Review Fix Exclusive: Silvertung Talks ‘But, At What Cost’ And More

Review Fix chats with Speed (vocals) and Sam (bass) from SILVERTUNG who recently signed to Thermal Entertainment where they released their latest effort (BUT, AT WHAT COST??!) on February 15th.

Review Fix:  What makes the band now than when you first got together?

Speed: The band has had an opportunity to grow as musicians, as a band, song writers and family. We’ve been educated by bands we have looked up to and our internal team. It hasn’t been easy, but we’re in a lot better place now than when we first got together. 

Sam:  We have a few new members than we had when the band first got together. That has changed the creative structure of the band a lot since then. We also have learned very much from our experiences throughout the past 6-8 years. That experience has taught us a lot, musically and professionally. (BUT, AT WHAT COST??!) demonstrates how much we’ve learned about writing music and recording it… and we are so proud of it.

Review Fix:  What was your creative process like for “But at What Cost?”

Speed: This release was very different from our past releases. In the past, we wrote and rehearsed new material, before we went into the studio. We had songs that had a direction and were almost complete. We would bring the songs to the producer and between his ideas and ours we would make some minor changes. For “But At What Cost” we decided to challenge ourselves by bringing ideas to the studio and then build the track around that. We’ve never recorded that way…in essence we were writing in the studio while we recorded. The initial idea came from our producer who suggested we try a new formula for recording. It certainly challenged us and we’ve grown as songwriters because of the process. 

Sam: The creative process was very cohesive in terms of writing each riff and each section. For this album specifically, we tried to intentionally avoid stepping on each other’s toes, musically. The end result of this was a much bigger, wider sound that is pretty evident and consistent across the album. For this album, we focused more than ever on having an overall flow to each song. They are very unique from each other, yet blend together seamlessly.

Review Fix:  What inspires you?

Speed: Life…things that happen around me and with others. No one is perfect, we all deal with life in different ways. I watch, listen and take all things into account before I write lyrics that hopefully everyone can relate to.  

Sam: Many things inspire me but in terms of music – progressive rock and metal, jazz-fusion, instrumental music, romantic-era classical music, heavy riffs, musicality, creativity. Some of my favorite guitarists are David Maxim Micic, Plini, John Petrucci, Jason Richcardson, Nick Johnston, and Richard Henshall.

Review Fix:  How important has YouTube been to your success?

Speed: YouTube is a great platform. We’ve made some fans who are ‘YouTubers’. We make videos that are reflective of our personalities and the band. Our goal to show the world visually who Silvertung is through our videos we post on YouTube. YouTube is one platform that we use to give people a hint of who we were are. 

Sam: YouTube is always a great way of publishing videos and new music… it has definitely helped us on our journey.  We are still working to expand and build our presence online and using YouTube links is one of the easiest ways to share videos / new music around.

Review Fix:  What’s the standout track on “But at What Cost?”

Speed: I believe the release as a whole stands out. If I had to pick individual tracks, I personally like “Black Sunset,” “Dodging Bullets,” “Done My Best” and “Feel Inhuman.” We try as songwriters and musicians to never have ‘filler’ tracks on our releases. 

Sam: For me, the standout track on (BUT, AT WHAT COST??!) is ‘Dodging Bullets’. It kills.

Review Fix:  How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard you?

Speed: Our sound is heavy, full of grove and energy. I’d describe our sound like a drug…very addictive. I like to believe our sound is heavy, yet accessible to everyone.

Sam: Addictive high-energy rock music with a unique groove and brutal timbre.

Review Fix:  How are your live shows different from your studio work?

Speed: The weird thing, is most of the time, you hear people say, “So and so was good live. But their album is better.” People tell us that they love this release or that release, but say our live show is insane. That speaks volumes to us…our goal is to bring high energy to every performance. 

Sam: Live shows are a representation of the hard work that goes into the studio. The live show is definitely more interactive and exciting. It truly brings the energy of the record to life. Its our one chance to engage and share our musical personalities with the audience.

Review Fix:  What are your goals for 2019?

Speed: Touring!!!! Touring!!!! Touring!!!! And then more touring….

Sam:  My personal goals for 2019 include travelling the country with Silvertung, complete a lot of the writing for the next album to follow (BUT, AT WHAT COST), work on a few side projects, continue to learn and grow with the band. The sky is the limit and I am hyped to push Silvertung as far as we can go.

Review Fix:  What’s next?

Speed: Continuing to write material for another release and continuously grown as a band. 

Sam:  Next? TOURING and more TOURING. We want to bring this album to the world…. at any cost. We plan on hitting the road hard throughout 2019 and into 2020. We’re excited to begin the writing process for the next album and there are already a few ideas in the works. The next year will be a big one for us and we can’t wait to really get out there and give you Silvertung!

Review Fix:  Anything else you’d like to add?

Sam:  This is my first album with the band and it has been an absolute joy working with them. They’re truly some of the best people I’ve ever met along with their extremely loving fan base. The outreach of open arms has been extremely overwhelming and incredibly humbling. I can’t wait to see what comes next!

Speed: Thank you to everyone who is supporting us. Without you….there is no us.   You can keep up with us on our social sites:

https://www.silvertung.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Silvertungband/
https://www.instagram.com/silvertungband/
https://www.youtube.com/user/SILVERTUNGTV
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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13821 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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