New York, NY (Top40 Charts) With their DOOMSDAY NOISES EP out (Friday, June 26), vocalist
Peter Argyropoulos of Los Angeles alternative rock group SONS OF SILVER breaks down the EP's tracks below.
DOOMSDAY NOISES has been previewed by two powerful singles and videos: "
World On Fire" and "Read 'Em Their Rights," the latter of which has garnered nearly a million views so far. Listen to the album here.
The group's collaborative songwriting style, signature sound and collective years of experience is what make SONS OF SILVER such a standout phenom in the alt rock scene. In addition to Argyropoulos, original
Pearl Jam drummer Dave Krusen (who was recently inducted into the Rock N' Roll Hall Of Fame) and
Candlebox bassist Adam Kury provide the backbeat while former
Skillet guitarist
Kevin Haaland and keyboardist and esteemed engineer Brina Kabler round out the band's signature sound. Logging nearly 80 shows per year, the musicians collaborated more than ever back in the studio. On DOOMSDAY NOISES, songs spun off from jam sessions as a unit and the writing process relied on their musical interplay.
The DOOMSDAY NOISES track listing is as follows:
"Rude Awakenings"
"Outbreak"
"Deep Division"
"Read 'Em Their Rights"
"
World On Fire"
DOOMSDAY NOISES
Track-by-Track
with
Peter Argyropoulos
"
World On Fire"
Argyropoulos: "It's a brazen commentary on today's heated and embattled culture. It was inspired by current events and attitudes. I'm a politics and history junkie. I'm also a bit of a contrarian. Put those interests and traits together with today's current events and, well, it's hard not to feel inspired."
"Rude Awakenings"
Argyropoulos: "I was stockpiling song ideas when I came up with the basic ideas for 'Rude Awakenings.' I wasn't looking to finish anything. In fact, I was only looking for incomplete ideas that we would finish together. But then the basic foundation for 'Rude Awakenings' just came out. I played it for Brina along with a few other ideas the next day. She was really into it. But, I back-burner'ed it. I was unsure if it fit with the other songs we were in the middle of. Nonetheless, she persisted and won out. When the guys heard it, they said, 'why didn't we hear this sooner?' I think it took us about twenty minutes to put it all together and take it to a completely different level than I'd originally expected it could be at. It really highlights each of our influences from the rockabilly rhythm section to the punk-bluesy guitars, to the Stonesy woo-hoos. A great team effort. Credit Brina especially for not letting the song slip through the cracks."
"Outbreak"
Argyropoulos: "As with most of our songs, 'Outbreak' came from a writing-jam session. We were working on another idea and during a pause, Dave and I started playing the intro riff out of nowhere. Adam and
Kevin jumped in and we were on our way. We hit a bit of a wall after awhile and couldn't come up with a chorus. I remember trying a variety of things. We left it for the day with a U2-ish idea. But it wasn't anything special. Still, we knew there was something there with the intro and verse groove and melody ideas. When we revisited the ideas a few days later, we were still unsure of how to move forward until Adam came up with the breakthrough idea for the chorus.
Everything fell into place at that moment. I started singing 'outbreak in a foreign land,' etc.
Kevin started playing his rock riff in the choruses and Dave had his
Blondie (the band, not the airhead) moment with the 7/4 meter in the choruses. Once we had the main pieces in place, we played it over and over to refine our parts while I hunted for more melody and lyric ideas. Funny thing is, we settled on the changing melody phrasing in the verses because we liked all of them. In fact, I started following Kevin's guitar part in the third verse because I thought it was better than what I was singing. One last thing I want to stress because of the sensitive subject, this song and these lyrics were written and recorded in October of 2019, a few months before the Covid 19 outbreak."
"Deep Division"
Argyropoulos: "Another one of our songs that started from a writing-jam session. Out of nowhere, Dave's playing his groove and I'm playing my static guitar part on top. Adam and
Kevin give us the look of, 'what's this?' We give them the look of, 'we don't know but don't make us stop.' In a matter of minutes, Adam's got his sexy bass going and Kevin's got his 'Americanospehere' (a combination of Americana and atmosphere) guitar going. We held that groove and chord for so long that any change would feel good. It's the 'James Brown Effect,' hold tension for as long as you can on one chord and groove so that once you finally make a move, it's like 'hallelujah.' Fortunately, the change we made was a good choice and the chorus was a keeper. As with the other songs, many of the key lyrics, including 'deep division' came all in these first moments of inspiration and work."
"Read 'Em Their Rights"
Argyropoulos: "I hope when people listen to the song it will motivate them to get off their high horse and stop with the finger pointing and name calling. It's not just about our leaders, it's about all of us. Rise above the heat of the moment and hold yourself accountable. We can't give away authority to the authorities and expect to get very good results."
