Interview with Silversky - from ChrisOnline.biz

London-based Silversky have just released debut EP Calling All Killers. I caught up with lead singer Peter to discuss the music, the influences and the future.

CM: What have you been up to recently? Has it been quite a hectic schedule?

Peter Smith: Yep, we've been pretty flat-out promoting the launch of our new EP and recently played our last promo gig of the year which was a killer night. It actually turned out to be quite the event, internally, for us, as when we finished playing 'Slave' - which is one of our new tracks - I think we justified our belief that none of our songs are run of the mill mindless chants like those of the likes of The Kaiser Chiefs or Razorlight.

We're not content to live off one decent song and just coast along. ALL of our songs must be perfect in EVERY way or we're just not happy!

CM: Your debut EP Calling All Killers has somewhat melodramatic lyrics. Who writes the tunes and where do you get your inspiration from?

PS: The songwriting is shared between the 4 of us and we all provide tunes, rhythms and ideas as well as lyrics though I do come up with the lyrical ideas for the songs that you refer to. We all have our strengths. No one plays guitar like Mike - he will be remembered far beyond his lifetime.

There have been many troubling instances that we've had as individuals and as a group that we draw inspiration from. People accuse us of being miserablist, but we prefer to think of it as us being observationalist. Life is great but the world is by-and-large an awful place that merely continues on a loop with different characters playing the same parts - nothing actually EVER changes. Are you seriously asking us to be cheery, when this world is a pigsty?

CM: Do you think it's fair to compare you to The Smiths/Morrissey?

PS: Not really. We don't really want to be compared to anyone but us. We try to just be us. The British media seem obsessed with putting bands into nice neat boxes so they can file them away in their brains for easy reference.

The Smiths reference is an obvious one and there is a place for them in our sound, but we hope people can see more to what we do than that. People compare us to them because we are in danger of challenging their thinking with controversial and uncomfortable subject matter in a way that the likes of Steophonics and Razorlights of this world simply can't and won't.

CM: You quite obviously go for a retro style with your music. How would you describe your sound?

PS: There are so many fools out there who wear skinny jeans that they don't even like because the NME tells them to, and that's sad. We're not intentionally going for a complete retro style but it's true to say the bands that influenced us most were around in the '80s and '90s.

Bands like Nirvana, The Smiths and GN'R. However, we didn't stop listening to music at the turn of the millennium and still keep an ear out for great stuff, like Kings of Leon and The Killers - bands who just write great songs, like us! In terms of what we sound like, it's biting rock music with a fresh edge.

CM: What is your favourite track on the EP and why?

PS: The track that comes up again and again is 'Bare'. It's nowhere near the most complicated track to play but the simplicity of the song means it's so easy to get into. A classic break-up song about the ugly death of a

relationship with a 'SilverSky' twist added...

CM: There is some very dark imagery on your EP sleeves - they may be drawings, but they depict guns and people in some states of distress. Is that intentionally controversial or is that more to do with the content of the songs?

PS - The images were actually custom-designed for the EP by an American artist who heard versions of the tracks before they were released and got in touch though MySpace. So, no, we didn't go out of our way to intentionally try and court controversy with the images but once we saw them we just felt they fitted the dark and desolate mood of the songs perfectly - the songs should sell themselves.

CM: What's in the Silversky future- a new album, new tunes maybe?

PS: We're currently working on new material, which we hope to have out around spring next year. We're actually taking a mini-break from gigging at the moment, but are planning to release a single in January and will be playing some shows in support of that.

CM: Thanks, Pete.