Silverstein is a great Canadian post-hardcore band. They are storming through the United States right now like Katrina through New Orleans, leaving only devastation and wide eyed kids in their wake. We got the opportunity to talk to their drummer Paul Koehler. What happened was a frenzy of hard hitting questions, in record time. Enjoy.

BnR: You named your band Silverstein after the Children's author Shel Silverstein. Was there any consideration given to Judy Blume? Perhaps The Blumes?

Paul: No there was not.

BnR: Oh that is disappointing. How is the current tour going for you guys?

Paul: The tour is going great. We are about two thirds of the way through it. It's been awesome to be back in the States touring again and promoting the new record.

BnR: For the people who have not seen a Silverstein show, how would you describe it? Are there lots of blood and guts like GWAR?

Paul: Yea there is a lot of GWAR blood, but we call it Silver blood. We dyed it silver so it has a metallic look when it covers you. It kind of works with our whole robot theme of our first record. We try to sacrifice women and zombies and aliens on stage. There is lots of pyro too.

BnR: How many invisible ninjas are in this room right now?

 Paul: There is a lot. Well not in this room, but in the venue room, there is a lot of invisible ninjas. I hope the kids will fight them off tonight.

BnR: What has been your favorite city so far?

Paul: Philadelphia!

BnR: That is a bullshit answer.

Paul: Because we are here right now. Well hopefully it is. It could be the best if it does well tonight. There have been a couple of good shows. Atlanta has been good. Sacramento was fun. Salt Lake [City] was actually a fun show.

BnR: A lot of Mormons there?

Paul: Mo-mo's is what we call them.

BnR: Any killer road stories?

Paul: Have we done anything fun this tour? We play a lot of video games and watch hockey. We watched the Russell Peters DVD three times. We just hang out. We are mellow. We are not trying to be Escape the Fate.

BnR: You guys just released A Shipwreck in the Sand on March 31, which was a great birthday present for me.

Paul: Yea, that was for you.

BnR: What was your main inspiration for the album?

Paul: We wanted to do something different. It is a concept record. Shane and the rest of us put together a plotline for the record. Then we wrote the album around that plotline. The inspiration was kind of our own creativity. Sometimes I think we take a few personal experiences to create the record.

BnR: How did you come up with the basic concept for the record?

Paul: Shane had the idea and we discussed it and molded it. Just being creative and coming up with something that would work well and entertaining. We looked for something that would flow well in an album sense.

BnR: How have the songs been received live?

Paul: Pretty good. Even though it is a concept record, there is still individual songs that even out of context, they make sense. We can fit them into the set and people seem to enjoy them.

BnR: How do you guys write a song?

Paul: Every song is kind of approached differently depending on who drafts the idea for it. Sometimes it is someone writing a full song and presenting it to the band. Sometimes we jam on some stuff and get pieces that we put together and try to build it together as a band. It kind of gets approached differently for us.

BnR: I saw the iTunes version of your new cd, had four different colors: Help by The Beatles, Go Your Own Way by Fleetwood Mac, Three Miles Down by Saves the Day, and Total Bummer by NOFX. Why did you choose those songs?

Paul: Well if you look at the songs, they are four different generations of music and influence. All those bands you spoke of have influenced our band in someway. It is kind of a neat cross section. We don't really sound like any of those bands so we grabbed them and presented them to our fans.

BnR: How did you decide to use the covers on the iTunes version of the album?

Paul: Well for iTunes you need extra songs. It is easier to draft some cover songs for B sides than new songs. Plus we felt so strong about the album there was no left over tracks. There were no throw away tracks. It wouldn't make sense anyway.

BnR: You are in Philadelphia. This is home to cheesesteaks and Rocky. Wasn't Rocky V a piece of garbage?

Paul: I haven't seen any of the Rocky's. But I have had two Philly Vegan cheesesteaks today.

BnR: What is your biggest musical influence?

Paul: For me, it would be The Smashing Pumpkins.

BnR: Besides yourself, who is the best Canadian?

Paul: Aside from us? I didn't know there were any other Canadians. Eugene Levy, Rick Moranis, John Candy RIP! Any of the SCTV cast.

BnR: Anything embarrassing on your iPod?

Paul: No I only like good music.

We want to thank Paul for taking time to talk with us. Check out their official site for all their tour dates. Make sure you pick up your copy of A Shipwreck in the Sand in stores now.