This week, we introduce to you Silent On Fifth Street who are currently making waves throughout the Maryland and Virginia music scene. Formerly known as Our Last Sunrise until May of 2013, they’ve quickly established their new identity as Silent On Fifth Street by sharing the stage with the likes of Alesana, The Color Morale, Dying Fetus, to even hosting their own CD release show in Baltimore, MD! We sat down with guitarist, Zach Ellwood, to discuss the origins of the band, discussing their brand new self-titled EP, the future and much more! Be sure to tune in every Tuesday for a brand new edition of “RichardThinks Band Of The Week!”
For more information on Silent On Fifth Street, please check them out on Facebook and follow them on Twitter!
1. First, can you please introduce yourself & tell us your role in the band.
My name is Zach Ellwood and I play guitar in Silent on Fifth Street
2. With so many bands emerging in today’s scene, how do you believe Silent On Fifth Street stands out?
We believe we stand out because we don’t have a defined sound. A lot of people struggle to definitely say we are a certain genre because of the variety of influences in our songs. We feel that we also put on great live performances and do what we can to try and give back to the community.
3. Can you give us a brief history on Silent On Fifth Street?
Silent on Fifth Street was formed in May 2012 under the name Our Last Sunrise. We had some member changes as well as a small rough patch in finding a place to practice in the midst of the shows we were playing. Kevin joined the band on lead guitar shortly before our show at the 9:30 Club in February and Sam joined in March. We had a 6 piece metal band. David parted ways with us after The Color Morale show in June and Sam stepped up as our main front man. After being in a 5 piece and a 6 piece band we decided to keep it a 5 piece and have Kevin and I do backup vocals of some parts of the songs.
4. The band used to go by Our Last Sunrise, what inspired the name change?
It was a tough decision to make the name change after being a band for a year; we felt it was necessary because we wanted our band name to have meaning to us. Also there are a few other bands out there that had “Our Last’ in the name. The name Silent on Fifth Street we felt had a ring to it. It also has a story with meaning to us. Sam used to live at a house on Fifth Street where we would practice/hangout and party. Sam moved out of that house and we could no longer practice there. Therefore the name Silent on Fifth Street and it stuck since.
5. If you could pick three words to describe your band, what words would you pick?
Heavy, energetic, different.
6. What has been the biggest accomplishment for the band to date?
Our biggest accomplishment was definitely playing the show with Dying Fetus. It was really cool playing for a sold out crowd at Empire and getting the opportunity to talk to some older bands and hear stories about their journey to get where they are in their music careers.
7. The band’s performance resume is quite impressive ranging from opening for Alesana to Dying Fetus to name a few; my question is what is it about the band’s music that it can appeal to different audiences?
We have a variety of influences and have played shows with bands like Alesana and The Color Morale and Dying Fetus. Two completely different genres of metal and we’ve had success in almost any genre of show we’ve played. People go to shows to enjoy live music and find something new to listen to. We feel that we appeal to a wide variety of audiences because we don’t have a set genre labeled on us. Whether its death metal, hardcore or metal core show we feel that we’ll be well accepted by the audience with our style. Nowadays also a lot of bands are using synthesizers and programming in their music. We stick to the raw roots metal was created to be. We don’t have an issue with other bands using synthesizers we just prefer the rawness in metal.
8. The band recently released the self-titled EP, can you tell us how writing and recording it was like?
The EP has 4 songs on it. Days of Destruction was our very first song ever written as Our Last Sun Rise, when Kevin joined the band he re-wrote some of the guitar parts in the song so we decided to record it and put it on the CD. The Sickening Truth, The Masquerade and Absolution all came together when we sat down and wrote them in the late winter/ early spring this year. We recorded with Ron Vento at Nightsky Studios in Waldorf, MD. It was our first real studio experience. It was a lot of fun and Ron is definitely your guy to go to when it comes to recording metal. He knows what he is doing and is really easy to work with. His rates are just as good as any other professional studio and has a great resume in recording metal. We recorded the 4 song this past summer spending many hours in the studio and put out the EP September 22, 2013.
9. Can you give us a little bit of information on the artwork of the EP?
The EP cover is an empty room with a table there. The empty table in the vacant room is symbolic of our name Silent on Fifth Street. On the disc itself has a dark stairway leading up to the empty room and the back of the cover has a picture of us.
10. Of all the songs on the EP, which one means the most to you and why?
It’s tough to say which one means the most to us. We like them all and they are all original songs we created. My personal favorite is “Absolution.” The lyrics are about don’t let others tell you who to be and to be yourself. I love the heaviness written in the song with an interesting mix of paces between the riffs and breakdowns.
11. Was there any songs in particular that took a little longer than others to come together?
I’d have to say the one that took the longest to write was “The Masquerade”. We spent hours writing the demo and there were a few changes made in the writing process on several occasions. It is definitely one of our faster more technical songs.
12. What’s next for the band for 2013 and beyond?
Well for more current news we have some great shows coming up for the winter season. The shows are:
12/5 w/ Veil of Maya, Northlane, Vildjharta, Here Comes the Kraken, Structures and Sessions at Empire
12/15 w/ Erra, Sirens and Sailors and I, the Breather at Knights of Columbus in Annapolis
12/28 In-Demand Records Showcase at Empire
1/3 Sirens and Sailors, Shai Hallud and This or the Apocalypse at Empire
1/10 Bands for Cans Food Drive at Memories
1/18 Something Wicked This Way Comes CD release at Fish head
2/8 Battle for Sumerian Records at Sonar
We are returning to Nightsky to record a new single that we are going to have a special guest featured on. The single will be released in the Spring of 2014.
13. Anything else you would like to add?
It is the holiday season and we want to make someones Christmas a little better. We are having a food drive called Bands for Cans and encourage more bands to join the cause. We love giving back to the community through our passion for music. We will have a box at our merch table for all of our upcoming shows and you guys can get a free burned copy of our EP with a canned food item. Hopefully we can inspire others to hop on board and give back. Spread the word!
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The best parties were at fifth street.