Rob Drucker is the kind of guy who would participate in the Great International Fall Album Listening Weekend, a weekend organized by fans of the prolific and seminal post-punk band The Fall during which one listens to all twenty-seven (!) of their albums. With a schedule of the events posted on his refrigerator, Drucker is ready to have a great weekend. Another thing to make that weekend great is the release of his band Silent Way’s first full length LP and accompanying CD-R.

The level of dedication that Drucker presents in his listening of music comes through in the writing, playing, and recording of his own songs. Silent Way (get the reference, jazzbos?) formed in the hot New Brunswick summer of 2008, playing dozens of basement shows in the area as well as multiple nationwide tours and releasing a self-titled single in May of 2009.

Drucker says of himself that it was his dream to release an LP near his birthday. That day came   Friday February 5^th with the band’s album release show in New Brunswick. Recorded in September 2009, “WOUND” brings Silent Way’s brand of noisy indie rock songs to 12 inches of vinyl. Released concurrently with Wound is a CD-R made up of demos, newly recorded versions of Wound songs, and some live and new tracks.

Silent Way is currently made up of Drucker on lead vocals and guitar, Marty Leahy on lead six string, Amanda Cirz (Ex-Savantes) holding it down on the bass, and newcomer Adrian Young on the drums. Former members of the band range from original bassist/record store clerk CJ Cirigliano to original drummer Erin Nelson, with one time touring drumming from some dude named Craig.

Now that you have some idea of who this band is, let us take a look their music. The Wound LP presents a noisy take on many of the songs Silent Way has toured with and perfected in basements across the country from our own New Brunswick, New Jersey to Florida, Texas, and handfuls of America’s other punkest states. While their latest release in wax was unavailable to me at the time of publication, I have been getting deep into their just as good if not better CD-R, “Wind”. That’s wind, as in the verb, as one would see by looking at the CD-R’s packaging. Holding in my hands I have what is two pieces of peg board, like the kind you’d find a wrench hanging on in your dad’s garage, held together by a screw and a nut in one corner and a screw and wing nut in the other. Written in the punkest of Sharpie markers, is the word “Wind” with an arrow pointing to the wingnut. Really, it would be more appropriately labeled “unwind,” but once you do so you’ll find the CD and liner notes hand-scrawled on the inside piece of peg board. Interesting packaging is not a new thing for Silent Way; their first single came in a sleeve with potentially vinyl damaging staples scattered inside, presumably in honor of their song “Kill All Celebrities With a Staple Gun,” and I’ve heard rumblings of an upcoming CD-R being packaged between two slices of shellacked bread. Got a little sidetracked talking about the packaging, but if you saw what this came in you would want to talk about it too. So, onto the songs and, oh boy, are these songs…

Silent Way is the answer to your question: “What happened to good guitar based indie rock?” These songs are in the vein of your favorite 80’s and 90’s American underground favorites. There’s some Superchunk here, some Dinosaur Jr. there, and even a little Minutemen—or is that Meat Puppets, sprinkled on these cupcakes? I’m going to call these songs “cupcakes” because I used the verb “sprinkle.” The first cupcake on this CD-R is the false-starting, “Nothing to Keep,” a poppy little song that you would have worn out on your cassette Walkman in 1994.  The duel guitar work by Drucker and Marty shines on the second song, “Pressed for Time.” The Fall’s influence on Silent Way is most clearly heard on “Adriansong” with Drucker’s double-tracked, half-spoken half-yelled vocals proclaiming that he had “nothing to do with this.” Did I mention the guitar work? These guys know what they are doing. “Convenient Outs” reminds me of the Minutemen and “I Don’t Want to Hold Your Hand” brings the Lou Barlow out in Drucker.  Barlow is not the only member of Dinosaur Jr that found its way into Silent Way, with some clear J. Mascis-reminiscent guitar work on “Sure Enough.” Drucker’s vocals are particularly surprising to me, having been friends with him for a few years now and having heard his band’s earlier recordings. Older songs featuring spazzed-out screaming are now replaced by melodic, and dare I say talented singing. To be fair, I’m mentioning a lot of bands in discussing these tracks; I do so only as a means of providing a reference point. These songs are clearly all Silent Way, all the time.  Wind is a success and you’re definitely going to want to hear more out of these guys if you’re into Nineties-y guitar indie rock.

Silent Way is as DIY as can be, down to their basement recordings and hand screen printed LP covers. In the vein of their American underground heroes, Silent Way are preparing to “get in the van” big time this spring and summer. A spring tour will take them as far west as St. Louis, with a much more extensive month long tour in the summer of 2010.  For first hand tales of their tour, check out their blog, where you’ll find updates on releases and dates across the country and a wrap-up of their winter tour. While the posts on this blog are not exactly Rollins-esque details of life in the road, you’ll get a good sense of who these guys are and what they’re trying to do. With the amount of dates and ground this band is covering this year, the only person you have to blame for not seeing them is yourself. Beyond the expectations of over forty shows in the first half of 2010, an LP, and a CD-R, there is still more to come from Silent Way this year. Planned releases include a split 7” with noisy Maryland hardcore group Lotus Fucker for late 2010 and a split CD with NJ indie rockers, Brickmower. The quote on Silent Way’s myspace page is “DIY or don’t”; it’s clear what side they’re on.

February 22, 2010

Written by Dan Ball

Edited and Published by Alex Giannattasio