Spring is known as being the time of birth, growth, and probably the best time of the year to release a brand spankin’ new EP. I received word that This Century was planning to release a new EP the first week in March, and I was able to catch up with Sean Silverman to see what’s going on with the band formerly known as Evident Earth. Altogether, Sean (guitar) and his brother Alex Silverman (bass), Joel Kanitz (vocals), and Ryan Gose (drums) have been playing together for about a year. With their latest addition, Van Ruskin (guitar), This Century is on the eve of releasing their second EP, “Look What We Made”
Unlike the ”2007 EP”, which was produced by Ryan Baker (RX Bandits, Sounds of Animals Fighting, Escape the Fate) in California, “Look What We Made” was produced by Matt Grabe (The Maine, Greeley Estates, Beyond the Citadel) locally. With this second EP came more time to work on creative subtleties like the addition of strings, a choir, and percussion. All of which were tricky to attain, but the band seemed to be up to the challenge.
“The moment for me personally,” says Sean,” when we were recording the choir in his [Matt Grabe] living room. I think THAT was the moment when I was like, ‘Yeah this is really cool.’ I can't believe we actually convinced people to come down, you know, ten kids to come and sit in a living room and sing choir parts for us. We taught them the parts, and Alex wrote them out. It was great! Then when we heard it on the recording, it was so cool... we shouldn't be able to have access to this.”
As far as song writing goes, it seems to be a collaborative effort, with each member of the band having equal opportunity in the song writing process. “Everybody working together, I think, makes the music more interesting and more mature sounding,” says Sean, ”Having an active interest in the band puts you at a different perspective when you’re performing it, recording it, everything... because then you feel like you've got more ownership of the music.”
Although the new track titled “It’s Not You It’s Me,” released early on the band’s Myspace, has obvious jazz influence, “You'll hear it even more so when you get to listen to the new EP” states Sean,” It's more apparent in some of the other songs. The whole movement of the band is jazz and funk. That’s the fusion of the stuff we are working on more now. I don't think it will necessarily stay there, but the jazz thing definitely will. It's a huge part of our lives and definitely a style we've been very influenced by the last couple of months.”
This second CD titled “Look What We Made” is set to release March 8th. Although This Century will be out of town for the release, Sean informed me that they wanted to pick a weekend in March where they could spend some time sending out orders. “I know everyone likes iTunes and is in love with digital media,” says Sean,”but every CD we did we made from hand. From top to bottom, from the cover to the CD itself, is every ounce of US doing it. We spray painted everything ourselves, we taped and stamped and numbered everything ourselves, so hopefully that will be motivation for people to purchase this CD.”
Although collecting CDs may be something of the past, This Century understands that some of us still hold these trinkets close to heart. “I think for us,” says Sean, “We understood people aren't going to buy tons of our CDs, but we feel that you lose something if you don't have something personal to physically give somebody. This was a way we could do something for the people who really desired it. Literally every single one has us involved in it; it's not a machine, it's what we want to give you because we think you will really enjoy it.”
While most members of the band are balancing school, work, and band practice, Sean assured me that it actually helps him better manage his time. While right now out of state shows have to go in accordance to school schedules, look out this summer. I think This Century has some plans up their collective sleeve.
