Photo credit: Andrew Lassard
Alex Silas & The Subterraneans recently released their latest album Tunnels: Season One. The group is excited for their upcoming release party which you can check out on Saturday August 6th, 2016 at Saint Brigid’s Centre for the Arts. Advance tickets are only $10 ($15 at the door) and the doors open at 8pm.
Anyone who’s followed Alex will be familiar with his genre bending style, blending his many influences into a sound he can call his own. He’s pushed the boundaries further with Tunnels. “That was part of the goal. I wanted to evolve. With Roots I felt like each song was it’s own island. With Tunnels what we wanna do is have a cohesive sound. We don’t want to get any less experimental. If anything we’re getting more experimental, more focused.”
With the group now having a fixed lineup, you can sense that they are starting to find their groove. “During roots the band was in it’s infancy. it was me a guitarist and a dj. Now we’ve grown into a 5 piece and we’re more fluid. We’re all writing together now. Between practicing songs we just start jamming on something and it evolves into a song idea. The song writing process is completely different than the way I was doing it before. It’s more natural.”
I asked about the album name and how “Seasons” came to be attached to it and what the significance was. “I don’t know where that idea popped out of, but calling it Seasons, it just sorta stuck. We were talking about how we wanted to release it in parts and do we call it parts, volumes? I think somebody said episodes, but then we were like nah that’s too much like star wars (laughing). Then somebody said seasons and I really liked it cause it had a whole fashion vibe to it. It had the cinematic vibe to it and it just stuck.”
The group plans to release 3 Seasons before they’re done and then put it all together as a full length with some extra stuff. The Tunnels seasons should be coming out every 4 to 5 months, so fans will have plenty of new music to look forward to in the coming year. Alex shared that, “Season 2 is pretty much done. 1 song to record and some mixing to do. Season 3 is started on and a lot of the songs are either in the production stage already or the writing stage. We held on to some songs that are going to be part of season 2.”
While the songs were written and ready to go before hitting the studio, Alex isn’t one to put limits on the group’s creativity. “There’s always going to be some spontaneous stuff. There’s always gotta be some magic in the studio. Some of that stuff has to happen organically. With Bryan and Jon working on the record, I fully try to utilize them. They’re incredibly talented. I love everything that they bring to the record.”
Alex had nothing but high praise for Bryan Ruckstuhl and Jonathan Chandler of Shoebox Reocrding Studio, continuing, “They’re a big part of our sound for sure. They contribute a lot. Bryan has been like a mentor to me for 5 years. We’re really close. I don’t think I’d be making the music I’m making if it wasn’t for him pushing me to expand my boundaries, try new stuff, play with new sounds.”
Photo credit: Andrew Lassard
The release party will be happening downstairs at Saint Brigid’s Centre for the Arts. It will be quite the production with the band bringing in all of their own sound gear. Special guests on the bill include Ghettosocks, DRAE, GEIS†ERH∆US, E.ON (of The Adding Machine) and A.Charter. Keep an eye on the Facebook event page for up to date details.
On the venue, Alex said, “It fit the theme. There’s a lot of religious themes in the album. We wanted to play a venue we hadn’t played before, a venue where we could throw a big event. As soon as we walked in there, there were these nice stone walls. It’s a really nice spot and the owner was cool too. It’s an ambitious attempt at throwing a release party. I’m anxious. I’m nervous. I feel good about the lineup.”
Looking ahead, the group will be playing the Festival Outaouais Émergent on September 11th. “We’re stoked for that. We’ve never played a french festival before. They’ve been showing us a lot of love. We’ve been doing promo events with them leading up. It’s great when a festival really puts a lot of stock in their locals.”
In closing, Alex shared, “Tunnels I feel is miles ahead of anything I’ve done with Roots. I’ve been trying to push myself with my writing. The band, they’re all incredible musicians. We’ve been trying to push everything to another level.”
From what I’ve hard so far, I think they’ve reached it. Watch the video for Champagne and make sure you head out to Saint Brigid’s Centre for the Arts on August 6th to catch what Alex Silas & The Subterraneans have cooked up.
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