The Silent League in Gainesville Tomorrow!

The Silent League is anything but silent. Formed in 2004 in Brooklyn, New York, with members from Interpol, Arcade Fire and Mercury Rev, the band is back on tour after a three-year hiatus. The soothing sound and out-of-the-box melodies from their new album, But you’ve Always Been the Caretaker, are hard to come by. I reached Justin Russo, the band’s frontman, for a quick interview as the band makes its way down the East coast.

Tell me a little bit about the band, and how you guys got together.
Coming off the heels of the Mercury Rev Deserter’s Song tour which I was on in 1999 through 2000, I put together most of The Orchestra, Sadly, Has Refused, and recorded it using a handful of musicians that I had in my immediate circle. Among them was Shannon Fields, who has been in the band ever since. From there we found everybody else over time.

How does it feel to be on tour again?
I suppose it feels like it always does. It’s fun to get out on the road, and make otherwise mundane things, like stopping off at a 7-Eleven, interesting.

How did you guys come up with name for your new album, But you’ve always been the caretaker?
Have you ever seen “The Shining”?

Yep. Is that a line from “The Shining”?
Yeah. [Laughs] It’s that scene when Jack Nicholson has sort of lost it, and walks up to the imaginary bartender in that big scary hotel and says something to the effect of “What am I doing here? I’m just the caretaker for the winter.”

The bartender responds, “But you’ve always been the caretaker.”

How did you guys decide on using a line from “The Shining” for the name of the album?
I’m afraid I don’t have a great story for that one. We were just sitting there mixing the records and the engineer turned around and said, “I have a great idea for a title.”


How has the tour been coming along so far?
It’s been really great. We did a string of dates starting this past Saturday down the East coast. It’s great to get out of New York and engage in new and fresh audiences, and bring them our music.



The Silent League will be playing The Atlantic Friday night. Doors open at 9pm, and the show starts at 10pm. The first person to e-mail editor@insitegainesville.com , or retweet our message wins 2 FREE TICKETS! Tickets are $6-$8. Make sure to check back for full coverage from the show this weekend!

--Gaby Izarra