You know it’s going to be a rocking show when The Silent Treatment is headlining the bill and their newest album, Suplex in10! is fantastic. They capture a sound and ethos I loved in the1980s with modern twist – all of the energy, with even more social commentary. You can hear it all on January 12 at the Seventh Street Entry.
Please tell us about the band members. And how you came together as The Silent Treatment.
The Silent Treatment is Dave Randall on bass, Rob Sells on guitar, Keely Lane on drums, and me as the vocalist. Keely has played in Trailer Trash since 1996, in Ol’ Yeller in 2001 until the band stopped playing, and in Rich Mattson and the Northstars since 2017. He’s also played in a handful of other bands and projects over the years, like 10 Items or Fewer with Mike Hallenbeck. Dave also has a long history of playing in super cool Twin Cities bands, like Skeleton Ed in the 90’s, and more currently Kinda Kinky, Cindy Lawson, The Boot R&B, and the Deadly Cyclamates. Rob Sells’ last project prior to the Silent Treatment was Low Rats, and before that, Panel of Experts and the Loose Rails. The Silent Treatment was originally the brainchild of Keely and I in the early days of our marriage. The idea was that we’d just have a band that did old school punk rock covers, although that started to change pretty soon after when we started writing originals. Our very first performance was actually as a duo up in Virginia at the 218 Taphouse, which would sadly close its doors in 2019, with Keely on guitar and Rich and Glen Mattson playing drums on a few songs. At the time, we were still figuring out some minor details (ha) like band members and a name for the band, but it was a really fun experience for us (less so for the children who were ushered out with their parents’ hands over their ears). We’ve had a handful of really great members over the years, especially with Dave jumping into the mix on bass at the beginning of 2018, and we really fell into our best and most creative dynamic two and a half years ago when Rob Sells took over on guitar exactly four days before our first post-Covid show at Palmer’s. We’ve got fantastic musicians and human beings in this band, and I am beyond grateful and thrilled with what the four of us have accomplished, both in terms of live performances and this new album.
I like the wry social commentary in songs such as First World Problems and Exurban Way – it’s reminiscent of bands like the Dead Kennedys; which comes first in the creation – the driving music or the message?
Typically, the lyrical message comes first and then the music follows when we’re writing original material. And in the spirit of a lot of great punk rock lyrics, a lot of our material involves some satire intertwined with observations and commentary about cultural glitches and misguided priorities. The actual musicians in The Silent Treatment are incredibly talented and creative when we’re trying to correlate lyrics with a certain sound and vibe. Dave, Rob, and Keely all have such incredible talent and extensive histories in the Minneapolis music community that they really kind of blow my mind every time we make something new.
How satisfying is it to sing Hulk Hogan? You could do a variation on that theme for every album you do in the future – highlighting other famous dicks.
“Sing” is probably stretching it, but it is SO SATISFYING to sing Hulk Hogan! The guy is awful (a dick, some might even say) and every critique of him in the song is verifiably true. Besides the documented racism, are we REALLY to believe that he was asked to play bass in Metallica and The Rolling Stones? Really? Beyond the snarkiness of the song, there’s a solid education piece, too. There really should be widespread awareness, for example, of how the guy completely ruined Jesse Ventura’s attempts to unionize pro wrestling and get better support and compensation for pro wrestlers. Yes to highlighting other dicks in other future songs, although I do feel that Hulk Hogan sets a pretty high bar of ridiculousness, so we’d need to do some homework.
Tied Down is the one live recording on the album. What made you decide to add just one live song and why Tied Down?
We really wanted the bulk of the album to be original work. That said, I’ve always been a huge fan of live tracks in general, and Dave Russ really did a great job recording it at our show at the Turf Club. To me, there’s a rawness and energy of hearing a band do something in front of a crowd and I’ve always loved being able to access that authenticity outside of a live show. Tied Down is a fast and furious Negative Approach tune, and has all sorts of great stuff going on in it.
Please tell us about the album release and show.
We are super excited for the album release and the show! We had a lot of support in the creation of this album, and we’ve got a lot of gratitude for the people who helped make it happen. We originally went into The Terrarium with the intent of doing a third EP, but we sort of just kept going. After a few more studio sessions and some more writing, we created a full album that we’re all pretty proud of. Jacques Wait engineered Suplex in 10! primarilly, and was just fantastic to work with in terms of input and expertise. Kris Johnson at Flowers Studio also did some engineering on a couple of songs. We were also able to get our Goo Goo Mucks colleagues John Ensley (Bad Idea, New Rocket Union) and Rob Tossava (All This and Not Anymore, Trim Reaper) to come in and do some backing vocals on a few songs. The Suplex in 10! album release show is on January 12th at the 7th Entry, and we’ve got a great bill with guests The Mood Swings, Mad Mojo Jett, and Loki’s Folly. Tickets are available on the First Ave website now!
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