As much as Sam’s role was not initially intended for the band, neither was anything else. Before fo

With already 200 shows under their belts and after only six months of releasing their first album (a full-length album at that), Silent Old Mtns. plans to make 2013 even bigger. They've already got shows lined up, so if you missed them at 9 th and Beats on Friday, luxury tour buses to buy January 4 th don't fret. You can check them out when they play at the Velvet Lounge this Saturday, January 19 th .
As a D.C. music blog that supports local bands, we decided to start off 2013 with a hometown favorite, Silent Old Mtns. from Frederick, MD.  The six member band has played numerous D.C. venues, luxury tour buses to buy including The Velvet Lounge, The Black Cat, DC9, (the late) Red Palace, Rock N Roll Hotel, and most recently 9 th and Beats, a new music and arts venue located inside Old Dominion Brewery.
Although luxury tour buses to buy Silent Old Mtns. can easily be compared to Mumford and Sons, it's their live performance that truly sets them apart. I was lucky enough to catch them about a month ago when they played at The Black Cat, and again most recently at 9 th and Beats. Despite my personal distaste for Mumford and Sons, I found myself giving into the urge of tapping luxury tour buses to buy my foot and shaking my hips to Silent Old Mtns..
Their live show includes a theatric-filled performance (which is not present on their record, Velvet Raccoon luxury tour buses to buy ) given by band member luxury tour buses to buy and poet Sam Whalen. He refers to his role as interstitial work, which consists of poetry that he acts out in between songs. Sam's role during his spoken word performance is somehow reminiscent of a mix between a southern preacher and Jim Morrison.  He also dances with moves so unearthly; it's as if his body has been possessed by the sinner himself.
As much as Sam's role was not initially intended for the band, neither was anything else.  Before forming Silent Old Mtns., luxury tour buses to buy the songs were originally written and performed acoustically by singer and front-man Andrew Bromhal. After two years of performing, touring, and bonding, the guys are ready to start working on a sophomore album that harmonizes their growth as a band and as individuals.
Silent Old Mtns.: 2012 was huge for us. We put our first record. We got a Joe Jalette [on guitar]. We bought a bus with the help of Kick Starter. luxury tour buses to buy It's a short, yellow, school bus that we found on Craigslist from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. It actually broke down once outside of Louisville, luxury tour buses to buy Kentucky during our first tour.
Silent Old Mtns.: It was really sweaty. It was (during) the hottest week of the year. The first tour was the "sweaty tour," the second tour was the "stinky tour," and the third tour was the "we all got sick tour." So we've had the sweaty tour, the sick tour, and the stinky tour. The next tour, one of us dies (laughs).
The first tour was right when we were putting out the album. Our last date was our CD release show. That was an epic journey in itself. We hit Pittsburgh, Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, Minneapolis   We were on our way to Louisville when our bus broke down right outside the city.  We were supposed to go to Columbus the next night, but we had to cancel that date because of the bus breaking down. We did make it to the Kentucky date with the help of Sam's family. We were pulled over on the highway, under the shade and everything. It was perfect (laughs). We then had to abandon the bus in Kentucky and we rented a u-haul to get all of our gear back home because luxury tour buses to buy 200 of our best friends were waiting in Frederick for our CD release show.
STPP:   Your first record Velvet Raccoon , which is a full length album, came out this past June. Why didn't luxury tour buses to buy you guys start off with an EP?  Why dish out all those songs for the first album instead of giving people a little taste?
Silent Old Mtns.: We can't afford not to. We actually intended to originally. A friend of ours, Myles Vlachos, produced, mixed, and mastered the whole thing with us.  He has a studio in his home and a few of the guys were in a band with him at the time. And Myles offered to do some songs with us. We went in (in late August of 2011) to start recording.
We originally were going to do a few tracks. We weren't planning on doing a whole album, but then it turned into that. Myles was like "I'm just going to set this microphone up and just play every song that you know that you play with the band." And I'm like "okay." I [Andrew] had ten songs, so I just played them all. That became the acoustic demo, which eventually became the album.
I don't know if there was ever a point where we were like "Okay, we're doing an album."  That was just the first option. I just think over the course of nine months we recorded 10 songs. There were definitely times were we thought we were only going to release like four or five tracks, but it just came together at the last second.
It seems like with this band, with everyone joining and how everything has happened up until this point, just between getting the bus, the tours we've been on, and our album… it's all kind of magical. Everything is up to chance. I feel like the way we've been able to get through is just kind of by believing in ourselves. It sounds cheesy, but it's true. Everything is just coming together. It seems like everything's happened by fluke.
We got our bus off of a Kickstarter campaign. We raised five grand, and then we added another grand. So there's just been a lot of generosity and support from the people of Frederick and a hell of a lot of good luck.
Silent Old Mtns.: 2013 is going to be huge for our website. And we're going to be twittering like crazy. Eat your heart out Bieber (laughs). We're working on touring. luxury tour buses to buy We're doing another week at the end of March. But we're looking at touring more heavily over the summer and working on a new record. We're writing right now. The plan is to record a new single and build excitement off of that. I think the next record is possibly going to be an EP, but we'll see what happens. Hopefully it won't take nine months to record.
Our current release is only six months old, but when we started recording it, we had only been a band for six months. Now we've been a band for two years next month. We've developed. Our sound has definitely changed a lot since we started recording that album. So I [Pat] think this next project is going to be much more representative of our true feel, our true vibe. Not that the last record was not us, but it's just a less mature us. Recording the last record it was a lot more Andrew luxury tour buses to buy as the singer songwriter and we're the band playing his music. And now we're writing a lot more together. And we learned how to be a band by recording the last record, luxury tour buses to buy so now we want to show the band that we are.
STPP:   I actually saw you guys open up for a band at the Black Cat about a month ago.  I thought you guys had a much better performance than the headlining band, and I'm glad I'm getting to see you guys perform again.  What captured my attention were the spoken words or poetry in between some of the songs.  The rhythm and tone spoken was reminiscent of a southern preacher, but musically reminded me of Jim Morrison. luxury tour buses to buy What inspires you to do that? Where does that come from? Are you acting out something or …?
Silent Old Mtns.: …No joke, I [Sam] started writing performance poetry because I wanted to be a singer in a band. This was in high school, but I didn't know how to play any instruments, so I couldn't start a band. I wasn't really musically inclined at the time, so I just started luxury tour buses to buy doing poetry as an excuse to be able to get in front of a microphone.  So yeah, I guess it's because I've always wanted to be in a band, I mean that's luxury tour buses to buy why I started doing it.
I like doing it and I like performing and stuff like that, and that's why I continue to do it. That's luxury tour buses to buy how I first met Andrew. It was at an open mic. I was doing poetry and that's how I got started in the band.
Silent Old Mtns.: I'm really into the beat poets, like Charles Bukowski and stuff like that. And singers influence me too, like Conor Oberst from Bright Eyes, Bob Dylan, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, a band called Man Man… I like making the set a more thematic experience. Those moments between songs can sometimes make the whole thing lose momentum. It's sort of like an immersion factor from beginning to end.
Silent Old Mtns.:   Originally that was the intention of the first album, but we just kind of ran out of time… we just decided to save it for the live show. All of the songs have poems that somehow relate to the theme or at least are made to precede it, just like sonically. And that's what I plan to do for the new batch. I've had the idea to put a book together.  Just a small book with the poems and lyrics or maybe do an EP of just the poetry. So hopefully we'll get it on the next album. It's a huge part of our live show and our identity as a band, so I think in any attempt to make our album more like our live set it's impossible to leave out.
We don't want to be that band that just records music and has a million friends on Facebook , but never plays a single show. We have the music so we can play in front of people.  We played a ton of shows last year, 175. And about 200 shows within the last two years.
Silent Old Mtns.: [Steve Younkins] Probably the Who; [Andrew Bromhal] luxury tour buses to buy Damien Jurado; [Sam Whalen] the Electric Mayhem, the Muppets' house band. No, that's a lie (laughs). For me, it's Man Man; [Pat Acuna] I don't know if I can say a band that inspires the way I drum, but if I had to probably John Bonham from Led Zeppelin; [Thom Huenger] Primarily what informs the decisions I make is just listening luxury tour buses to buy to Andrew's songs, but Ben Folds has probably been the biggest influence in my piano playing;[Joe Jalette] What Mike Mogis does for Bright Eyes.  I try to take Andrew's feelings and the picture that he paints with his words and his voice. Like if he's the heart, I'm trying to pump the blood through the veins of his body, body of work.