Interview: Silk Letdown (Written)
Alternative rockers, Silk Letdown recently released their singles, ‘Looking Down’ and ‘Hearts of Gold’. In this interview we learn a bit more about the band and their upcoming plans.
1. Hello! Thank you for taking the time to chat to us. First things first, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got started.
Great to be here. Thanks for having us. Silk Letdown was formed initially by Pierce Guderski and Paul Shamy in October 2023 who connected in a Facebook Portland Music Group. Initially, Pierce was looking to start a group under his leadership and Paul wanted to merge the work with his previous band, Fox 2. Pierce has a great deal of previous band and music experience playing bass, guitar, and drums. Paul has been in various music projects in Portland as well, and the shared motivation to create something truly impactful and original made Silk Letdown the perfect conduit.
Recent additions include Josh DeDiego on drums with lots of experience in the Pacific Northwest music scene, as well as Chris Gruchacz on guitar, a sought after guitarist in the area. Check out his Spotify solo work!
2. Someone comes to you and asks you to sum up what kind of music you play – what do you tell them?
Silk Letdown aims to rejuvenate the PNW Rock scene, bringing high energy riffs, catchy melodies, and funky chops to excite 90’s and 00’s aficionados and consummate musicians alike. While harkening back to the days of grunge and edgy hard rock, Silk Letdown flashes modern musicianship and polish in hopes of resuscitating a true alt-rock renaissance.
Fans of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stone Temple Pilots, and Incubus will enjoy Silk Letdown’s variety of sound and writing, hitting the corners of funk rock, grunge, and West Coast style rock while teasing moments of prog, blues, and jazz.
Formerly known as Fox 2, current live setlists include songs from Fox 2 and new music as Silk Letdown.
3. What’s currently going on in your camp? New releases? Tours? Etc.
We always have a few songs in the hopper, and we just released Looking Down and Hearts of Gold. Both songs have strong alternative/ hard rock vibes. Facedown is going to be out in a few weeks. It’s a hard blues rock banger, and Space Between is more 2000’s hard rock. We like to spread the spectrum of music that we love to create and play live. Pierce does a great job of pouring over the mixing/mastering to get projects done quickly, but we also have the luxury of tweaking and improving until each track is fully ready.
We are currently working with Jake McCloud and Sad Times booking as well as Crisis Averted booking locally. Also we hit the venues and make connections with other bands to build line ups.It’s a very locally grown scene.
You can catch us in Portland at one of the many great venues in town. Our next show is New Year’s Eve at The Firkin Tavern. WE also have a show January 4 at McMenamin’s White Eagle Saloon with Teeth for Eyes and Baby Gravez. It’ll be a great show.
4. What has been the most positive experience of making music to date for you?
Honestly, anytime that we release music into the world that is 100% ours, from inception to final production and distribution, is pretty magical. Then the icing on the cake is going to play that music live and seeing the crowd experience something new is a whole new level, especially when the band is locked in and enjoying the truly finished product.
5. Likewise, what has been some of the more challenging aspects and how have you overcome them?
Promotion, advertising, and visibility are definitely the biggest challenges in such a saturated music market. We have tried to find the right mix and the right avenues, but there are only so many dollars and hours in the day. For us, the fix-all is to focus on the music and build our library while we build our digital brand and footprint. Gigging and networking locally has also been a huge help in increasing awareness of our music.
6. How do you handle the modern expectations of being in a band? Always online, having to put out content constantly, your success measured in likes and follows?
The cringe factor is definitely high haha, but it is a necessary evil. It also gives us a chance to be seen by people around the world, so it is a blessing and a curse. There are so many talented musicians in Portland as well, so usually most people at your show are also gifted musicians that are secretly judging you LOL, but it actually is a great supportive community. We measure success in the quality of our music, and not the number of social media likes.
7. What’s something that really ‘grinds your gears’ about the industry/business these days and what would you propose is done to combat it?
The market is so saturated, that it’s difficult to get recognition. And it’s impossible to get paid by streaming platforms and most local venues. There are also alot of businesses trying to take advantage of marketing, advertising, and playlisting promotions to take money from bands looking to gain an advantage. It really sucks the fun out of creating and building a great live show when you have to spend just as much time safeguarding your precious marketing and advertising budget.
A great start would be to have streaming platforms increase revenue share per stream for artists providing content.
8. Speaking directly to listeners – what would you ask they do to help support your music?
Tell your friends about our music. Go to our website. Buy a shirt or sticker. Support your local music scene!
9. Outside of the music, what’s do you do to relax?
Pierce stays super busy with professional disc golf, competitive lacrosse, and most importantly, mixing/mastering our tracks. Paul stays busy with kids and family, but also likes to snowboard and wakesurf. Getting outdoors in this beautiful region is therapeutic and inspiring in itself. We try to translate those vibes into our songs as much as possible.
10. Where can people find you?
The best place to get our most current music is our website: www.silkletdown.com. Buy a t-shirt and a sticker while you’re there.
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