Based in Tuscany, the home of Barolo wine, Silence Is Spoken drummer Lorenzo Panchetti spoke with MetalTalk’s Dany Jones. The roots of the band go back to 2006 in England, with a collaboration between Lorenzo and vocalist Darren Green.
Following a move back to Italy for Lorenzo, albums followed in 2006 and 2012, and plenty of touring. “We’ve been gigging all over the place,” Lorenzo said. “England, Germany, France, Spain, even Argentina. We’ve been around. We’ve done bits and bobs with many different vibes and moments in life.”
There may have been lineup changes, and life dies get in the way sometimes, but Lorenzo says that they remain a family. “The main thing about Science Is Spoken is that we call it the Silence family. Most of the members that have been in the band, when they’re gone, they’re still in the family business kind of thing. We like to keep this kind of thing in a very open kind of mind. Kind of like a project situation. We like to have input from everybody. Obviously, the consequences are the last album, [11] which is quite cool.”
With the new album, 11, the band’s artistic approach to songwriting is the search for original composition. “There have been three different guitarists in the process of writing this album, and that has affected the sound of it,” Lorenzo says. “But strangely enough, whoever joins the band gets this… I don’t know how you call it… We call it the Silence stench. It’s a very Italian way. We could say perfume if you’re trying to be more French. Everyone joins in, and automatically, no matter what kind of background they come from, they adjust to what we want to get out of the song.”
The band are, quite rightly, proud of the results. “The main thing is whatever has to come out of the song has to be Sound Is Silence,” Lorenzo says. “One of the biggest compliments that we have been receiving is ‘you don’t sound like anybody else’. You can tell influences, and I can name you loads of them. But your sound is your sound. So the changes throughout these years are just the way we approach writing. But the final result has obviously always been the same.”
Recent signings with Wormholedeath Records, Silence Is Spoken, have been appreciative of the support they have received. “It’s a very good signing, actually, to be honest with you, because Carlo [Bellotti] really appreciates us. He has always like pushed us to be exactly who we are. We sent him the recording pre-production for 11, and he said he was just blown away. The collaboration is amazing because the guys have been doing a great and enormous job in promotion.”
It’s impressive the creative freedom Wormholedeath has allowed. It can be quite rare, actually, especially when labels start to put pressure on artists because, at the end of the day, everybody wants to monetize. Lorenzo says the relationship is very fresh. “Wormholedeath is a record company for the musicians and not using the musicians,” he says.
With three videos released from new album 11, Lorenzo explains the thought process behind the LP and how the emphasis is on the listener to reach their own conclusions rather than be directed by the band. “It’s a concept album,” he says. “We are huge fans of Pink Floyd, and we’re talking about Pink Floyd in The Wall version. That was the main inspiration when we came up with the idea.
“The idea was to create an album, with chapters, songs, chapters in a big book. I’m not gonna get into what it’s all about. The message is a very interesting message, but we would rather let people come to conclusions of the messages once they have got through the album and through the lyrics.”
Again the band had the artistic freedom to make the videos, which were very well received. “We had about 45,000 visualizations in about a week with no promotion whatsoever. It just came out, and boom.”
Lorenzo says the feedback was awesome. “I’m just gonna go out on this,” he says. “I think it’s mainly because a lot of people, not just young, are gagging to actually hear music again, and the kind of music that we are doing is nothing like whatever is coming out now. This is not a presumptuous kind of thing, but it’s actually the fact that we’re not looking for certain specific production sounds, but it’s more to grow original kind of stuff anyway.
“Whoever’s gonna hear it will make their own decision about it. But that is a fresh kind of thing because no matter how wonderful the productions are at the moment in general, they have the same sort of standards. So you have that kind of kick drum, that kind of heads and plugins for the guitar, that kind of white voice thing and blah blah blah. We are completely out, and that is fresh, even if it’s not really fresh because we’re coming from a very classic grand-ish, you know, background kind of thing.”
If you listen to the album and watch the films, obviously it’s very dark. There is a lot of action and a lot of twists and suspense. I suggested that it’s almost a horror movie but with quite strong political connotations as well. Are the guys doing that intentionally in terms of going against the tide outside of the box?
Lorenzo says that the band likes to share their message but also see how that message has been interpreted. “Even though we have a view about certain things, as every human being, we like to have also feedback from wherever our message is being spread,” he says. “We like to develop a consciousness and to see this consciousness coming from the people. The scene after they actually discover what the message really is behind our videos, it is a surprise to see whatever the feedback is and if the message is being received.
“So yes, we are talking about politics, but really we’re talking about human nature and how it’s faced, how we’re facing it. We give you a message, and then you give me your answer so that I can see if you got my message. And from people and from the reaction of thousands of people writing to us on Facebook and Instagram, we got through to them. That’s such a success for us.
“If you see the Matrix, there’s a message behind the movie that comes straight to the point. Well, that’s how we work. You gotta follow the white rabbit to see how deep the hole goes. That’s our album. You get the album, listen to the music, listen to what we say, then read and make up your own mind, and if you decide to follow the rabbit, off you go.”
As for 2023, the band are keen to get out playing live again and, in due course, will announce festival appearances with UK gigs set to happen later this year. “We’re going to go against the flow again and try to keep it low in price,” Lorenzo says, “because we want people to come and see us. We’re not going to have any demands for anything like vaccinations or green passes. We want to keep freedom and respect for everyone, whatever point of view. We want the freedom to play for everybody at decent prices that everybody can afford and not the prices at the moment.
“I mean, we’re talking about how Europe is going up, obviously England too as well. But after the Covid thing, it’s just a little bit too much. We’re working on that kind of thing as well because it is a different kind of world for all of us.”
Justifiably proud of their new album, Silence Is Spoken are a band that should be heard live. “The album is great, the production is amazing, but we’re a live thing. So come and see us live and be sweaty with us at the end of the gig.”
We are certainly up for that.
