Interview: Garrett Russell of Silent Planet – Spotlight Report
Only hours prior to their opening night performance supporting ERRA’s Cure tour, SILENT PLANET’s frontman, Garrett Russell, graciously gave time to SPOTLIGHT REPORT, speaking on the band’s brotherhoods and what awaits beyond Superbloom.
SR: Good afternoon Garrett, thank you for making the time for us, especially when you’re preparing for tonight and managing fatigue from international transit! How are you feeling and how was Japan?
GR: It was great! Snowing in Japan and a hundred degrees here, it’s been the most drastic climate change of my life, but it’s just so charming; to only know winter for so long, and now to be here, on a hot summer’s day. It’s fascinating to see both sides again.
It’s cool and we love Australia, so I’m just very thankful to be back here.
SR: As we are to have you visit again, tonight Perth experiences the first of eight performances supporting the indomitable ERRA on their debut Australian headline tour. In 2022, Silent Planet faced this feat, also; as the metaphorical older brothers, have you been able to offer any advice?
GR: You know, funnily enough, I call JT (Cavey, “the screamer”) my older brother, or even dad sometimes. He has such ‘dad energy’ and he’s very good at fixing shit.
We’ve toured with them a lot, and supported ERRA in Europe, and, actually on my birthday, we were in Italy. I didn’t have any underwear, because I only brought one pair and had been wearing them for two weeks. They smelled bad, so I threw them out, and JT came and gave me some – I still have them to this day!
Honestly, we’ve learned a lot from them, and, I personally, have learned a lot from ERRA. They’re one of the best bands to do it, and their live show is really special. I definitely look forward to the opportunities just to watch them, and pick their brains.
SR: Celebrating 2024’s Cure, ERRA graced us with their presence only last year, teasing what splendour was to come with the full release. In 2022/23, Silent Planet’s story of Superbloom followed a twin narrative. Similarly, produced by Dan Braunstein, who turns everything he touches to gold, how did your highly-successful relationship develop?
GR: I love Dan.
The first time Silent Planet worked with Dan was 2011, and he was working out of his childhood home; he was in his bedroom, at his mum’s house. It was a year later that he got the studio that he still works in now – first it was one room, then he bought another, ‘til eventually he had the whole studio.
It’s been a pleasure, it’s been a joy to see him grow and see his career grow, because he’s a special dude. You know, I was at his wedding, which is to this day one of the most beautiful weddings I’ve ever seen.
He’s been there for Silent Planet through a lot of ups and downs; I think our relationship with Dan is a brotherhood, he’s part of the Silent Planet family. We’ve always worked with him, even in the record cycles we did with Will Putney, way back on our second and third albums, and we’ve always been very close.
“…He’s been there for Silent Planet through a lot of ups and downs; I think our relationship with Dan is a brotherhood…”
I remember him showing me Spiritbox, saying like, “I’ve got this small band, I think they’ll do great things”, so to answer your question on his secret to success: I think that Dan genuinely cares about the artists he works with, and he doesn’t allow himself to get so overbooked that he can no longer give his undivided attention, which is something I’ve seen happen pretty frequently.
When you become the producer and everyone’s begging you to say yes, now you’re spread so thin that it’s hard to give your all. Dan does a phenomenal job; he has a lot of integrity. He doesn’t say, “this part’s good enough” because he’s tired. He will continue to go in, as long as it takes.
We actually have a song that hasn’t come out yet, that we pretty much worked with him for two straight weeks on. It had some good moments, but it was a puzzle where the pieces weren’t quite fitting, so there’s, like, 16 versions of this song, and not once did he complain, or have a bad attitude, because all he cares about is the song being as good as it could be.
There’s a lot of integrity there.
SR: Absolutely, that’s a beautiful word choice. Authenticity also marries well, and it’s serendipitous that you mentioned Will Putney, because I think they’re synonymous terms for both producers.
GR: Yeah, Will’s awesome, and is very similar in the way he puts everything into the records he works on.
We struggled a lot with figuring out our identity on the third album we began with Will. There’s just no way that record would have gotten finished without him. He was just really dedicated to it, and, although we haven’t worked with him for a little while, I will always have so much gratitude for him.
SR: I think it’s fair to say, Silent Planet are known for their camaraderie amongst the metalcore community. Pre-releasing Return to One, very soon Silent Planet/Invent Animate’s joint-EP, Bloom in Heaven, will be out in full. What was it like collaborating with friends, and, will this be a once-off, or the first in a series?
GR: It was awesome, there’s always been a lot of mutual respect between Invent Animate and Silent Planet. They’re great people and we’ve always enjoyed touring with them, so the EP kind of felt like the materialising of a long relationship.
Mitch (Stark – Silent Planet) and I flew to Kansas City, and worked with them on the EP there. I’d say that Invent Animate had a bigger hand in the music, because they already had a lot of demos, and Keaton (Goldwire) is a machine. I’ve never seen a guitar player quite like him, he’s so creative.
Mitch added a lot of his signature sounds to it, and I wrote a good majority of the lyrics and words, patterns and melodies with a lot of guidance from Marcus (Vik), who is just so talented.
To answer your second question, I want to do more collaborations; I think metal can only benefit from bands working together.
It’s challenging though, because in hip-hop, for example, there’ll be a beat and you can be like “I’ll write a verse, you write a verse”, and it’s a collab.
I think, if you want bands to be fully collaborating, with all the moving parts, it’s quite a challenge. I understand why it’s easier in hip-hop for logistical reasons, but I still believe metal could benefit from taking a page out of that genre’s book.
SR: Just because it’s used most commonly, ‘metalcore’, even pure metal, are such all encompassing terms. With so much variety and a spectrum of interpretation of those labels, it’s both a blessing and a beautiful thing when bands that are complementary merge, but a challenge when there are so many moving parts.
GR: It is, there’s so much that goes into it. The songs we did with Invent Animate, even the patterns themselves, are a lot and it’s certainly not the easiest thing to do.
You know, you could stick me in a room with only a drumkit or only a guitar for 15 years, and I would still not know how to play half the stuff that’s on the EP.
I’m in awe of the musicianship of my bandmates, of Invent Animate; I’m like a guy that yells, surrounded by these talented people. I’m lucky to be in the same room, you know?
SR: That’s not true, you are a very talented individual and there is a reason Silent Planet has such longevity and respect within this community; it’s the same reason why Australia is so glad to have you back in our country. Thank you, and have a great show tonight.
GR: You’re welcome, and thank you for having me on. See you in Melbourne!
