The Silversun Pickups have had an exciting 2009, and Swoon might be the year’s pinnacle. The band’s pulse-pounding combination of visceral Indie Rock finesse and Shoegaze thunder has been sharpened extraordinarily on its sophomore full-length CD. Given the phenomenal response to 2006’s Carnavas, a certain hesitation might have been expected. But the Pickups were confident from the outset.
“We felt immense pressure but not from any outside source,” says singer/guitarist Brian Aubert. “We didn’t want to have some record out because it was time. We wanted to grow off of what we were doing, and since we were touring for two years on Carnavas we were very used to certain aspects of ourselves.”
After just a month’s hiatus following nearly two solid years of touring, the foursome (Aubert, keyboardist Joseph Lester, bassist Nikki Monninger, drummer Christopher Guanlao) hit the studio to work on new material. As a result, Swoon bristles with Indie Rock passion, pummels with Hard Rock power and shreds with Grunge intensity, while simultaneously offering moments of nuanced delicacy.
“There were certain places we wanted to go,” Aubert says. “For all the things that were happening, we were moodier, darker people. We wanted to make a more emotive record, a louder record and a more somber, creepier record. Little did we know how far we would go.”
After the Silversun Pickups’ triumphant 2009 — which included opening for Metallica at South By Southwest, playing Coachella and lighting up London — there’s just one thing enquiring minds want to know: Have they attempted to play their own songs on Guitar Hero?
“I played it on a phone,” Aubert says, laughing. “I was having a drink and a friend came in giggling, and she goes, ‘I just got Guitar Hero on my phone and ‘Lazy Eye’ is on it.’ So I tried to play it. I didn’t make it past one minute. It said, ‘You suck.’
"It’s way easier to play music than to play those games. I tell kids this all the time: If you can play it where it’s transposed into four colors, you can play the damn song (in real life).”
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