Local band Silo makes their Canadian debut
Shannon LeClair
Times Reporter
The band Silo is working on becoming a household name. The band was formed in 2007, but the current members have only been together for about a year and a half. Recently the band signed up with a management company and on April 25 they received good news.
“We just got released across Canada to 131 rock stations, our single just got released today (April 25),” said Clay Watson, lead singer for the band, known to his fans as Cash.
He said the management company is tracking the progress of the song “Paper Note” in Toronto, and is hoping with the release big things will happen for the guys.
Four of the members live in Strathmore, and one of them, Mat Rapuano and his business partners recently opened Strathmore’s first night club, COOTERS.
All of the members have a stage name; Mat Rapuano is the drummer and nicknamed Raps; Clayton Firmstone, lead guitar, is Young Blood; Mitch Webb, is vocals and rhythm guitar and is also known as Itchy; and Jordan Hogan, the bass player, is called Jordo.
“The reason we have the stage names is, because it kind of separates our personal life from our band life, and it just kind of gives us that alter-ego which is nice,” said Watson.
Watson started the band, and said the first person to leave was the drummer. He and Raps have rebuilt the band together.
“Ever since me and Raps hooked up, no looking back and we just took off and every year things are getting bigger and better. We have a couple of big opportunities after the summer festival tour,” said Watson.
Before Raps and the other guys joined the band, the name Silo was already chosen. Watson said the original guys couldn’t decide what to name the band, so he told everyone to write down every cool thing they saw over the following week.
“I was actually the one that saw the silo, and I said ‘you know we live in this area and there’s so many grain silos everywhere but to be cool there are missile silos as well’,” said Watson.
“I said, ‘what do you guys think about silo, its short, and sweet’. We kind of did a vote on it, and everybody voted for it. It’s kind of stuck with us ever since.”
The band is going to be busy over the summer months. They will be headlining at the Strathmore Poker Run on June 24 and 25, and the Harleys and Hotrods Poker Run on July 9. They will be playing at Boonstock, where they are opening for Perfect Circle, Three Days Grace, Five Finger Death Punch and a number of other bands.
“There’s a bunch of huge bands, and then two weeks later, we’re actually playing the main stage at the first ever Sturgis North motorbike festival in Salmon Arm, B.C,” said Watson.
The plan for the band is to one day quit their day jobs and make a living from their music. Watson said all the members are dedicated to making things work.
“It’s something you have to do though, you can’t just sit in one place and expect everything to happen, you have to get out, tour, collect fans, all that stuff,” said Watson.
While the band will do covers, they do write all of their own original music. To find out more about Silo, or to hear what they are putting out, visit www.thesilonation.com.