the silver state
Songwriter Caleb Lindskoog, guitarist Taylor Milne, and drummer Alex Stopa began writing and playing shows together on the heals of another legendary local band's dissolution--that of Expert on October. Brief stints performing under other various monikers aside, the three eventually began their collective musical endeavor as The Silver State in earnest, quickly becoming a staple of the Vegas scene, and regularly providing support for myriad touring national indie bands. The earliest shows had Mark Stoermer (The Killers) on bass guitar, and his tenure in the rhythm section was followed by Wesley Hines. The group later performed as a trio, with Taylor becoming the sole guitarist as Caleb switched to bass.
After The Silver State produced a short run of a self-titled EP, Caleb left Las Vegas for New York City, where Young American Recordings released The Silver State’s debut full-length album, “Cut and Run.” Music blog Puddlegum described it as, “Destined to be one of the best albums of the year.” Shortly after the release, the band set out for a full US tour with label-mates South. For this phase of the band’s life, bassist Brendan Fitzpatrick (formerly of Clem Snide) also joined up.
Following their support of the “Cut and Run” release, Caleb returned to NYC as Taylor and Alex returned to Las Vegas — an East-West bifurcation that prompted Caleb to begin writing new material for The Silver State, relaying song ideas, guitar parts and iPhone demos to the Las Vegas branch via email. The three of them also collaborated in other projects: Caleb produced and engineered recordings for Magmana, Hologram, Leisurely, Amazing Baby, and collaborated in various projects with members of Ratatat, Dirty Projectors, Phenomenal Handclap Band, MGMT, etc. Taylor became a founding member of Big Talk, more recently began touring on guitar with The Killers, and recorded and performed with Bombay Heavy. Alex played drums on tour with Big Talk alongside Taylor, performed in a slew of live orchestras from touring Broadway productions to resident Cirque du Soleil shows, and earned his doctorate degree from UNLV in percussion performance.
After releasing Magmana’s debut LP, “Fiend,” on his newly co-created Tacky Records, Caleb set his mind on finishing the unrefined material he had been writing and compiling for The Silver State. Years of living in NYC with continued devotion to writing, performing, collaborating, and producing had inevitably brought his work into a new space to explore story, memories, longings and to contemplate place and one’s own time in the world.
The resulting album, “Outside,” was tracked in an abandoned Las Vegas dental lab near the airport where, years prior—before NYC dreams, Caleb and Taylor made teeth together for a living. Caleb spoke of the experience in an interview with LV Weekly: “The dental lab proved to be fertile ground for capturing this material. So much of the record is about the specificity of time and place in our lives, and here we were in this gutted commercial space—a space in which both Taylor and I were once employed, in fact—and it was dead to that world; but for this it was perfect. Our sessions there were wildly productive.”
Released on Caleb’s own Tacky Records, “Outside” was reviewed by Stereogum, which described The Silver State as a ”quiet psych act specializing in dreamy vast-landscape folk-rock more befitting the American West than the band's native Brooklyn.” Little did they know how right they were!
Two songs from “Outside” and one from “Cut and Run” were also inspiration for three one-act plays written and produced by NYC theater company, Cry Havoc. The Silver State performed the songs in tandem with the stage plays for a packed audience at Lincoln Center as part of a summer series entitled, “Lincoln Center Originals.”
The Silver State’s forthcoming full length album, “YRUYMI,” will be the band’s third commercially available LP. Produced, mixed and mastered by Robert Root, it is the first album by the band that has enjoyed a singular influence at the production helm, from the first drum microphone placement to the last “Apple-S.” Root’s technical mastery and sonic vision for the work has aligned marvelously with the creative aspirations of the band, and the end result is stunning. Also accompanying The Silver State on this record and for the first time is David Hopkins (Bombay Heavy) playing all keyboards, lending his particular brand of psychedelic whimsy to the recordings, adding new depth and dimension, perfectly complimenting each song on which he is present.
As the finishing touches were being put on the album, Caleb and his family were simultaneously returning to their Las Vegas roots from Brooklyn to live once again. The Silver State can now enjoy the ability to record and perform from the same home base for the first time in a long time as a result.
Broadly speaking, this new body of songs is a composite of fractured questions and observations that accompany the overwhelming and otherwise indescribable emotional/physical/spiritual/philosophical experience of having children, the ways in which relationships evolve (including with oneself), and how priorities and concepts around personal fulfillment change thusly; and moreover, it's about all of that plus participating in our continuum during the specific, existentially questionable moment of our current human situation.
The Silver State - “YRUYMI”, released February 28, 2020, is available digitally everywhere.