Fabulist!

After catching The Silent Years' amazing show in Los Angeles, we were so entranced we knew we had to get an interview. After much praying and a raindance or two, we managed to get ahold of their bassist Pat Michalak for a phone interview during their busy tour schedule-- read on to learn about their crazy video, and exactly what the band thinks about those record industry fuckers.

Hi Pat--

Hi-- I almost got hit by pigeons!

You what?

We're in New York and these pigeons just came out of nowhere! Sorry. You were at our show-- you were the girl in the fur coat!

Yeah, I wear it a lot.

You like to wear fur at appropriate times--

Well, inappropriate times, too. So what are you guys doing in New York?

We're in New York for CMJ.

Right! I've yet to go to CMJ. What's that like?

Well, it's overwhelming with the music industry people, definitely. But it's cool to see a ton of bands a couple blocks of each other. There are a lot of bands we're friends with here, good bands-- and there are bad bands, too...(laughs)

We won't talk about those. Just to be nice. So do you have people out there romancing you?

Well there's certainly that-- we met a lawyer out here, and we get "I'm so and so from such and such from ASCAP." Just lots of record industry crap.

You say record industry crap-- but I noticed that you got your song on the soundtrack for a television show, Men In Trees.

Well, yeah, but that's different. That's publishing.

Ah, ok. So how did that end up working out?

We watched the show for the first time when we were trying to get our song in it. Our publishing company was working for a year, and hey, we only got one placement-- but, you know, it's a good source of money. You get the needle drop fee while it's on, and then if the show goes to dvd you get paid again. We were thinking, this is great exposure! Five million people will hear our song on this show, right? But then we watched it and our music is so quiet, no one hears it.

So it's not like the OC-- where a band plays and suddenly their career skyrockets, like Death Cab.

No, it's not like that. OC is like the new 90210, you would get to play the Peach Pit and it launched you.

It sounds like a cliche, but you guys put on one of the most amazing shows I've ever seen. And in 14 Below, which is a showcase venue, where the band usually has to cover the door up to a certain amount. It's great that you put on such a fantastic show in such a tiny place.

We were booked at another place that night that was a better venue, but then the booking agent got fired, and all of a sudden we weren't on the show anymore. We called and they said, we'll put you at 14 Below.

You guys seemed like you were having so much fun.

We've been cooped up in the van for 6 weeks, and we all get along swimmingly. Even when we show up and there's nobody there we play for the bartender and have a great time.

You guys are from Detroit right? It took me a while to realize you weren't from LA, because you seemed to know everybody there! I even heard some girl in the crowd say you played their birthday party. People were calling out names of songs, and they just all seemed like friends of yours.

Yeah, that's Josh. He knows lots of people there, we travel a lot so we have friends in LA, New York, which is great. You always have a place to sleep. But that's how it is, for years you play in Detroit, just playing for your friends, and that's how it goes. The point we're at, we're not making any money, we're just putting gas in our tank. That there's no money to be made, it gears us towards paying attention to just having fun--

And you seem to be great at that.

It's something you learn too, nobody really knows who you are, you have to win the crowd over. We're having a really good time. We're not pretentious-- it's not about the clothes or being seen with whoever is at the show, it's really about the music for us. We maintain this childlike innocence that is, we're doing this for the love of the music.

That's amazing, and rare. When I thought you guys were from LA, I was just amazed, because I've met so many people out here. Looking for a bassist for their band, or drummer, or whatever, and the response they get is, well sure, we'll do that, but how much will you pay me? I was amazed you seemed to keep that joy intact.

Yeah, LA seems like it's all about the business. We played a hole in the wall bar in Oklahoma City, packed with people just there to hang out and drink. There was a little PA system in the corner of the room and everyone was dancing around and clapping. People come up afterwards, great people, and crazy people too -- it's not like meeting all these industry fuckers. It's people who are going to buy the album, who love it.

Ha. It seems you have this tiny edge of disillusionment about the recording industry.

Yeah, we played a bunch of showcases and for a ton of major labels. You deal with with all these people, and they are disillusioned themselves and don't realize it. It's all about success for them.

What does success look like for you?

Artistic growth, to grow as musicians, pushing the boundaries. Really enjoying what you're doing. A year ago I quit the band, I was going through a divorce, just miserable. Trying to write. I was really unhappy and had to stop doing it. A friend filled in on bass for a while, and the boys told me, we really need you back in the band, it's not the same without you. So I came back. It's fun, but there is also a tremendous of bullshit and stress. Like booking shows at the last minute, or being told you didn't confirm a show when you have an email that you confirmed the show, places screwing you out of money, having to travel 3000 miles every day...

I can see how it's a double-edged sword, something that can kill you or just bring you joy. I saw your video and thought it was terrific. Especially the way it ends. How did you guys come up with that?

We started thinking about it early on, and we were talking at a Coney Island-- it's the equivalent of a greasy spoon, they serve breakfast 24 hours, and we were just talking it out. We wanted to do something fun, and we started talking about this goofy idea about being chased by animals. We did it all ourselves, too. John, the guitar player, drew all the backgrounds, and the rest of the band sat around with X-acto knives cutting out all the pieces. We borrowed a camera and some lights from a friend and were shooting this diorama set in the drummer's living room, taking it shot by shot. The shot in the end was in Josh's backyard!

That's so great, that you did it all yourselves-- and it looks so much better than most of the videos that are out there, from bands that have much more backing than you do.

That's the thing. It shouldn't take you $100,000 to make a good album, or $30,000 to make a good video. That's ridiculous. Our album cost $3000 to make. I work at a recording studio, and I mixed on time I got from my boss. Mark Saunders, he's done Cure stuff, and Talking Heads songs-- he mixed two of the songs on spec. Which just means he did it for free, and if we ever made money he would get paid. He's an older guy, and has a family and small studio in New York. Just really down to earth, our kind of guy.

Tell me about the song the video is for-- Someone To Keep Us Warm. I love that song, I got it the morning of the show and must have listened to it twenty times. It's what ultimately made me decide to go see you guys.

That is so cool.

It's a great song. Where did you get the idea for it?

Josh, the lead singer, he has a huge log of songs. He calls his voicemail and leaves songs on there, and he has a Protools setup, he's always jotting down ideas. He'll play something for us and then we'll spend a few hours taking it apart, get it into the studio, and it gets put under a microscope--where we'll try to figure out the balance between spontaneity and getting it just the way we want it.

So what do you want people to know about you, and about your music?

We're just normal guys. I get sort of pissed of when performers or artists try to take a political stance-- I think it's a good platform for that, but then it's not about the music. We've been listening to the Beatles biography book on tape-- just hours and hours of it, on the road. What it is about the Beatles that I love, we put their music on and it takes you to another world. To me it transcends everything, to be able to listen to something new or something old, it's this total mental thing inside your head. I don't know... (laughs) I feel like you just asked me to tell you the one thing that the world will remember us for.

Ha. I didn't mean to put you on the spot.

We're just a bunch of nice guys having a good time, trying to make other people happy and trying to do something cool and new and creative that hasn't been done before. For us that's the most exciting part. We're really unpretentious. I mean, we played a birthday party! We'll play anywhere. °°

The Silent Years are currently touring across the US in support of their new self-titled LP. If they happen to be playing your town, you shouldn't miss it. Check out more music from The Silent Years at The Hype Machine, or check their tour dates.