While plenty of new-millennium acts have carried the banner of "alternative rock" into the mainstream, few have been as successful at it as Silversun Pickups. After releasing their first album, Carnavas, in 2006, the band's moody, grunge-influenced tunes hit a fever pitch on their follow-up, 2009's Swoon, pushing them to the number seven slot on the Billboard album charts.
It didn't just lead to commercial success, though: the Silversun Pickups hit the next level by picking up a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist earlier this year... despite the fact that they've been playing for almost a decade. MOG's Scott Tomford had the chance to speak with bassist Nikki Monninger about the band's surreal Grammy experience, their dream tour-mates, and why the fact that they suck at Rock Band doesn't bother them at all.
MOG: I've always been kind of curious about how Swoon seems a bit more all-over-the-place compared to the consistent pace of the first album...
Nikki Moninger: I don't think we see it that way.... We see the whole album as a kind of journey. I know that in the beginning the album is a little bit darker and dramatic, but towards the end, it's kind of our version of a lighter note, at least in the sound of it... it's still a pretty dark song. To us, I feel like it wasn't all-over-the-place, it was more of a journey of what we were going through at that time.
MOG: That moving from dark to light, was that arc what you had in mind coming into it?
NM: We didn't have it in mind, but, in general, once things get dark and moody, we might try to look for the beauty in that. And it's nice to have something more optimistic at the end, because progressing through the album, it seemed like a nice thing to end with, having some optimism after the dark undertone of the album.
MOG: The funny thing about the darkness is that when I think of the word "Swoon" I think of the opposite of darkness, almost.
NM: Yeah, we liked the word "Swoon" because it can go both ways. It felt like a good word because it can mean different things to different people... it's however the listener wants to interpret it.
MOG: How did you guys react to this whole Best New Artist Grammy business? I know that people were being nitpicky about it, since a lot of people knew who you were already. Were you guys weirded out by the whole thing?
NM: I wouldn't say we were weirded out, but it definitely came as a surprise, especially to get it as a "New Artist" nomination. But we understand that the Grammy people aren't going to clubs. For most bands, it takes a while to go up that chain... we were just happy to be nominated. It was nice, too, because we'd already put so much effort into the album, and we were happy with how everything turned out with Swoon... it was just a nice nod at the end, to be recognized by the Grammy Academy, since we never thought we'd be on their radar. It was never negative to us, but it was interesting that as a band that's been around for nearly 10 years, it's interesting that it took so long to get to somewhere more mainstream like that.
MOG: This tour supporting Muse looks pretty massive... it seems like you guys have scored 20 different amazing support slots. Do you have any band you're still dying to hit the road with?
NM: Collectively, we're all huge Radiohead fans and huge Wilco fans, and those two would be awesome to tour with, or Sonic Youth, who we're also huge fans of. We've been really fortunate that we've been able to tour with so many great and diverse bands, and I think this Muse tour will be the biggest supporting slot we've had so far.
MOG: What are everyone's listening habits on the road? Does everyone in the band normally jam to the same stuff like that?
NM: I think in general, we have very similar taste on a lot of bands, like those ones I mentioned before, as well as Modest Mouse and Built to Spill... I think we all grew up listening to the same music, but I tend to like pop as well, which the guys like, but not as much. I like Lily Allen and Beyonce... we all have different tastes, but we have some bands that we come together on. But we definitely like to have some diversity too!
MOG: I know a surprising amount of people who first found out about you guys through Rock Band... how do you feel about getting exposed in that way, and about those games in general?
NM: I think it's really cool... I have two younger brothers who love to play it, and I think that tactile things like CDs are going away, and people are looking towards the Internet and video game now. It seems like it's a cool thing, to incorporate music like that into video games. We all pretty much suck at those games, but I think it's a great idea to get people more involved in music.
(Gaming)
