The Silence

When you cover music for a while you discover just how easy it is for bands to break up over just about anything. So it's pretty refreshing when you find out about a band like The Silence, who have been together for nearly 15 years.
That's right 15 years... and we're not talking about classic rock has-beens, we're talking about a group of guys that have been friends and band mates since grade school.
The Silence hail from the Philadelphia/South Jersey music area. The band is comprised of Evan McIntyre, Tim Malcarney, and Andrew Parry. They're currently on tour to promote their latest CD, "Find Your Way Home", and will be playing at the Saint in Asbury Park on May 21st.
"There's not one style of music that we like," said Tim Malcarney. "Each of us will have a pretty diverse collection of our own music and pretty extensive. I think it's fair to say that all of us will have everything from rock to classical and jazz to a little hip-hop. Good music is good music no matter what it is. People always ask bands who are your influences. Well, if you listen to enough stuff who isn't an influence?"
The core of the band is Evan McIntyre and Tim Malcarney. The two met while going to school in Haddonfield and discovered that they both were very much into music. One day they decided to start their own band. The first few years their parents probably wished they were listening to silence instead of the noise being created in their house. As they stuck together, they eventually began to get better and better. By the time they were in high school they were playing on South Street in Philadelphia and in other clubs in the area.
"In the beginning, we actually had to have our parents drop us off at the shows," said Malcarney. "We would go in and rock out for a few hours and then have our parents drive us home. Back then whenever we were interviewed people were always interested in us because we were so young. And now it's gotten to the point where people are amazed because of how long we've been together. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing."
After high school, the band members all went to different colleges up and down the east coast. Instead of forcing the band to break up, this actually helped them increase their fan-base. Each band member would book shows at their college and around the local area. The band would then set up tours that rotated around the various colleges.
The end result is a fan-base that allows The Silence to bring a solid crowd to shows in places like New Jersey, Maryland, New York areas. Through the years the band has opened for such artists as Live, The Connells, the Ocean Blue and the Samples.
"The weirdest gig was playing on the steps of the Capitol," recalled Malcarney. "I don't know if you can actually get that close anymore to the Capitol. It was a benefit for Habitat For Humanity. When we pulled up there with all of our equipment there was Secret Service agents with dogs sniffing everything, which always makes you a little nervous. That was probably the coolest and the strangest location we've ever played."
The band took some time off after making their last record so even though the CD came out around Thanksgiving they are just now starting to tour in support of it. The network of contacts created while in college still helps them do the initial building of their tours. Malcarney says that the band is ready to start playing regularly again.
Live, the band lets their music breathe a little bit. They're not afraid to take a few chances and change things around while on stage.
"When we play live we definitely open up the songs a lot more," explains Malcarney. "It's just fun because people really get into it and we get into it. When I go to see a band I like to see them do something different than just recreate what they did on the album."
The record has started receiving airplay on radio stations like WXPN in Philadelphia and online stations like UpstageRadio.com. You can hear cuts from the band's latest album on their website at http://www.the-silence.com.
"We've been together for so long that everybody is involved with each other's lives," said Malcarney. "There's no way we could do this if we weren't friends. We hang out just as much as we play. I think that really translates in the music because we're able to understand and read each other.
"I think it's too far ingrained in us for us to just stop. I don't think that it'll ever stop. We like the control we have with everything. We have the artistic freedom to put out an album that we really feel proud about, so we can keep doing this forever. It's an insane hobby and it's too far embedded in us to stop, but we're not out there thinking ‘man if we don't get signed this is it.’ It is what it is. We just love playing."
--Gary Wein - Upstage Magazine, Vol. 2, Issue 7, May 2005

METRO INTERVIEW
The strong new CD by veteran Philly rockers The Silence is called "Find Your Way Home," and "home" would seem to be an apt description of the place the band has played in the lives of co-founders Tim Malcarney (drums/vocals) and Evan McIntyre (guitar/vocals) for the past 15 years. Metro caught up with the duo to chat about the group's beginnings, the standout tunes on its self-released and (mostly) self-produced fifth album and the friendship that continues to fuel the sound of The Silence.

METRO: You guys have known each other for a few years?

TIM MALCARNEY: We actually have known each other since grammar school - the fourth grade, as Evan reminded me of the other day - which is kind of scary. We met then and decided we wanted to form a band, well before we actually knew what we were doing ... In high school, we started playing out on the club circuit and were able to get a nice little following and to play some pretty cool gigs with some exposure. When we went to college, things just opened up a lot more, allowing us to play with bigger-name bands (G-Love, The Connells, The Ocean Blue) and to get that college crowd, which was cooler than the high school crowd.

METRO: Is there a particular song from the new CD you're digging playing live?

TIM: I think "Along Came a Sign…" When we play live, we open up a little bit more, jam a little bit more … It's controlled chaos at the end of that song. People always like hearing the drums and a little more out-there guitar.

METRO: It's hard to pin down exactly what bands you guys sound like.

TIM: Our music collections are pretty extensive, but also pretty eclectic. There's nobody that we really try to sound like. When we rehearse, I'll sometimes say things like, "Hit that part kind of like on that Buffalo Tom album." We have certain bands that we were very influenced by, but I don't think any of them are on the radio today.

METRO: You can do your own mental Goggle music searches?

TIM: In our minds, I'll think a certain part of the song sounds like so-and-so, another part of the song sounds like so-and-so. We're so influenced that sometimes you think we sound like a lot of different people, but when you put it all together, I think it still manages somehow to sound original.

EVAN MCINTYRE: It's a musical smorgasbord.

METRO: You guys must still enjoy being in this band?

TIM: The real reason we do it is the money. We get paid really well ... No, we really like playing the music. We really believe in the songs. It's just a part of us, a passion. But at the end of the day, we're good friends. If you can't sit down and drink a beer with the guys in the band, there's no real point in doing it.

--Matt Smith - Metro, Philadelphia Edition, Thursday, December 26, 2004

Venues Performed

World Cafe Live, Philadelphia
Abilene's, Philadelphia
North Star Bar, Philadelphia
Grape Street, Philadelphia
Doc Watson’s, Philadelphia
JC Dobbs, Philadelphia
Pontiac Grill, Philadelphia
Chestnut Cabaret, Philadelphia
23 East Cabaret, Philadelphia
Upstairs at Nick’s, Philadelphia
Sonic Studios, Philadelphia
Rex’s, West Chester, PA
John and Peter’s, New Hope, PA
Fletchers, Baltimore, MD
The Bank, Baltimore, MD
Brownies, NYC
Bitter End , NYC
Kenny’s Castaways, NYC
Grog and Tankard, Wash,D.C.
Irish Times,Washington, D.C.
The Metro , Washington, D.C.
Tavern on the Hill, Washington, D.C.
Iota, Arlington, VA
Stash’s, Columbus, OH
St. Stephen’s, Wheeling, W.VA
Bubba Mac's, Somers Point, NJ
Maxwell’s, Hoboken, NJ
The Westmont Theatre, NJ
The Haddon Heights Dell, NJ
The Saint, Asbury Park, NJ
The Court Tavern, New Brunswick
Jimmy’s,Wildwood, NJ
Brownies, Somers Point, NJ
Red’s, Margate, NJ
Ocean City Music Pier, NJ


Other Events Performed

The United States Capital, D.C.
Rally in the Alley, Washington, D.C.
Catholic University,Wash, D.C.
Mt. Saint Mary’s College, MD
Beaver College,Philadelphia, PA
LaSalle University,Philadelphia, PA Stockton College,Stockton, NJ
Rowan University,Glassboro, NJ
Ithaca University,Ithaca, NY
Rutgers University,New Brunswick
Johnson and Whales,Providence, RI
Wheeling University, Wheeling,WVA Naval Yard, Philadelphia, PA
Art of Surfing Festival, OC, NJ
Surfrider Benefit, Somers Point, NJ - The Silence