SILENCE IS SPOKEN in an interview

Automatic translation. Improvements are constantly being worked on.

“Nothing was really easy…”

2 Facts:
– Silence Is Spoken was founded in 2005.
– The Italians’ main influences are Alice in Chains, Tool, Soundgarden, Black Sabbath and Pink Floyd.

And from this potpourri of different influences, the Italians manage to create their very own sound, which is somewhere between Grunge and Industrial. We talk to Silence Is Spoken about their third album “11”, the challenges involved, brains on ice, meaningful silence and much more.

Orkus: Let’s start with the beginning: What was the driving force behind the founding of the band?
Alessandro Curradi: Everything comes from the desire to share, in addition to good music, values such as friendship, brotherhood, family. After all, we have always called ourselves the “Silence Family”.

Stille
O: And how did the band name come about?
Lorenzo Panchetti: The name arose from a visual point of view, to fill the silence with the spoken voice of true information and thus counteract the government’s international media propaganda. The silence is spoken by the people.

11
O: Let’s stick to the topic of “names”: Why does “11” fit perfectly as an album title?
Samuele Camiciottoli: The number 11, considered as the first master number, brings with it a message of strong change following maturation and the conscious use of great strength. The 11 stands for the path, the goal. The concept of strength aimed at change can be found in every song. It is often masked with changing features, symbolism reigns supreme and the possibilities of interpretation are multiple and within reach for the listener.

Brain in ice?[
O: The album cover is also great! What is this, a kind of … Brain in ice?
SC: It’s the image of a frozen brain. A very particular photo taken by Leonardo Pasquinelli of Officine Fotografiche. The idea was born immediately after observing it. Inside the album booklet there are other rather strong images taken from the same set, we immediately fell in love as soon as we saw them. A freezing like everything can be seen in multiple ways, you can think that the image represents a freezing in a static, lasting form, or you can think that it is an instant of a process that goes towards freezing or thawing. It’s up to who let the listener find the key to understanding where to place the axis of time in this process.

Challenging
O: This is a thoughtful, but also great rock album. What was the biggest challenge during the work?
AC: This last album was a process that took quite a long time. Not so much for the creation of the songs, but for various vicissitudes within the band which slowed down the finalization of the work a bit. The first recordings of “11” were made at the beginning of 2019, while the finalization of the work, with the last recordings of the synths, the mix and the mastering can be placed at the end of 2020. In the middle, as we know, there are been in addition to our own affairs, even those on a global level, which has made this process quite long (we had lots of changes in the lineup, for example, and the covid lockdown in the middle). Nothing was properly easy, but we feel really satisfied with this album.

Sound walls
O: I was particularly impressed by the “War ABC Song”. What is the story behind it?
LP: Musically, the song was born in 2015, with the bass riffs and drum parts. Normally our pieces all arise from the rhythmic part. This creates the “raw” structure which is then completed and “colored” by the guitars (which generally, at least in the harder parts, exactly follow the lines of the bass, creating a wall of sound), by the voices, by the synths or by the piano, following a process closely linked to the feelings of each of us. Samuele, with the lyrics and his vocal lines completed perfectly what we had in our heads.

Inner Revolution?
O: Inspired by the song of the same name: To what extent does today’s world feel like Orwell’s “1984”?
AC: I would say, unfortunately, in many respects. It is enough to look out the window and observe what is before our eyes to realize that Orwell almost had a premonition. However, it must be said that not everything is so dramatic. As the great masters say, the only revolution that each of us can achieve, and which consequently improves the world in which we live, is the internal one. So, let’s focus on this in the meantime.

Introspective
O: The album “11” ends incredibly strongly with the nine-minute piece “Genesis 19 24”. How did that come about? And what are the advantages and disadvantages for you with such an epically long song?
AC: Even in this case everything was born spontaneously. We have not thought about any advantages or disadvantages. We believe it is a piece that summarizes our album well, as it moves from the hardest sounds to then resolve into a poignant melody, in which the listener’s introspective part is significantly activated. Of course, it’s not easy to get it on the radio, given the duration but it’s okay!

Thinker and researcher
O: What do you do when you’re not working on your music?
Marco Brentazzoli: We are people who do different jobs and with many passions, in addition to those of music. Let’s say that the part we have in common is research in the esoteric field, if we can say so, free from any conditioning, label or belonging to any group. We are free and independent thinkers and researchers.

Surprises
O: What are your plans for the future?
SC: We are already working on various new songs, at the moment we are pushing ahead with the purely musical part. When we have finished the lyrics, we will discover together whether it will be another concept album or not. We follow the flow and sometimes surprises come for us too. We will see.

Claudia Zinn-Zinnenburg

Line-up:
Samuele Camiciottoli – Vocals
Alessandro Curradi – Bass, piano, synths, background vocals
Marco Brentazzoli – Guitar
Lorenzo Panchetti – Drums, percussion and synth

Enjoy the video clip for “A Good God” here: