Canadian rockers Silverstein made a stop on their current tour in Sauget, Il at Pop’s Nightclub. The band isn’t in support of an album as of yet, but they are anticipating a new album, on a new label-Hopeless Records, early this year. In the meantime they released an EP called “Transitions” to tide the fans over.
While waiting for the album to be released the band headed out to do what it does best, play live.
In the stop at Pop’s on Thursday the band brought with them 4 other bands: Miss May I, The Chariot, A Bullet For Pretty Boy, and for this show, local act Machree.
The show started at 6:30 and people filed in late for the show, maybe in part due too the early start time, or just simply fans didn’t care about the opening acts. They didn’t miss much in Machree. Try as they did, the band sounded fine, but there was no excitement, no urgency, nothing that sets them apart from the rest. They are still green with a ways to go. More experience and that little something extra should help that.
A Bullet For Pretty Boy, on the other hand, seemed much more aware of just what to do. In their short, but furious, set the Christian band from Texas drilled the expanding crowd with the oopma that is needed to gain a national tour slot.
The Chariot followed in the middle slot, but their sound was anything but middle of the pack. The metalcore group from Georgia displayed a sound that jackhammers would fall in love with. This was intertwined with piped in folk/bluegrass and contemporary music in between their own songs. It was unusual at first but became a signature for them. Another thing that was unique, during their last song lead singer Josh Scogin began dismantling the drum kit, while it was in use. Hey, if you only need a snare drum, kick drum and high hat then let’s just get rid of the rest for ya. Gotta say this: it was an efficient use of time for the band.
In Miss May I the theme was no frills, no gimmicks, just straight forward-kick in your face metal. Their goal during a show is bodies moving in front of the stage. During one song lead vocalist Levi Benton encouraged the crowd to send 100 fans in the air to the front via crowd surfing. Unfortunately, I only counted 31, but that could have been due to the size of the crowd and not the enthusiasm of the fans.
Silverstein came roaring out to “I am the Arsonist” from their 2009 CD “A Shipwreck in the Sand” and “Smashed into Pieces” from their debut CD “When Broken Is Easily Fixed”. They then hit into “Sacrifice” from their 2010 EP “Transitions”, showing off their signature style for the crowd.
Vocalist Shane Told led the band (Neil Boshart –lead guitarist, Josh Bradford- rhythm guitarist, Billy Hamilton- Bass guitar, and Paul Koehler- drums) through a set that encompassed the bands entire ten year career. The 16 song set list covered each CD in the bands arsenal. From three songs off of “Transitions”, only leaving out “Darling Harbour” and “Wish”, to four selections off “A Shipwreck in the Sand”, and six from 2005’s “Discovering the Waterfront” (With the highlight of the night going to “Your Sword Versus my Dagger”) the band tried giving the crowd a bit of something from everything. They only included one track each from “Arrivals and Departures” (the crowd favorite “If You Could See Into My Soul”) and their debut CD ‘When Broken is Easily Fixed” via their closing song “Bleeds No More”.
Told joked with the crowd, asking “You still got Pujols?” before steering back to what they are comfortable with, hockey. Wayne “Gretzky played for the Blues?” asked Told in mock disbelief. “I didn’t know that. I remember Brett Hull. He was pretty good.” To which the crowd, already pumped was screaming with the rabid Blues fans in attendance.
The band did a fabulous job reproducing their studio sound live. The band was tight; the energy was there, the crowd felt electric. These Canadian rockers have a nice mix of harmony and growl. The only glitch was when Told’s vocals cut out after extended growls. However, that was a minor issue in an otherwise killer set.
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