Interview with Silveroller: ‘It’s a heart on the sleeve record, a big collection of tunes’

UK rock ‘n’ rollers Silveroller will release their rollercoaster ride of a debut EP ‘Silveroller At Dawn’ on 1 March, giving us what is set to be one of the year’s biggest injections of rambunctious rock ’n’ roll.

The band comprises Jonnie Hodson (vocals), Aaron Keylock (guitar), Joe Major (drums, keys and guitar), Ross Munro (organ) and Jake James Cornes (bass): ‘We definitely don’t know each other from school,’ Hodson said laughing. ‘We’re from all over the place (Oxford, Liverpool, Stockton on Tees and Manchester), we thought it was better to get the best player for the band, not the best player nearby. The only other one from Liverpool is Jake, our bass player. Aaron had a solo project, we met at a gig but then forgot about each other for a while. We started jamming and recording songs, then reached out to our Joe.’

Of their band name, Major said: ‘For a while, we were operating under the name ‘Keylock’ (2017-2019) but we didn’t think that was very representative of the band. There were lists upon lists of names! We had this revelation but then we couldn’t remember it (laughs), we knew it was the name of a Japanese pocketknife and someone said “Wasn’t it Silveroller?!”‘ Hodson jumps in: ‘The name really came from a list of Western movies I was looking at: Silver Lode, The Silver Rider, Three Silver Dollars, movies like that all sounded really cool to me, Silver kept popping up! The ‘Roller’ part came from us wanting to make it sound like it was moving, like one of those big old steam trains, or a Cadillac rolling around Chicago in the 1950’s, something that would bring that travelling rock ‘n’ roll circus to life and get it on the road!’

‘We wanted to record a snapshot of who we were at the time’

I ask them how they would describe the six-track ‘Silveroller at Dawn’. ‘Awful!,’ Hodson deadpanned. ‘No, I’d say it’s a heart on the sleeve record, a big collection of tunes. When it came to make the record, we had the songs we’d written as Keylock and all the ones since. It was all tracked live – “Metronome Joe” is all over it! We’re so proud to present our debut record to the world. For one reason or another, this collection of songs hasn’t been easy to get out to you. Like many bands before us, a lot has stood in the way. We wanted to record a snapshot of who we were at the time we went into the studio and we can’t wait to get out on the road and play these songs live.’

‘Black Crow’ is an inspired, explosive opener that gets your speakers shaking, with a nod to stompy glam rock, blues and a fantastically hooky organ line, all of which underpin Hodson’s tremendous vocals: ‘The moment I heard that riff, I knew where the song would go, that it’d be the opener,’ Major said. ‘I heard this shuffle feel in my head, like Deep Purple or Status Quo, I’m a massive fan, but I didn’t want it to get bogged down in the shuffle. It’s a rip off of the shuffle in ‘Rosanna’ by Toto, the “Purdie shuffle” – if you can do that, you’re in the money! The ‘B’ section of ‘Black Crow’ is separate to the rest of the song, finding how to get in and out of that, it was challenging! Ross doing the organ intro solidifies where it’s going.’ Hodson agrees: ‘For me, it’s one of them that started as a rough set of lyrics over lockdown,’ he said. ‘I’d just done this meditation thing, thinking: “This is nonsense” (laughs). I had a lucid dream where I followed a black crow through the forest, it gave me the idea.’

The band’s lead single ‘Hold’ is led by a driving drum intro, a deep, grooving riff and punchy bass line and warm yet gravelly vocals. It’s high-octane rock ‘n’ roll played with soul, tight but loose, and with the kind of swagger you don’t hear nearly enough of anymore. It could easily be a Black Crowes song, acting as a rallying call for those that believe that the most important thing in life is freedom; it has just the right amount of polish, but keeps all the live feel of a raw rock ‘n’ roll song. ‘It’s the newest song on the record, we were still shaving bits out!,’ Hodson said. ‘We go through a process of having just enough essential parts – that was a challenge. Aaron wrote the solo, he writes pretty much everything on guitar. The organ, it’s a Hammond sound through a Leslie speaker, we take it everywhere!’

‘In the studio, he’ll be hammering away on the drums, then he’ll turn the stool around, lift the lid on the piano, and tickle the ivories!’

Major weighs in: ‘I usually end up on the piano,’ he said. ‘The chorus for ‘Hold’ was me on the piano.’ Hodson is laughing: ‘In the studio, he’ll be hammering away on the drums, then he’ll turn the stool around, lift the lid on the piano, and tickle the ivories!’ For Major, ‘Hold’ feels like ‘a vintage rock ‘n’ roll song, like Vintage Trouble, in that sort of vein’: ‘The snare is on all four beats, you don’t hear that very often,’ he said. ‘Aaron had never heard that kind of approach but it adds so much energy to the song. We wrote that song in one sitting.’ According to Hodson, ‘it’s about those in power telling the oppressed that they’re the problem, I see it as a bit of a protest song’, he said. Major agrees: ‘It feels like a very political song for me but I knew the context,’ he said. ‘It still maintains its relevance.’

Typically, Hodson writes most of the lyrics: ‘Then Joe will say: “Nah, you did that before, try again!” But that’s good, we all need to be pushing each other. A lot of the songs come from kicking ideas around in a room, it changes dramatically what a song should do.’ In the studio, there have been some entertaining challenges: ‘On ‘Turn To Gold’, the way the end fades out, that ending is Bonhamesque, the producer said: “I’ll tell you when to stop” but Joe had his back to the window, hammering away (laughs), checking over his shoulder to check if we were done – the producer didn’t say “stop”, I thought he’d pass out!’ Major laughs: ‘I played an extra five minutes – at least!’

‘Ways of Saying’ is one of the tracks on the album that best showcases Hodson’s fantastic vocals, it’s an old school love song, starting out as a gentle ballad before turning up the heat to become a 70’s rock anthem with gospel-like waves of vocals in the chorus. It would be a brilliant set closer, leaving the crowd on a high: ‘Lyrically, the verses started when I was at college, three or four years ago,’ Hodson said. ‘I jammed it with a couple of people but I never found a chorus for it. Later, Aaron found a riff, a big Faces shuffle, that push and pull. That gospel call and response, the female harmony vocals, that’s with Ese and Sheena from Ese & The Vooduu People. We layered the vocals in the studio, it could be 10 vocals. It’s not about a specific person but it’s saying there’s only one real way to say “I love you”. The lyrics have changed massively but the melody has stayed mainly the same. It’s got that tension and release. As Ringo used to say: “Every time a boy meets a girl, it’s a brand new story!”‘

‘I like to be able to hear the influence of roots music in a song, I have to believe what the singer is singing’

It’s clear from the huge array of sounds seeping into the album that they bring a multitude of influences to the music they make: ‘Our tastes span quite a lot of stuff,’ Major said. Hodson agrees: ‘Like Joe said, everyone has a big spread of influences. Paul Rodgers (the English-Canadian frontman of several rock bands, including Bad Company) he’s my hero, how he sings. I’m a huge soul fan. Blues, 60’s and 70’s rock, I love all of that, and bands like Rival Sons and Blackberry Smoke. I like to be able to hear the influence of roots music in a song, I have to believe what the singer is singing.’ Major sees it similarly: ‘Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, early rock ‘n’ roll – they were all blues people,’ he said enthusiastically. ‘I’m not as much of a blueshead as Jonnie and Aaron are (laughs). I’m pretty into country at the mo, Midland (from Dripping Springs, Texas) is one of my favourite bands, they play real country rock ‘n’ roll.’

Massive riffs and slide guitar have their stamp all over the EP. ‘Other Side’ is driven by a smooth yet sultry slide guitar line atop that signature Silveroller organ, screaming for mercy from beyond its Leslie speaker. Hodson’s no-nonsense vocals charge like a bull through the verses, as they build to the soaring singalong chorus, with just a faint whiff of patchouli. ‘It’s an honest performance, just the five of us playing rock ‘n’ roll. The energy within this song and each song emotes the performance of the people on stage,’ Hodson said. ”Turn to Gold’, I’ve got a soft spot for it but they all mean something to me for some reason or another. ‘Ways’ is good, especially when my girlfriend is in the audience and I can see her smiling up at me.’

Next month (March), they will kick off another tour supporting their Dutch blues-soul friends, DeWolff, about which they are clearly delighted: ‘When you think about what band you would like to go on the road with, you think The Struts, Cadillac 3, DeWolff and Blackberry Smoke,’ Hodson said. ‘Jared James Nichols (an American blues-rock singer and guitarist), he’s the hardest working man we know. We got a message from DeWolff’s manager and we got on. We’re sat in a dressing room, me, Joe and Pablo (DeWolff’s frontman and guitarist) comparing bellbottoms (laughs) and are like: “Are we now best friends?!” They’re super nice.’

‘It was one of the most proud moments, taking it to everything we wanted and needed it to be’

Fantastic retro clothes are a huge part of their act – in the video for ‘Hold’, Hodson changes outfit several times – so I ask him where he likes to shop: ‘I get a lot on Vinted (an online marketplace for exchanging both new and secondhand clothing and accessories). Bold Street in Liverpool, Pop Boutique and the Oxfam shop there is great. One of my favourite things is buying bargains and screenshoting them and sending them to the lads (laughs). Major is laughing: ‘He’ll turn up to rehearsal in something new and we’re like: “We know that’s Vinted, you bastard!”‘

‘Come On, Come In’ leans into their soul and blues roots, you could easily imagine Marvin Gaye singing it and it’s the perfect closer: a heartfelt and vulnerable song about survival. ‘In the studio, we put it off for quite some time,’ Major said. ‘It’s one of the most emotionally weighty songs on the album. Eventually, we needed to tackle it before it became insurmountable (laughs). It was a challenge, there were a lot of emotions. It was one of the most proud moments, taking it to everything we wanted and needed it to be.’ It’s also the only track on the album that they didn’t track live: ‘It’s a moment in time, everyone has felt like that at some point,’ Hodson said. ‘I didn’t take many vocals takes, by take four you’ve lost the energy and spontaneity (laughs). That little sigh at the start, that’s real! The vocal take I did in the control booth, I turned around and it was silent, and I thought: “It’s done!”‘ Major interjects: ‘Jonnie just makes this noise, it’s a pure emotional release, we feel like it’s real – that’s what the song is.’

It’s a song that means a lot to Hodson: ‘To me ‘Come On, Come In’ is a song about the survival of despair,’ he said. ‘The moments we have to reach deep within ourselves to keep going through hard times, when nothing around us seems to make sense. It’s about surviving those moments that seem like a bad dream, and to me, that makes ‘Come On, Come In’ universal. Everyone I know has had those moments when, just when you think it can’t get any worse, out if nowhere, it suddenly does. Everyone has had times they’ve survived that they wish they’d never had to. I don’t think we’re always “stronger” for those times either. Sometimes, it takes time and effort to dust yourself down, pick yourself up and face it all again. ‘Come On, Come In’ is the acknowledgement of hard times and a celebration of the survival. This is a song for all of those people, the people who have had hard times and survived. “Come on, come in, out of the rain.” It’s so personal, I don’t want to talk about it too much,’ he said. ‘I want other people to listen to it and say: “We’ve experienced that.” It’s a true story though, I’ll say that much. It’s a moment of declaration. At the start, It’s like I’ve tried everything but it’s failed. Now it feels like “Wow, I’ve survived that and we all will, too”. Major nods: ‘There was a point when it could have sounded very different but we pulled it back from that.’

As the track kicks off: “Going down in the morning. Forget the way I was hurtin’ yesterday. It’s not what happened or what was said. It’s that it happened again. It happened again.”

‘The sky represents ‘Come On, Come In’, the arch is a portal (to the album), the sun coming out – that’s what the ‘dawn’ is’

The album artwork was done by Major and there are little references to the song within it: ‘When I knew what the songs were going to be and had a feel for what the record was going to be, I knew I wanted to have a collage feel,’ he said. ‘The sky represents ‘Come On, Come In’, the arch is a portal (to the album), the sun coming out – that’s what the ‘dawn’ is. I was looking for an architectural looking archway, initially, it had stairs coming out at the sides but it didn’t work (laughs), so I just pared it back. My wife, she normally does our artwork but she was very busy (laughs) but she gave me a hand with the clouds, she drew them. I wanted them to feel illustrated.’

If he could go for a drink with anyone, Hodson picks Paul Rogers: ‘I don’t drink anymore, I’d go for a coffee with him and say “thank you”. He made me want to do this, I wouldn’t be here without him. And give him a copy of our record! I’ve met him three or four times, he’s a real gentleman. He told me he drinks a vocal tee onstage, it keeps everything well lubed – I’ve started doing that!’ Major is deep in thought: ‘There are a million and one names circling,’ he said. Hodson laughs: ‘Is mine one of them names?!’ Major laughs: ‘John Bonham, Led Zeppelin were a big influence on me,’ he said. ‘Same as Status Quo, so maybe John Coghlan. With Bonham, I’d just want to hear him talk about anything, he could read the phone book! To Coghlan I’d say: “Show me the swing shuffle”, I’d take it in.’ Hodson laughs: ‘Are you in a coffee shop with two drum kits set up?!’ Major grins: ‘Bonham is playing the whole time and I’m talking to Coghlan!’

Their love of what they do is infectious and Major sums it up neatly: ‘Every time I hear one of the tracks, if I’m working or on social media, it fills me back up with the fire I felt when we were recording it,’ he said. ”Black Crow’ will always have a special place for me, ‘cos of the journey we took to get there.’

(Top photo: Back row: Jake and Aaron. Front row: Ross, Jonnie and Joe.)