London indie outfit, Golden Silvers, have had a very charmed and auspicious beginning; winning the Glastonbury New Talent Award in 2008, releasing debut album True Romance on XL to critical acclaim, coming to the US as a CMJ buzz band, and closing out last year with a place on the shortlist for The Guardian’s 2009 First Album Award. The band quickly became a TLC favorite with their unprecedented cohesion of doo-wop, psychedelia, glam and electro. We chatted briefly with lead singer/songwriter Gwilym Gold after their slot at Blue Flowers’ CMJ showcase at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Continue to stay on the lookout for Golden Silvers as we expect even more big things from them in 2010.

Enjoy pictures from our hilarious photoshoot with Gwilym (in which he insisted on wearing a pig nose) and check out pictures from the Blue Flowers CMJ Show including Mumford and Sons and The Temper Trap HERE.

MP3: Golden Silvers – Lily the Lover or zShare
MP3: Golden Silvers – Arrows of Eros (With Hypnotic Brass Ensemble) or zShare

> When did you arrive in New York?
GG: Just since Tuesday night.

>How many shows have you played since arriving?
GG: We’ve played a show every night so far. Tuesday night was the first one but it wasn’t that great though because we lost some of our equipment when it didn’t turn up at the airport. We had to make due but luckily it turned up, last night was really good.

> Did you have any visa troubles getting into The States?
GG: It was alright actually. Luckily someone sorted it out for us although our manager did get pulled aside, but luckily he got through at the end [all laugh]

‘We kind of aim to try and not classify it, we want to keep it a bit open basically. I guess you can say that our aim was to make it unclassifiable.’

> Speech Debelle was supposed to play tonight’s show –
GG: Is that why? Visa issues?

> Yeah unfortunately. How have you been finding the audiences here so far?
GG: It’s the first time we’ve ever been here, first time in America. It’s almost like going back to playing your first gig. Not many people know our stuff but it makes us feel a bit tighter. It’s different.

> Do you feel your reputation precedes you with having won the Glastonbury New Talent Award in 2008? What kind of first impression do you want to make on the US?
GG: I don’t know know, maybe just as something new or different. Nothing that anyone else is doing hopefully.

> How would you begin to classify the sound that you’re hoping to make?
GG: We kind of aim to try and not classify it, we want to keep it a bit open basically. While recording we didn’t have any specific style or anything, we just let every song work it’s own way. I suppose we want to make everything sound fresh or interesting, not sound like anything else around. I guess you can say that our aim was to make it unclassifiable.

> In the UK you started a monthly club night called The Bronze Club at The Macbeth, how did that come about?
GG: We first started on our own, basically we went to [book] some gigs but we thought that the nights were a bit shit so we decided to start our own. It just so happened that at the same time there were a lot of bands in there that we really liked and we were sort of friends with. I don’t know if you’ve heard of Micachu and a band called The Invisible, there were loads and it was a perfect opportunity to start a night. We kind of made it though, it definitely helped that there were a lot of great bands around to help.
[Bandmates' The Xx sing-a-long gets increasingly loud in the background]
GG: Guys, guys. We’re trying to record this.
[All laugh awkwardly]
Bandmate: Sorry! It’s Gwilym’s solo project
GG: Yeah it’s my solo project, that’s why I’m talking so quietly.

‘The weird thing with being in a band is that everything in your life moves sort of faster than the music industry does.’

> What we take away from Golden Silvers apart from other bands are your lyrics and subject matter. Where do you find inspiration when writing?
GG: I suppose I try and just let it come out. My theory with writing is: to take as much as you can from everywhere. Just let it flow out and  hopefully have a bit more than one layer to it.

> Are you going back on tour in the UK after CMJ?
GG: We literally just finished the UK tour so I think next we’re going to work on some new stuff before getting back on the road. We’ll hopefully start finishing another album for next year.

> Have you written any new songs while on the road?
GG: The weird thing with being in a band is that everything in your life moves sort of faster than the music industry does. Right now I’m not really thinking about other songs and other things, we’re still playing songs that we wrote quite a long time ago.

> Do you have a relationship with Blue Flowers?
GG: Kind of vaguely, not massively. I know the guy who runs it called Chris, just know him from around town in London. We’ve never played a Blue Flowers night before.

> Are you going to try to catch any other bands while you’re in town?
GG: Hopefully. we just did  a tour with a band called Local Natives, so hopefully we’ll see them. Another band called The Xx…I’m not really sure who else is playing.

> There’s a lot, just got a headache thinking about it. You guys are DJing tonight at Bowery Electric, do you DJ at the club nights as well?
GG: Recently we’ve actually mainly DJed, we don’t want to play live every single month so it’s more like trying to find loads of new bands to play and do DJ sets.

> What kind of music do you play when DJing?
GG: Usually quite a lot of Hip-Hop, London local stuff to keep it a bit fresh. A bit of soul, you know what I mean.