are continuing this musical mountain legacy.

To get to the Shawangunk mountain ridge near the Coxkill River, known round here as "The Gunks", you need to drive up the mountain from New Paltz, a little college town in the foothills. The main street slopes down a hill to a small metal bridge that straddles a river. Beyond are miles and miles of corn fields, and looming in the distance are the Catskills.

Your ears pop as you drive up the mountain road, past rugged, rocky terrain blanketed by dense forest. Here you'll find places such as Sparkling Ridge and Frog Hollow, and a large number with "kill" in the name: Wallkill, Fishkill, Platterkill, Dwaarkill and Catskill. Kill, it turns out, is the Dutch word for stream.

We find a lay-by at the top of the mountain and pull over. The view out over the Catskills is breathtaking. The mountains are part of the Appalachian range, and the musical tradition of Appalachian folk music is equally apparent here as it is further south. It draws on English folk, Irish traditional, and African-American community and worship songs.

"You had colonists, settlers, people coming here to rediscover and re-invent themselves," Shannon says. "But they also needed to keep pieces of their old life, their old civilisation and their old music. These people were isolated in these small mountain communities so there are these unique forms of music up here."

©independent.co.uk

read the full article…

meet alex

Hey y'all, here's what we have coming up so far in the new year:

New Show!

Wednesday, January 16th
Mercury Lounge, NYC, 10pm
w/Saxon Shore & friends
Doors 8pm
$10 Tickets - click here

Saxon Shore – “A palpable example of the success of instrumental music over the ostensibly more accessible lyrical kind…This is rock you can believe in.” – Splendid Magazine

Paul Duncan – “Duncan brings “folk music” back to it’s original meaning, connecting with tales passed down through generations, and perverted from truth to legend.” – AV Club

Hope to see you there!

Also, progress in the studio continues and the new material is…well, creepy. Oddly enough, this batch started to take on a life of its own right from the get go and these days we’ve given up trying to describe it to people. That said, we’re really happy with it and can’t wait to breathe a sigh of relief when it’s done. Look for it this summer!

Check out some photos from the studio here.

I don’t know why but we’ve started getting tons of photos from last summer’s tour sent to us.... so we’ve put the whole lot of them up on our Myspace page. Enjoy!. Click here

Also, we’re back in the studio and just finished up the preliminary recording for album 3….and now (finally, finally) moving onto vocals. I just spent 30 hours trying to make my voice sound like Jeff Lynne’s voice trying to sound like a robot from the distant future. (we are covering Yours Truly 2095) Now, this is not an easy feat I promise you but, nevertheless, it is something I've found immensely satisfying. (and many have found funny) We’ll post some clips of that shortly. Still waiting for that ‘Autotune’ plugin to be delivered…

This Halloween, Silent League sister act (and evil twin) Hopewell will be doing a special spooky performance at Club Europa following the city’s annual Halloween parade so suit up, put a flask of whiskey in your pocket and head over. They and several silent league members will be attending / performing dressed like the following:

*Jesus
*fidel castro
*child with flute

I can’t tell you who’s going to be "child with flute." I’ve been sworn to secrecy and it’s killing me. But, trust me, it's worth finding out. Also, the Giraffe's are headling so it will be definitely be a fun show. Come out and join the fun. Doors 8pm, $10.

Just a quick reminder….if you’re in NYC and you’ve got nothing to do this afternoon, go see Camphor play at Piano's down in the lower east side. Camphor is the musical brainchild of Max Avery Lichtenstein, a fine gentleman who, among other things, co-produced the first Silent League album. He and his band (featuring several Silent League members) will be appearing at the CMJ sponsored Terrorbird Media party at 1pm for FREE, so, if your boss doesn’t mind you leaving the office at noon, definitely try to mosey on over.

I don’t think anyone is going to be disappointed with the new Beirut record…especially since they’ve maintained their coolio image by created videos for all their new songs with La Blogotheque and inviting piles and piles of indie kids to sing in them. 

Alright, we admit it. We were there. And it was cool. 

The Take Away Shows Team did a really good job of organizing matters and, all in all, it was a well executed lil’event.  In the first (discarded) attempt, we were required to hide in between pews like mice while Zack sang the body of the song but then we switched that and ended up marching in singing.  The only rule was that we had to smoke outside. (although drinking in the church was somehow acceptable…damnation!)  In general, folks were well behaved and the band was super into doing it…which made it way more fun.  Oh, and the song is good too.  Watch it right here.

So, here are some random thoughts…

I’m really looking forward to laying the strings on the new Silent League record.  Most of the music is done so now we just have that and a horn session or two left.  (very exciting dudes…fo reals!) Though, all this recording also means that we won’t be touring as much this Fall…which stinks.   Ok, well, maybe a little touring…but, for a band, only a little can be a lot of pain in the ass since sitting around is not really something that musicians do very well.   The truth is, we’d rather be touring because touring is when you get to live outside of society.  That’s what makes driving long distances in cramped vans and eating at mini marts so interesting.  Hitting the road is like disappearing from everyday life in a puff of cartoon smoke.  Ba da poof!

Incidentally, for those who don't already know, touring is every bit the outrageous experience TV and popular film depicts it to be.  Despite what some might say, (don’t be fooled ladies!) when a band hits the road, each and every one of them goes and does a shitload of cocaine, throws their cock in the air, and goes fucking crazy.  It’s true. I’ve seen it.

Fuck you rockstars!

Also, if you haven’t already noticed, during this time I’ve been told that I should blog. Bloggidy bloggidy blog.  So, that’s what I’m going to do.  I think it’s a poor substitute for singing out loud and I’m quite convinced that younger human beings are crazy for doing it instead of sitting in parks together and “t-a-w-k-i-n” but I’m I guess willing.  At least temporarily then “poof!”… I’m out.

So, somewhere towards the end of November, the Silent League has been invited to head north to our old haunts in the Catskills and perform live on WDST Woodstock radio. Our old pal Jonathan Donahue is hosting a show and invited us to stretch out and perform what ever we want for 25 minutes on the air. Break out the pots and pans! We’ll tell you when that is.

I’m going to see my friend Max from Camphor play next week at the Terrorbird Media party at Piano's (Thursday, 1pm).  It’s one of the very few shows that I’m willing to see during the annual hostile CMJ takeover.  Otherwise, I’m staying home and eating low fat ice cream bars like I do on most week days. Fuck you rockstars!

A curious fact: There are alternate versions of all your favorite records being distributed all around the world.  Did you know?  How about a Japanese version of the Silent League’s “Of Stars and Other Somebodies” complete with bonus tracks and outlandish packaging? Did you know that existed?  I’ve known for a while but I’ve never spoken a word of it.  It’s in Japan.  Our label is trying to keep it secret but I’m going to spill the beans on them. It’s here.

Incidentally, if you are looking for something good to listen to (ahem, besides TSL), I recommend Paul Duncan’s “Above the Trees”, which is brought to you by the good folks at Home-Tapes Records.  It’s not like what the other kiddies are doing. 

There.  I did it.  I have blogged.

One more step towards permanent alienation

Justin [October 12, 2007]