Rhea Silvia

...for these guys, looking backwards is hardly the priority. This band is more about embracing the future – the very loud future. Musically, Rhea Silvia lands somewhere on the very broad middle ground between Tool’s gray-toned modern rock and Wolfmother’s raw, power-trio, MC5-channeling vibe – thanks mostly to McClain, who pounds the shit out of those drums. There’s some bar-band funk in there, some guitar heroics – it’s all over the place, which, once you learn the band’s influences, makes sense. - Barfly Magazine

Rhea Silvia just won Best New Artists at the 717 Awards and are on a roll with their live shows. Packing in the Chameleon and many other places the band seems more like a veteran act then one who's only been together under a year. - The Doctor's Office

The biggest surprise of the night was Rhea Silvia, again another 3 piece. These guys had so much energy and you can tell they truly love what they are doing. They’ve only been playing together for a little over 6 months and enjoying ever minute of it. They all work together and create some amazing rock songs that aren’t like anything else I’ve ever heard. They are working on their first EP, which should be out very soon. Everything is happening very quickly for them, they were even already voted the Best New Band for 2008 at the 717 Awards. Now I see why.
- Pennsylvania Musician

There’s commitment to quality, and then there’s the obsessive-compulsive pursuit of perfection. Perched on top of the fence dividing the two is Harrisburg three-piece Rhea Silvia.

Even the band’s name refers to a symbol of meticulous precision: Rome. Rhea Silvia was the mother of Romulus and Remus, brothers who founded the empire in Rome’s founding myth.

“We’re very adamant about putting on a great show and doing it right,” says Jason Barshinger, the band’s singer and bassist.

The time and effort the members put into sculpting their live show and crafting their songs are indicative of a larger goal. Throughout our conversation, Barshinger never misses an opportunity to subtly command respect for Rhea Silvia’s uniquely woven progressive rock. In fact, he admits to prizing respect over the more obvious benchmarks of success in the world of music. When asked about the band’s goals and dreams for the future, Barshinger says, “I think before we jump to wanting to get signed, we just want respect.”

Rhea Silvia’s intricate and sometimes unorthodox arrangements reflect the musicians’ shared love of both the muscular riffage of blues-influenced rock like Zeppelin and Hendrix and the pirouetting virtuosity of instrumental gurus like Joe Satriani and Steve Vai. For good measure, Barshinger also lists the Beatles, Metallica and Counting Crows among their influences.
He describes the resulting sound, saying that it includes “a lot of rock, with a progressive edge on it. [We] throw some blues in there. We try to encompass it all. There’s even a song that’s a little more punk-ish.”
Convoluted, sure. Barshinger admits that early on, confusion was a common reaction to Rhea Silvia’s music, yet it was coupled with a curiosity that led to an impressive array of shows. Barshinger explains, “I don’t think people really got it right away, but we were playing like 14 or 15 shows without even having a recording, just word of mouth, like, ‘You gotta hear these guys.’ … I think over the past year people have really started to understand what we’re going for and what we’re doing.”

When three virtuosic players are colliding and attempting to create something meaningful in the wake, a clear guiding principle is wise. Barshinger tells me that when songs begin to emerge, conversations about themes that are evoked by the music inform the next stage of the songwriting process. “This project is a little different than anything I’ve done before,” Barshinger says. “We’ll start working on an idea and I’ll ask the guys, ‘What’s your thoughts on this song? What’s your feelings? What do you think this song should be about?’ Sometimes they’ll give me a storyline.” Those storylines, he explains, have ranged from a horror-influenced plot on a track called “Rise,” the origin of which was drummer Cory McClain’s love of horror films, to more personal, situational writing.
“The ’80s had this awesome musicianship, but a lot of times the lyrics were just kind of … not there,” Barshinger says. “In the ’90s, it went back to being very lyrically driven. I love the Counting Crows; what Adam Duritz says in those songs, that kind of stuff just hits me. So we try to put both of those things together and get the best of those worlds.”

In January, Rhea Silvia took its methodical approach into Seventh Wave Studio to start recording an eight- or nine-song record entitled "When The Spotlight Shines Upon You," due out sometime this spring. Not only are the band members planning to release the album on those flat, shiny things some of us remember called “compact discs,” but they are also planning to press a limited edition (100 copies) in vinyl. The band and its burgeoning fan base are equally excited about this archaic tribute to the ever-rarer breed of audiophiles.

“People are saying they are gonna get their players fixed just so they can play our album,” Barshinger says. “I think it’s going to [be especially good to listen to] in a car. There are tracks that you can just slam out, but then it’s also got those tracks that you sit down and you really, really just listen to. I’m excited to see what people say about it.”

Prior to forming Rhea Silvia a year and a half ago, Barshinger, guitar player Mike Adams and McClain were all members in another area band, whose name they’d rather not mention. As it would turn out, all three members began feeling like they had things to offer that were being stifled. In fact, Barshinger uses the word “crippled” to describe the restrictive writing experience. After discovering they were of the same mind, the three left the band, taking their vision and their untapped skills with them, and launched Rhea Silvia.

While the new setup yielded a watershed of original material, Rhea Silvia does pad its set with some covers in order to maintain a full show schedule. But even when performing cover material, there is little hint of artistic compromise or, for that matter, much concern over what anyone else thinks. No kowtowing to the underbite rock-loving throngs with Nickelback covers here.

“I would say, most of the covers we do are just for fun,” Barshinger explains. “We’re doing songs that you wouldn’t expect: Aerosmith’s ‘Dream On.’ We do Journey’s ‘Separate Ways,’ which just rocks. We do ‘Rockin’ in the Free World.’ We’re working on a Rush song.
“We do songs that typically people don’t even hear a four- or five-piece pull off well.”

In light of the band’s prowess at pulling off tricky and unexpected covers, Barshinger says that the ultimate compliment for Rhea Silvia is when someone saunters over from the bar and says, “I liked your originals better than your covers.”

While allusions to what is arguably the world’s longest-lasting and most influential empire may be a little on the lofty side, the members of Rhea Silvia do seem to adopt the confidence and eye for detail that Romanesque empire-builders might find useful. - Barfly Magazine