Silent Boys
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"the Silent Boys" is indeed an appropriate name for Wallace Dietz and John Suchocki's band: silently playing through most of the eighties without releasing any record, they resurfaced in 2004 with the lovely "Beauty Tips", revealing an honest, down-to-earth approach to indiepop myths. Avoiding most whistles and bells of indiepop, the Silent Boys choose to play in a quiet, understated way, and that is probably why their songs go straight to the heart of any indiepop-kid, especially the ones old enough to remember how pop music was back in the eighties. Wallace Dietz talks to us about the new "Wishing Well Eyes", his debts to eighties pop, and songwriting.
Wishing Well Eyes bears the imprint of one of the most important and overlooked bands from the eighties - The Feelies. Sometimes it feels like it's an experiment to recreate that exact guitar sound, and the songs "crazy rhythms" is an open homage to the band and its influence on you. Can you tell us something about it?
"Wishing Well Eyes" has lots of fingerprints on it. I am always trying to write the perfect P!O!P! song. I'm inspired by timeless classics like Cinnamon Girl, Pink Frost, Space Age Love Song, Million Tears, Blueboy, This Charming Man, Lions In My Garden, Love Will Tear Us Apart, Boys Don't Cry, The Angels Wanna Wear My Red Shoes, Talk About The Past, Gentle Sound, Pristine Christine, Cattle & Cane, Fa Ce La, etc.....
I probably owe my greatest debt to Neil Young. Trying to learn how to play his songs on my el cheapo department store acoustic guitar kept me engaged. Neil Young uses many basic open chords, so whenever I could recreate a part of one of his tunes it was like a mouse in a maze who stumbles upon a food pellet. "Beauty Tips" contains the song Neil Young, another obvious homage
to one of my muses.
Our band name actually comes from lyrics of the Feelies' Fa Ce La: "Let's hear it for the silent boys. Everything is all right!" At least, I think he's saying "silent boys." I could be wrong, though.
I heard the first Feelies album as a college student. I was immediately hooked by the frantic strumming and the quirky New Wave sensibility. It made me think that despite my limitations as a guitarist, I could write songs and even play in a band! This sentiment was later reinforced by bands like the Pastels and Beat Happening. The Silent Boys were born in the fraternity house at Hampden-Sydney College when I would strum bits and pieces of Feelies songs and Tom Bowling, the original Silent Boys drummer, would play the drums, which consisted of metal Kool-Aid cans with plastic tops. For Crazy Rhythms I tried to create the same rush of excitement that I experienced those many years ago. Stylistically, both Crazy Rhythms and Johnny Is Cool are closer to the Silent Boys material of the 80s.
It also feels like a more accomplished effort than your first album. Has something changed for you and the band from "Beauty Tips" to this new CD? For "Beauty Tips" you remarked you were finally able to do all engineering and mixing work yourselves. Has it been the same with Wishing Well Eyes?
For the most part, both albums were recorded and mixed on John Suchocki's (long-time friend, lead guitarist, and bassist) computer in Burlington, Vermont. For both sessions, however, the drums were recorded at Sound of Music Studio in Richmond, Virginia where the drummer, John Morand, and I live. Overall, I think "Wishing Well Eyes" sounds more accomplished because we have a better feel for the recording process and what we are trying to do musically. I am somewhat amazed that all the instrumentation for our songs gels so well together on both CDs, considering that all the parts were recorded separately and at different times.
You mention many guitarpop bands from the eighties as influences. Was it an important moment for you (not only musically)? What do you like most about the eighties sound and why was it so exciting to you?
I was in college and graduate school from 1979-1986 and married in 1986. There were many emotional highlights for me through those years and I feel extremely lucky to have experienced all these life changes to a soundtrack, which included bands like REM, the Pastels, the Specials, New Order, the Jam, XTC, Orange Juice, the Cure, Echo & the Bunny men, Madness, Flock of Seagulls, Haircut 100, Aztec Camera, Elvis Costello, Graham Parker, Joe Jackson, B-52s, Love Tractor, the Clash, the Beloved, the Train Set, the June Brides, the Brilliant Corners, the Bodines (UK), Psychedelic Furs, the Smiths, the Church, the Go-Betweens, the Feelies, Dirty Looks, Marshall Crenshaw, etc.... In my mind, these bands all have the same things in common- an emphasis on writing pop songs with joyous melodies, intriguing lyrics, emotional vocals (some forlorn and brooding, some more direct), and passionate, if not always technically correct playing and singing. Many current bands seem content with using rhythm, the bass beat, and the vocals to propel their songs. There is less emphasis today in the mainstream for using guitars to craft an intricate web of melody.
Did you prefer Uk, USA or Australia's 80s music ?
For 80s music, it's hard to top what was happening in the UK thanks in large part to the Smiths, Postcard, Sarah, and the Pastels. There seemed to be hundreds of obscure Smiths influenced pop bands who would release one glorious pop gem and then disappear into the woodwork. Thanks to Firestation Records for unearthing some of these masterpieces on their Leamington Spa collections. For further proof of UK's dominance in the P!O!P! field, look at any Japanese collector's indie-pop want-list.
If you could pick a band from the eighties to join, what would it be?
The Jam/Ramones for sheer energy, power, and guts or New Order/the Cure for mysteriousness and aloofness.
How much of an indie pop fan are you? Do you wear (or used to wear) badges, buy a lot of music and so on?
I've never worn a badge or button and I only have a few band T-shirts (the Jam, Jesus & the Mary Chain, New Order) that I rarely wear. But I buy ridiculous amounts of music. Many of my purchases are still wrapped in plastic!
The thing I like most about your songs is the way they never choose the easier route, avoiding most frills of indiepop. This mean they are more rewarding than most indiepop songs, but also more challenging. Do you feel so?
I agree. I put a lot of thought and energy into the chord structure of each song. I keep going over and over the songs, which I write on my acoustic guitar, adjusting the lyrics and adding a second chorus here and a bridge there and so on. I will not leave a song alone until I am satisfied that the vocal melody and phrasing of every chorus and verse emotionally connects with me. Because John S. and I only get together twice a year, the songs have ample time to perculate and develop. And I always make sure to leave room for John's guitar to breathe.
When I visit John, I will play each section of a song over and over until he comes up with something that hits an emotional chord with me. I have always loved what the Cure and New Order have done with their bass lines. Most bands use the bass as a rhythmic tool that bounces off the drums. We prefer to use the bass as another source for melody in our songs, which I feel adds to the depth and character of our music. Even though our songs appear to be very simple on first listen, there is usually a lot of melody bubbling underneath the surface that can be gleened after repeated listenings.
John has a gift for creating memorable surf-jazz-pop guitar lines. The funny thing is that John knows very little about indie-pop music history. When I first met him, I played him some New Order and Echo & the Bunnymen songs so he could capture the feel for what I was looking for to add to the Silent Boys mix. John immediately absorbed the post-punk guitar licks, adding his own style and twist. Since then, I have purposefully kept him "in the dark" (very few mix tapes) so that his guitar sound stays pure and original.
"Wishing Well Eyes" sounds like a very cohesive body of work, every sound seems carefully planned, especially the guitar parts. Did you have to work much in the studio to achieve such a nice blend?
John Suchocki and I spent countless hours scrutinizing and reworking these songs to get them just right. Unfortunately for John, I pay attention to every note he wrings out of his guitar, and I keep harrassing him until I am satisfied with his riff. Luckily, John has a lot of patience for me!
Is there a song on this record you are most satisfied with?
I keep coming back to Sonnet of the Sea. I'm drawn to this song by John's majestic and fluid guitar/bass lines
About the lyrics: what do you like to write about? Do you have to get to a strong emotional state in order to attempt to write about it or do you prefer to write about fantasies or memories? I noticed most of the tunes are love songs.
I guess I am a romantic at heart. Love lost and love found are universal themes. When I'm making up songs, I sing gibberish- I'm more worried about the phrasing and the vocal melody. At some point, a song will inspire a line such as, "All my favorite colors are shades of blue," and then, if I think it's cool, my mind will start to race, putting together the rest of the puzzle.
According to the band's bio, you have been "silently playing and recording music for the past two decades". So, does the songs of your album have been written over a lengthy period of time? And where's the band been until "Beauty Tips"?
With various line-ups (me being the only constant) the Silent Boys played many live shows and recorded about 40 songs from 85-91. When John left Richmond in 1991 to teach at a community college in Hawaii, I played a few more shows with a new cast of players, and then I "pulled the plug" on the whole thing. I put my guitar to rest for about 8 years. Then the indie-pop world world started to show some interest in our music. Saturday was released by Tweenet/Kindercore on a CD compilation called "Seven Summers" in 1998 and People Change Like the Weather appeared on the Morgan Leah compilation called "Will There Be Time For Tea."
With the renewed interest in the Silent Boys, I started writing songs again on my acoustic guitar. I sent John a tape of my new songs, and in the summer of 1999, he flew in from Hawaii to play lead guitar and bass for the new batch of songs. We recorded seven songs during the "Princess by the Sea" sessions. None of these songs were officially released (except "Don't Take Love for Granted" which made its way onto a Firestation Records CD compilation called "You Though it Was the End of the World.....") because we weren't 100% pleased with how some of the songs turned out.
In 2003, John and his family moved back to the mainland (Burlington, Vermont) and we were back in business! Since then we have self-released 2 full-length CDs ("Beauty Tips" in 2004 and "Wishing Well Eyes" in Jan. 2006) with drums provided by John Morand (engineer, producer, and part-owner of Sound of Music Studio). John S. and I are currently working on a retrospective of the best of the Silent Boys' 85-91 period that we hope to issue over this summer. After that, we'll refine and release the "Princess By The Sea" CDEP.
How is the Virginia pop music scene? Are there any bands you feel akin to?
Not much happening here in Richmond, but then again, I do not get out as often as I used to.
Salvatore
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