Interviews About Albums: The World Without Us - Silver Tongues (2022)

In this new interview, we sat down with the American Metalcore band The World Without Us to ask some questions about his new album "Silver Tongues". 

1. What can you say about this new EP/CD?

That depends; how much time do you have? Seriously though, this album has been a labor of love. The writing and recording process started nearly three years ago and honestly, being able to spend time thinking through everything was such an awesome experience.

The variable of the project that was ultra challenging was the record being done in a vacuum; The World Without Us was a one-man band until this time last year. I flew solo throughout the writing and I recorded the record in my home studio; I tend to overthink and get in my own way, so I had plenty of opportunity to practice not doing that.

TWWU has been a four-piece for almost a year and holy hell, I'm so excited to start writing and creating as a group. They are ultra-talented and it's positive vibes through and through - I'm hedging my bets on the collaborative TWWU material that will happen soon.

2. What is the meaning of the EP/CD name?

Silver Tongues mean a lot of things - even to me. I always try to write my lyrics in metaphor, so it's flexible enough to give the listener the meaning they need in that moment. On the flip side of that, I try to sprinkle literal meaning whenever possible.

To make a very long story short, a few months before I began writing, I had a colon cancer scare that shook the shit out of me. About three months passed from the time I originally saw my doctor to when I could get into the cancer center for them to see what was happening. I made the mistake of jumping down a colon cancer rabbit hole - don't do that. I spiraled hard. I have three kids and played out how every scenario to exhaustion. I was in an ultra-dark place, but I am insanely grateful for my experiences and realizations while in the throes of my existential crisis.

I had a clean bill of sale - no cancer. I didn't want to forget how the heavy mindset shift I felt throughout that experience. I also wanted to bottle my realizations and save them. So, the original plan was Silver Tongues would be an audio time capsule for my kids - I had no plans to play this material live and honestly didn't know if it would ever be content that was publically consumable. Cole, Dustin, and Brett came into my life at a very crucial time and I'm so grateful for abandoning the plan.

3. If you had to pick one song, which one would you pick?

Depending on what my headspace is doing, you will get different answers to this one. Each of these songs is very important to me on a personal level, but if you were pinching me and won't stop until I pick, I'd have to say either Windup // Windout or Silver Tongues.

4. Is there a special message in this EP/CD? If there is what it is?

There are special meanings throughout the entire body of work. Many of them are literal; many of them are subtle; some of them are literally hidden. That said, I don't want to project meaning onto a thing that's meant for interpretation by the person consuming it.

The story arc of the album is one of love, loss, hope, and what it means to be a human. I won't say any more because honestly, I would much rather hear how other people interpret the content.

5. Are there some lyrics that you'd love to share?

The pre-chorus from Echo_Animate has always been one of my favorites.

It’s never the way we planned it

Running with scissors to cut in line

Distance makes the drinks grow stronger

Can I reset, rewind

I’m sleeping in a bed a shame

With my weak lungs

I’d kill myself to spare you pain

One of the verses in Heroindarkness also hits hard for me.

Lost in the dark

Wandering its thickness

To mend a broken heart

Filled with emotion sickness

Lately I’ve been so tired and uninspired

Like the knot we can’t untie

Break free of heavy chains

Baby brother, you have to try

6. Something to add?

Like I said earlier, I would love to hear how other people interpret the content. Might be rad to do commentary videos for each track and compare that to how people experience the content. Either way, my hope is that people enjoy our ruckus and that it might help someone when they're needing it.