Seven years ago, Silverstone frontman Caleb Enyart made a decision that would forever change the course of his musical career: He got a job at Sam’s Club. Fortunately for Enyart, what started out as an obligatory way to keep bill collectors at bay would end up leading him to the rest of the members of Silverstone, the up-and-coming Arkansas-based melodic hard rock outfit he now fronts.
“I guess it wouldn’t have worked out if I had gotten a job at BJ’s,” Enyart jokes. He says Silverstone, whose sound has been compared to Shinedown, Linkin Park, and Breaking Benjamin, started the minute bassist Andrew Carney (one of his Sam’s Club co-workers) overheard him humming the melody to an A Perfect Circle tune. The two began talking at length about music and formed a friendship. Eventually, they started hanging out and jamming together, and in time, keyboardist Chris Griesenauer and guitarist Mike Fortin, (other Sam’s employees) received invites to join the fold.
“We all sort of learned our instruments together, and started gigging five years ago,” says Enyart. Since forming, the band’s released a self-produced full-length, called “Redefine,” and an EP entitled “Force Fed.” “We’re definitely about the message and we try to put stuff into our songs, lyrically, that’s a little deeper than what‘s out there in the mainstream. We want to keep good music alive and revive people’s faith in good music.”
Influenced by the vibe of 1990s radio rock bands like Soundgarden and Alice In Chains, Silverstone, named after what Griesenauer’s grandfather used to call the Moon, have been gaining national exposure on the road. They’ve toured with rock heavyweights Halestorm, 10 Years, Saliva, and Puddle of Mudd and are set to impress during 2010’s South By Southwest Music and Film Festival with Neon Trees, Fighting With Wire, and Stars of Track and Field. They’re following SXSW up with a spate of headlining gigs, set for April and May.
“This whole last year has just been…I don’t think I’ve squeezed more memories in and done more things in one year in my life,” says Enyart. “It’s pretty intense and this is only the beginning. I think there are cycles with music. Things always cycle back, and it feels like its time for rock to return to the radio. Hopefully, we can help rock blow back up.”
