Ten years ago, five young men gathered in a practice space hoping to form the foundation for what would become one of the most celebrated careers within the last decade of punk rock. That band was SILVERSTEIN, and this year solidifies their first of many decades together as a band. This humble group of friends has been... carrying the torch of working-class, emotionally-driven hardcore punk since 2000, performing over 1300 shows in 26 countries for hundreds of thousands of fans. As a special treat to their fans, and more importantly to the town that raised them, the band performed a series of shows at the legendary El Mocambo, the same Toronto venue that has played host to the classic live performance and album recordings of Elvis Costello and the Rolling Stones. SILVERSTEIN and Victory Records proudly present Decade (Live At El Macambo), a special live document of the band’s four-night take-over at this famous venue that helped celebrate the band’s 10 year anniversary in March of 2010.

There will be a special premiere screening of the film at 9pm on Monday June 7th, 2010 at The Royal Cinema in Toronto. More details HERE.

Pre Order the DVD from Victory Records HERE.

lmTO: How long has The Reason been together as a band?
We’ve been together since January of 2003.

lmTO: How would you define your sound?
This is a tough question. Nowadays it seems like genres are dead. Our music is a melting pot of all five members’ musical tastes and backgrounds. Hard Working Rock Music.

lmTO: Wikipedia says the band has endured some member changes over the years, was it difficult to continue and regroup as a band/artist?
It’s always a difficult thing to endure. I feel though that with every time something like this has happened we have gotten new members with more drive and who seem to be cut from the same cloth as the rest of us.   It has always worked out for the better.

lmTO: What would the band consider to be their greatest accomplishment as a group thus far?
Probably this album, ‘Fools’. Just everything about it, from the songwriting to who we worked with to where we recorded to how we recorded it. I listen to it and have no regrets. Its something we have created that I am most proud of, and I consider it our greatest accomplishment so far…

lmTO: In a recent blog post you said to fans "we've missed you", which begs the question - where have you been?
We have been waiting for the new record to be released! We finished this record about a year ago. In the meantime we have found new management, signed to Warner, and remixed and mastered the album. 2009 was home to the fewest shows The Reason has played in our career. We miss being out there on the regular playing live more than anything, and can’t wait to get back at it.

lmTO: Your new album "Fools" comes out in July, what inspired the new album? Is there any message or theme behind it?
We had thought of the name Fools a long time before many of the songs were even written. We see the last record as a learning experience. We met lots of people and got to do a bunch of things as a band we had never experienced before. Many decisions that we made could have probably been thought through a little better. It’s the same thing with life and love. We have all been fooled and we are all fools ourselves. Once the record was fully written it became evident that it was the right decision for the title. The word appears in the lyrics of a few songs, and they are all pretty tied together to the theme. Plus, we were listening to a lot of Fleetwood Mac and Springsteen at the time and are huge fans of one-word album titles. Rumors and Nebraska to name a few.

lmTO: What are your 3 favourite songs to perform live and why?
I don’t know if I can pick 3 favourite songs as I enjoy playing all of our songs in different situations. Be it old, or new or whatever. We like to mix it up each night.

lmTO: What would be the craziest thing a fan has ever done for the band?
I wouldn’t necessarily call it “crazy”, but we have a fan from Kitchener named Adynne who comes to nearly every show we play in Southern Ontario always armed with baked goods.  It never fails.  She’s an awesome baker.  She has even gone as far as knowing all of our birthdays and if a birthday happens to fall on a show date she bakes a birthday cake. A week ago for Ronson’s birthday she made us a chocolate mocha cake with espresso beans on top. It was killer. Adynne rules.

lmTO: Finally, can you share with us any exciting news of upcoming Tours or shows in Toronto in the near future?
We are playing in Toronto at the Supermarket as part of NXNE on Friday, June 18th at 12pm. With ‘Fools’ being released on July 6th we will be doing some festival dates this summer followed by some pretty heavy touring. More news to come…

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by Matt Vardy

Having trouble seeing the video? Watch HERE

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by Matt Vardy

The show was a solid assembly of bands doing what they do, really well. Some I have seen before, some not - and some really surprised me. 

The Summer Set opened the show - lively despite a wounded frontman. They got the crowd warmed up, with a brief visit on vocals by alex deleon of The Cab. 
www.myspace.com/thesummerset

Every Avenue played a really solid set, getting the audience involved with their catchy hooks.
www.myspace.com/everyavenue 

I've seen Hey Monday before, a year ago when they opened for fall out boy, and they were even better than I remembered - Cassadee Pope is really coming into her own as a frontwoman, taking control of the whole stage and interacting with her bandmates. 
www.heymondaymusic.com/

The Cab are a favourite of mine, and the past few years have been full of lineup changes, but this set was a good display of their pop sensibilities and the r&b lean of Alex Deleon's vocals. A track from their as-yet-unreleased 2nd full-length was well received. 
www.thecabrock.com/

I have to admit to not doing a lot of research on Never Shout Never prior to this show - I had listened to their music, but had no idea what a force of personality Christofer Drew is - the crowd ate it up. www.nevershoutnever.com/

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by Karen Bowness

 lmTO: What genre of music do you consider your work to be? Who are your major
influences?
I like consider most of my songs to fit into the "honest letter" genre. I made that up...I think. They're more or less all letters I have written if I didn't write them as songs first. They're all accounts of real stories from my life, be them happy, sad, or hopeful, but above all else, simply honest accounts. My major influences range from the Beatles, James Taylor, and Simon and Garfunkel to Matchbox Twenty, Collective Soul and Travis.

lmTO: How long have you been involved in music?
I've been involved in music almost as long as I can recall. I used to look forward to summers so I could try out for the summer camp musicals. I was always the kid who was too young to really be in them but who went and tried out anyways and usually landed pretty decent roles. Following that I wanted to take up an instrument so I started on piano and very quickly moved to guitar when my piano instructor brought one by. From that day the guitar and I were inseparable.

lmTO: Who writes your songs? What are the main themes or topics for most of
your songs? Do you think these topics will change over time?
I write my own music..I believe it's an important aspect of who I am as an artist. I want the stories to come from me, from a place I can dial into and recall emotion from when playing them live. The main themes come from human connection, be it good, bad, loving, hoping, losing and trying again.  I think as time goes by the melodies will change but the words will always come from the same place. Almost all music is written about love, or some
kind of it.

lmTO: What has been your biggest challenge as a musician? Have you been able to
overcome that challenge? If so, how?
The biggest challenge was making it through the years where nothing was really happening and I was plugging away trying to make a name for myself as a musician, but then again, when I look back on it, there was a lot happening there, it was just beneath the surface. I was writing, developing, doing everything which was essential for me to get to where I am now. Overcoming these challenges was really as simple as believing in myself and always knowing and believing deep down that success was on its way. I was always the one who said, "Don't worry guys ( mom and dad ), it'll all come together..I promise, just give it time", and, well, eventually it did.

lmTO: We know you are playing shows over the course of the next few weeks with
Faber Drive and The Latency, how excited are you about that?
As I write this I'm already 7 shows into the Faber Drive tour and so far it has been the single most rewarding experience I have ever had as a musician. Playing live on a tour is exactly where I've trained myself to be over these last years, and being able to bring so many people together in a room of different ages and backgrounds and connect them through songs has to be the greatest feeling there is. I'm so excited to keep on going with this tour
and the SodaPOP tour that will follow. I'm lucky enough to have an amazing band of friends out here with me and almost 35 shows left...I couldn't be in a better place.

lmTO: What is your ultimate goal in life?
My ultimate goal is to be able to continue to do what I love, which is more or less exactly what I'm doing now. To write music and take it around the world..to get through to just one person in every room I play, to make their day better, and to connect people through music.

lmTO: I know you've been working on a new music video with our friend Andy Wood,
can you tell us what song it was for and when can fans expect to see it launch?
The video is for the second single from the album "Perfect Accident" which is called Easier, and there's some surprises..we've got some pretty cool cameos in there. You'll have to watch out on Much for the video which comes out very soon. Andy has done such an incredible job on the video and was a pleasure to work with. The video will launch in the coming week or so.

lmTO: If you were stranded on an island with one person, who would you like it to be?
The person who inspires me to write...a muse, someone who brings the music
to life. Every writer needs one, so that's who I'd bring along.

lmTO: What artist gets the most play on your iPod lately?
Keith Urban has been up there lately. Listening to him before shows gets me
pumped and excited to show a crowd a good time with my guitar.

lmTO: What can fans expect next from Jesse Labelle, any final words and links
you care to share?
Fans can expect a lot of touring, and hopefully a chance to come out and catch a live show, because that's where the magic is. I am so proud of my album..it's everything I've ever wanted it to be, however there's something that happens live that you just can't recreate, and so I hope that everyone can make it out to a show this summer...there are so many of them and I hope I can keep meeting and playing for such incredible fans and music lovers
alike.

As for final links, keep checking the website for video blogs of myself and the band on the road. I edit them and put them together in the back of the van in between cities and in hopes that it makes people feel like they're with us out here on tour. Were all truly having the greatest time and I can't wait to continue.

www.jesselabelle.com

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by Matt Vardy