»

Silverstein sails with Shipwreck

The economic crisis inspired their latest album concept.

By Danielle Kinnison

Published Nov. 13, 2009

Named after famed children's author Shel Silverstein, Ontario-based post-hardcore band Silverstein singer Shane Told spoke about the band’s newest release and first concept album, _ A Shipwreck in the Sand_. Drawing inspiration from the uncertainty surrounding the global economic crisis, Told crafted two different stories: one of a ship traveling to find a new world and a family watching their hopes of achieving the American dream falling apart.

MOVE: What prompted the idea to make a concept album following Arrivals and Departures?

Shane Told: We did the first three records pretty much the exact same way. We just got in a room and jammed it out. We didn't think about how the record was going to end up in terms of what songs were going to be in what order. Every song was its own entity. I don't want to say we got sick of doing that, but we just wanted to do something a little more challenging, so I came up with the idea to write a story so the record tells a story from start to finish.

MOVE: What is the inspiration behind A Shipwreck in the Sand?

ST: The inspiration was what's going on in the world right now — the economy and the stock market crashing and how uncertain the future is right now for not just people our age, but even older people who thought they had their savings locked up. A lot of people lost a lot of their retirement money. I guess that was something I was affected by and I thought a lot about and it was something I wanted to write about. So, I thought the best way to talk about was to use a concept story idea rather than just an old school punk rock record, you know "fuck the government." I wanted to be a little more deep with it.

MOVE: How did making a concept album change the writing/recording process?

ST: We had to be a lot more deliberate about everything we did. With the way we did the first three records, you can change things as you go. Whereas with this, everything we recorded or wrote we had to consider three other things every time we did something, which made it considerably harder (and) take a lot longer. It was a lot more of a challenge. Most of the time when you write a song or a record, you write the music and then the lyrics. Because we had the concept as well, we had to constantly go back and fit it in there.

MOVE: What was the most difficult aspect of making A Shipwreck in the Sand?

ST: Lyrically, it was harder for me because I was telling a story and I was using other people's characters and going by what they would feel rather than what I felt. With the first three records, when it's from my own experience, I can say anything because it's me saying it. But when it's from someone else's perspective, you have to think a little more at the character and what they would do. I lost a lot of sleep over that.

MOVE: How has performing changed when playing songs from A Shipwreck in the Sand, if at all?

ST: The record is split into four chapters, and we've been starting the shows with the first chapter. One thing which also was a challenge in part, was I wanted each song to have its own story as well, so if someone heard one song then they would be able to get something out of it as well, which made hard to not only have a record that does that, but have each song do that.

MOVE: How did your album affect your fans?

ST: As time goes on, your stupid band is important to people; things you say make an impact. I never thought about that, especially when we were doing our first record — I just didn't care. I was just writing things I felt, but then it's weird when you start realizing that it's affecting people. I think it's cool that our band means something to people.