For a truly badass, hard-rockin’, no frills, no BS, musical experience, you aren’t going to do much better than the debut EP from the newly-formed, American/British power trio, Silverthorne.
Featuring veteran drummer/songwriter Brian Tichy, best known for his time bashing his kit for the likes of Whitesnake, Foreigner, and Canada’s queen of blues rock, Sass Jordan, alongside veteran U.K.-based vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Pete Shoulder (The Union) and L.A. bassist Daniel Spree, the band issued forth Tear the Sky Wide Open on Feb. 21, to superlative critical and popular acclaim – proof that rootsy, earthy, powerhouse, melodically crisp and riff-oriented rock music is alive and well.
Tear the Sky Wide Open was the first single released from the EP of the same name, followed in late 2019 by the heavily atmospheric, brooding and darkly compelling Black River Rising. The decision to do just a five-song EP for the time being was based on practicality and the reality of the music industry as it stands in 2020 [pandemic notwithstanding.] But more ambitious plans are afoot.
“It’s a tough call and to be honest I didn’t really know what the best approach was. LPs are not as popular as they were by any stretch and people seem content with singles even. I know there are bands that put out a series of EPs over the course of a year, or maybe just four or five songs here and there. But I would like us to do it the way that’s the most fun, and when you have your own band, why not put out an LP. And we have all the stuff here. If we can get it all recorded and put out later this year, that would be great, that’s what I would like to do,” he said, saying that going back into the studio to do more material is the most productive option since band’s are unable to tour during the Covid-19 crisis. Shoulder can’t come across the pond from his home in the UK either, but thanks to technology he can still write and record with Tichy and Spree.
“The EP just came out at the end of February, and with all that’s going on, that’s all we can really hope for: to get this out and get some good feedback and kind of assess where everything’s at at this point in time. The original plan was to get out and play, and now everything’s changed for everybody. Now, because of what’s going on, we have to step back and go, ‘okay, what’s next?’ I think what we want to do is just record a full EP and just put all the music out as one package. And that’s what we’re hearing from a lot of people. A lot of fans are saying, ‘this is great, but I want to hear more.’ Or they’re even asking us why we just did an EP, so the demand is there.”
It was thanks in part to the Dean and Robert DeLeo, the co-founders of Stone Temple Pilots, that Tichy and Shoulder met in the first place, and that the rock world now has Silverthorne kicking some serious musical ass.
“We got together through a project they were doing. He ended up being connected through one person to another to the DeLeo brothers as far as a potential singer for this new thing we had. The other guys sent me a little clip of him singing with just an acoustic guitar and said, ‘dude, check this out.’ And when I heard it, I remembered it was Pete Shoulder because I had met him back in 2011 when I was with Whitesnake on tour in the UK and his band The Union was opening up. I didn’t put that together for a little bit,” said Tichy, explaining the genesis for what would become Silverthorne.
“At the time I remember walking into this venue when they were opening and thinking, ‘wow, this guy has got a killer voice.’ It reminded me a lot of Paul Rodgers [Free, Bad Company] and that was many years ago. So, when we got reacquainted through this new project that we were doing, that ultimately was put on indefinite hiatus because the guys finally found a singer for STP and had to make a choice several years ago about which path to do down. We totally understood when they said they wanted to focus on STP, because they found their guy [Jeff Gutt] and were psyched and happy about that. Those were tall shoes to fill, but to keep the band going that they have done so amazingly with over the years, I thought they should go for it. We’re fans after all, so it’s all good.
“That process of working on that project was how I realized that Pete and I were kind of cut from the same cloth musically. And with what would become my new band, I wasn’t too surprised or worried when we got together this time, because we were already hanging out and doing stuff.
Tichy said there was almost instant chemistry between and Tichy, which is one of the reasons why he believes the songs on the EP sound so good, so coherent and have a loose and comfortable vibe that meshes well their sonic and riff-heavy intensity.
“When I first heard Pete sing, I was like, wow man. There are not many people with that kind of voice out there. He’s just got a special voice, and he is amazingly talented. It’s not just that he’s a great singer, but he’s a great songwriter, and a great person, and a great person to work with. It’s really smooth sailing when we work together, it just makes the process so much more fun,” he said.
“Neither of us is hard-headed, and neither of us has any ego that gets in the way of the writing process, which can totally happen. It’s just a person to person thing; we both think and work the same way in the studio, we think the same as to what kind of sound and what kind of band we want. It’s all pretty killer. That was all pretty clear when we met, it was just a matter of can we write good stuff together. Were we able to write stuff that we were both excited about?
“But the sound, it was like, ‘hey man, we love Led Zeppelin, we love the stuff from the 1970s; we love the stuff from the 1990s,’ and as far as production and the whole process of writing and recording, there we no rules. We didn’t want to try and sound like anything new. We didn’t look even think about having a vision that ties into fitting into current modern band sounds or production. It was, ‘no man, we love Zeppelin and Sabbath and Free and Bad Company, the Band of Gypsies, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains as well as Neil Young, James Brown, James Taylor,’ and so on and so on. So, on that level we had all these similarities.”
The lineup of Silverthorne was rounded out eventually by veteran L.A.-based bassist Daniel Spree, meaning they are a classic rock and roll power trio, something of a rarity these days.
“I like to say we’re a powerfully powerful power trio. I think the reason we did that and that it happened naturally was that prior to Daniel being involved with us, it was really just me called Pete and going, ‘okay, we met each other, we hung out, and know each other pretty well, we know where each other’s coming from, come back out to L.A. and let’s write some songs.’ So, he did that. And when we got rolling, I would play drums on all the tracks, but if I am sitting there and we need to get down a guitar idea, I could throw it down. Now, Pete plays all the guitars on the record, but we’re both writing on guitars. Depending who was holding the bass at the time they would play the bass on a cut. So, when we were coming up with these ideas, it was just the two of us doing them all together,” Tichy explained.
“I think at one point we even joked about being a two piece where he would play bass and put some distortion on it or something. But when it came to rounding out the band, it seemed pretty evident that Pete’s going to need to play guitar and sing, I will be on drums, so the next thing we need is a bass player. How hard is that? Let’s get a bass player in here and we’re ready to go. Which is a lot different process than a lot of other bands where it’s like, ‘we need a lead guitar player and a second guitar player.’ Can you imagine how time consuming that would be to try and find a bass player and a second guitar player? So, it was like, why bother, man, let’s just go with the trio thing.
“Pete’s a natural at it anyway. He’s been playing guitar and singing along his whole life. It wasn’t like Pete was saying, ‘oh man, I can do all the guitars in the studio, but I probably won’t be able to do it live.’ He was like, ‘yeah man, I got this.’ It really was a natural course of events to just become a trio.”
Enter the aforementioned Mr. Spree.
“I have a lot of great bass player friends, but most of them are busy, but you just start going down the list. And it was a case that he’s played with [Toronto’s] Phil X [Triumph, Bon Jovi] in his band The Drills. I have been friends with Phil for a long time, he’s an amazing musician and we have done a lot of stuff together. Through Phil I met Daniel and we recorded in a studio together for their band and did some jams, like out in Hollywood. He’s a great guy, a great bass player, great back-up singer, the whole thing. And it was as simple as, ‘hey Daniel, I don’t know what you’re doing, what your schedule is like, but I’ve got this new band with a great singer, we got a deal going and just signed with Golden Robot Records, here’s some of the music, let me know if you’re interested,’” Tichy said.
“And even though we may be buddies and have jammed together, until he hears the music, he is not going to know what’s really going on. Last spring, he got together with us, when we were making the videos and doing the photos and artwork and we got together and jammed the songs and did the videos and hit it off. I knew Daniel was a great guy, and even though I know Daniel and Pete don’t know each other, I know them both and I was sure it was going to be a good blend between the three of us. Fortunately, Daniel lives here in L.A., so he and I are close by, so whenever Pete comes out, we’re all ready to go.”
As another way of killing some time and being productive for Tichy is his online drum class called Breaking Down Bonham, where he dissects, from start to finish, Led Zeppelin songs, focusing on the playing of the band’s late legendary drummer, John Bonham.
“If there are any drummers out there sitting at home thinking they want to take on some new stuff, the goal is to not just play John Bonham stuff, but to learn from his style and to incorporate that into your own playing, and become a better drummer,” he said. For more information, visit http://www.briantichy.com/bonham.
For more information on Silverthorne, including any new music or rescheduled tour dates, visit their social media accounts or http://silverthorneband.com.
- Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and author based in Napanee, ON, who has been writing about music and musicians for 30 years. Besides his journalistic endeavours, he now works as a communications and marketing specialist. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
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