Today we’d like to introduce you to Silver Material
Hi Silver Material, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Silver Material was formed in 2019 by Brad and Jonah while they were in high school, intending to compete in a local talent show. They continued to practice together– learning covers, writing songs, and occasionally performing. They cycled through a couple of different members until Wyress joined in 2020 along with their friend Will at the beginning of 2021. Silver Material was cemented as a four-piece: Jonah Claussen on drums; Wyress Heflin on vocals and rhythm guitar; Will Marsh on vocals and bass; and Brad Martin on lead guitar.
The group started playing shows and writing songs for their first album through 2021. They put out a demo at the beginning of 2022, then went on to record their debut with producer and recording engineer Ryan Wasoba. Silver Material’s debut album, “Ur kool ig (and all the other things i wish i had said)”, was released on November 5th, 2022. The band amassed a local following through their energetic live shows, as well as some online attention after ending up on a couple of Midwest emo mixtapes. Through the beginning of 2023, the band recorded their EP, “At Your Dad’s BBQ”, with a group of students at Lindenwood University, later released on June 23rd, 2023.
Since then Silver Material has branched out, playing small festivals and out-of-state shows in other scenes, while continuously growing their following. Their new EP, “Flowers Will Grow Where They Want To”, is out on January 31st, 2025. The song features two new songs recorded with local producer Allan Stacy. The band takes a couple of steps outside of their comfort zone with this release, featuring Brad on vocals for the first time and Wyress taking lead guitar for a track. Silver Material will also be on the upcoming local compilation showcased by 314 Punk– Tough Scene, Tough City Vol. 2. The album features a re-recorded version of Silver Material’s song Bugs, also recorded with Allan Stacy.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Aside from a few minor issues here and there, we’ve functioned rather well as a group. In the last year or so we’ve had to deal with a lot of outside drama that just kinda occurred around the band. This last year it felt like there was a situation at every other show that we had to take care of and it definitely took a lot of the fun out of playing shows. Another struggle is making time for the band. When Silver Material first formed as a four-piece, we were all still in high school (aside from Wyress who had just started his first semester of college). We lived like 10-15 minutes from Jonah’s house where we would practice once or twice a week. Now that we’re all adults, we have more important responsibilities and we’re spread out a lot more from each other. Jonah and Will still live in the same area, but Brad lives in Wood River and Wyress lives in St. Louis. We never get to hang out together as a band anymore, but when we do it’s more worthwhile.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Silver Material is a Midwest emo band with math rock, indie, and punk influences. We’re also entirely DIY; all of our merch we’ve done ourselves or with the help of family (CDs, shirts, hats, etc.); all of our gear we’ve purchased/salvaged ourselves; and any of our stuff we’ve recorded in a studio setting we have paid for on our own. We’ve made a name for ourselves through our stage presence and the attention from our first album. Two years ago we could never get a show in the city, venues wouldn’t respond to us. However, we continued to make friends and connections through small-town shows on the Illinois side of the river. Slowly and steadily we’ve developed a presence in the St. Louis scene, so now we get to play here pretty frequently.
In terms of live shows, we’re most well-known for our hectic and energetic stage presence. We’re all very passionate when we play and that tends to resonate with people. A lot of the technical aspects of our playing catch the audience’s attention as well. Every show someone is blown away by Jonah’s drumming, by one of Brad’s leads, or by the harmonies in one of the vocal lines. We’re a very tight, locked-in group of performers and that stands out to most people.
What we’re most proud of would have to be the space we’ve created through our music and live shows. There aren’t many alternative spaces where we’re from that feel like a safe space for people to be themselves. There was the Hollow House in Staunton, but they stopped doing shows there a couple of years back. At the beginning of this year Will, along with the help of friends and family, started up a DIY venue at their nana’s house called the Nana Shack in Bunker Hill, IL. This year had such a good turnout at a majority of the shows and it’s been a good safe space for people in the community– especially queer people, people of color, and anyone who’s just weird and silly and doesn’t fit in in other spaces.
Any big plans?
Well, in less than a month, we’ll be releasing our next EP, “Flowers Will Grow Where They Want To”, on the 31st of January. It features two new songs– “The Peace I Need” and “Flower Song”. After that, the 314 Punk compilation we’re featured on will be released sometime in February. We don’t know the exact date quite yet, but we’re very excited about it, there are a lot of really good local bands on that compilation with us and it’s going to be super sick. Otherwise, we plan on taking it easy this year, at least in terms of playing shows. We were going almost non-stop playing shows through 2024 and haven’t had much time to write anything new (aside from the songs off the EP). We’ve been playing the same songs since 2021 and we’re starting to feel the burnout. We want to take this year as a band to focus on writing and having fun together and also to focus on our personal lives. We’ve been sitting on a lot of material for a minute that we want to flesh out, that way when we start playing regularly again we’ll have tons of killer new songs for everyone to enjoy.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/silvermaterialband
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/silvermaterialband/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SilverMaterialBand/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@breydonmartin5548
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5tnWs1Ph5cT57aQI0YELel
