Suicide Silence is one of the leading metal bands in the industry right now bringing on massive crowds and putting on incredible shows. With their newest tour supporting Korn, the band is opening a new chapter bringing fans and music enthusiasts a chance to see Suicide Silence in a new light. While the tour itself has been massive with tons of sold out crowds, the band is moving forward reaching a new realm of musical achievement within this industry. We got the chance to sit down and talk to vocalist Eddie Hermida to learn a little bit about what it is to be a musician and how Suicide Silence thrives in the music industry.
From the start of a band, every musician moulds and forms himself into an artist. While each artist builds upon themselves to create something unique and beneficial, the idea of why an artist creates music is interesting. Vocalist Eddie Hermida believes it is an urge that separates the real artists and those who do it for cheap reasons. It’s this natural flow of impulse that builds an artist and creates them. One of the things that can greatly influence the mind to becoming an artist and pursuing the lifestyle of a musician, is your childhood.
“Artists create music because it’s in them. It’s something that comes naturally.”
From a personal standpoint Eddie explained to us how growing up influenced himself to becoming an artist. “I’ve been drawn to music my whole life. I can recall my mom telling me that as an infant I would sing along to anything that was on TV. I was always driven to be on stage as either theatre or music. I played trombone in elementary, middle, and high school all the way into college.” From this to starting bands at such a young age, Eddie realized that being an artist was in his blood. “Existentially, I’d say it’s something I’ve been driven to my whole life.” It’s this factor that drives a musician to pursue their career.
Being an artist is an important thing and can contribute to a bigger community.
When talking about the role of music in society, Eddie says that it’s one of the most important and essential parts of life. “It’s one of the many languages that everyone speaks. You don’t have to be trained in music to understand it,” Eddie says when talking speaking about music’s influence. “It’s probably the most important next to air and water.”
The thing that fuels this band is passion they have for their music. The passion this band has for their music and their fan base is unbelievable, reaching to new heights unknown to other bands. While the band Suicide Silence holds back from feeling the responsibility to preach a message or prove a point, they just try to do what they love and play music. Eddie explains, “We just want people to be there and present and have a good time.”
“We want people to feel like they have the power to do whatever the hell they want.”
While this is what Suicide Silence wants their fans to do in a more simplistic term, it goes much deeper than that. Eddie explained, “Your life is yours and if you aren’t being there and present in it every day, you are doing a disservice to yourself. There’s multiple facets behind that and if you look into the lyrics individually you’ll realize there is more behind it.” The importance of being present and actively engaged at a show is what matters to Suicide Silence, and reality they just want people to share the experience of their live shows with them. This translation between the band and fans is done through the live show.
“The biggest thing is bringing in positivity and letting out negativity.”
A Suicide Silence show is nothing without a loud, in-your-face experience. The legacy of a long-time band is translated into what is one of the most powerful live shows out there bringing out the best they can. Eddie brings out the best in the crowd with people going absolutely crazy for their sets. This inviting and enthusiastic performance calls fans to participate and really enjoy the show, even with a genre that isn’t the best in taste.
What really motivates the band to put on top notch performances, is the importance of being yourself. The live performance is what makes a band great, and that they love what they are doing.
When talking to Eddie about it, he explains that it easy to tell when a band does it because they love it versus a band that does it for other obligations. “There’s a big difference there,” he says. “One of those guys is going to have a great time for the rest of their life, while the other person is probably going to struggle.” Eddie also explains how this is something that can relate to anything, and that it is something universal that anyone can apply to their life.
“If you have to go to your job, hate it, and lie to yourself, you’re never going to be working to your fullest potential.”
When being yourself there is more to just the live show. Within the actual writing process there’s a level and truth and honesty. When we asked Eddie if artists hold the responsibility to speak the truth in society, he said that it simply doesn’t matter and that it is completely possible for an artist to talk about something false. Eddie, explains, “If you are going to be speaking about topical things such as the government or your personal experiences, it’s better to be honest because you are going to get a real reaction.” To Suicide Silence, the importance of being honest is what makes the development of the music and person.
“If you aren’t honest to your music, then you aren’t honest to yourself. That’s going to sink through and you are never going to be who you need to be.”
All in all, Suicide Silence just wants people to be true to themselves and wants people to be creating music and art for the sake of honesty and positivity. Up next for the band: writing a new record, and they are very excited to get back into the studio. Eddie told us, “We are really excited to start doing that and start writing mainly just to write it even if we don’t put it out. It’s one of those things that we want to write a record. It’s almost as if we can satisfy ourselves and throw the damn thing away. The biggest thing is we want to write a record that is pure and is us.”
Be sure to stay on the lookout for some new music from Suicide Silence as they finish up 2015 with a killer tour.
– Jake Lahah