It’s that time of year where we set out to interview as many of the Sophie, New Blood, and Jager bands as we can in the lead-up to one of the most anticipated festivals of the year, Bloodstock. Answering our questions here is Silen who play the New Blood stage on the Saturday.
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
The garden of England… Kent.
How long have you been playing together as a band?
As this band, about 3 years and a few years before that as Darkeye.
Where does the name of the band come from?
We were originally called Nautilus but we decided to try to find something different after multiple occasions where we were mistaken for another band with the same name. We wanted something natural/organic with a forest vibe given Deans obsession with forests. He decided to use a band name generator on Google and it came up with “Silentusk” which we tried on for a while but found it confusing, so we cut it down to “Silen”. By a stroke of luck is actually an old English word for “Gods of the Woodland”.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
We try to make as much noise as 3 people possibly can. We go for big, sludgy, atmospheric sounds with our slap-dash approach to timing and structure. Basically, Dean comes up with a riff that makes no actual sense and then Frazer and Paul figure out a time signature using ancient Celtic magic.
What’s your live show like? Why are people going to watch you instead of another band?
We take influence from early Mastodon, Opeth, Tool and Deftones. Our live show has been described as “crushing”, “huge sound”, “bludgeoning”, “sassy”, and“atmospheric”…but it’s basically a masterclass in how to drum whilst 2 other idiots make incomprehensible noise.
Have you been to Bloodstock before? What did you think?
Yes we have all been to Bloodstock before, it’s amazing! The music is brilliant and the food is great too.
Which M2tM region did you win, or did you come through other channels?
We were in the Kent M2tM and Fyreskye won the final but we were later asked to come and play the New Blood stage. It seems our constant bribery of sausages and dandelion & burdock finally paid off.
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Can you put into 10 words or fewer how it felt when you realised you were heading to Bloodstock?
Jesus Christ on a nuclear powered unicycle, we did it!!!
What sort of setlist can we expect?
You can expect 5 of our finest 3-year oak-aged progressive sludge masterpieces: 4 from our debut EP that will be released imminently, and one newer song.
Which other bands do you most hope you’re not squished up next to so you can see them play?
We really hope we don’t clash with Enya, but if she does not show up then Soen on the Sophie stage will be brilliant.
What are you working on at the moment?
We’re currently filming extra stuff to go with the imminent EP release, like play throughs and rig rundowns. We have started on new material that we plan to have recorded and released by the end of the year.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
Dean once saw a panda, a pirate, and someone with a leg cast doing bin jousting in the Midgard camp site a few years back. We’re writing a song about it.
What drink do you throw back to get yourself fired up before going on stage?
Dean: Straight Ribena in a dirty glass.
Paul: Babycham.
Frazer: 4-star petrol, then swallows a lit match.
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Silen: official | facebook | instagram | soundcloud | bandcamp | youtube
