Interview by Kris Peters
Gold Coast rock outfit The Silencio have long been held in high regard amongst the local music community.
Their passion and enthusiasm for their craft is infectious, which, coupled with a highly professional attitude and outlook has seen the band recently anointed as a "local emerging act to watch" by Gold Coast's Blank Magazine.
That effort was finally rewarded recently when The Silencio beat off stiff competition to with the Rebel FM Band Battle to open for The Smashing Pumpkins and Jane's Addiction at the final show of The World Is A Vampire Festival this Sunday, April 30, at Broadwater Parklands on the Gold Coast.
It is fitting that The Silencio have been awarded the opportunity after being judged by a panel of their peers, with one of the only things ever holding the band back being a lack of opportunity in South East Queensland.
To celebrate, The Silencio are also releasing the ninth track from their upcoming sophomore album Foreign Frequencies, a rocking number called Taciturn (Over) Talkative which will make up part of the set list for this Sunday's show.
Vocalist/guitarist Jan Nicholas Blom joined HEAVY earlier today to discuss what is a busy period for the band, starting with the new single.
"It's actually one of the songs I wrote towards the back end of the previous album cycle and nearly made it onto that record," he began, "but I hadn't quite fleshed it out. Originally the key line at the beginning of the main riff was actually played on the guitar and I tried to jazz it up and change it up a bit. The title came from a good friend of mine, Scott Mitchell, one of his close friends passed away due to suicide and Scott wrote an article about that whole circumstance and he used the phrase "to be less taciturn and more talkative" and it stuck with me. It's such a great message to try and pass on, to make sure we don't hold things in and we do talk to each other."
In the full interview, Nic talks more about the music side of Taciturn (Over) Talkative, the film clip that has each of the band members Fathers play a role, the upcoming album and why The Silencio chose to release it all as singles, special plans for the finished product, winning the Band Battle to play at The World Is A Vampire, what to expect from their show, the addition of so many Australian bands on an international bill and what it means for Australian music and more.