Silverstein last graced Australian shores in May 2015. Thankfully Aussie fans didn’t have long to wait for the post-hardcore Canadian’s return as they will soon be back this time supporting Pierce The Veil. We caught up with guitarist Paul Marc Rousseau ahead of their return down under.

SCENEzine
Firstly we are roughly half way through 2016 so how’s your year been so far?

Paul Marc Rousseau
Man your right I can’t believe it. I guess my year has been fast because I haven’t even noticed.

SCENEzine
Are their any albums you’ve been digging this year so far?

Paul Marc Rousseau
Yeah for sure their has been some albums but I don’t know for sure if they came out in 2016. So I worry about that but I’ll tell you anyway. I really like that album Multi-Love by Unknown Mortal Orchestra. I’m also very excited about the new Beartooth record which just came out. Honestly I do so much writing that I don’t get much chance to listen though.

SCENEzine
Silverstein’s latest album I Am Alive In Everything I Touch was one of our favourite albums to come out of 2015. A year on, looking back are you happy and proud of how it turned out?

Paul Marc Rousseau
First of all thank you and yes definitely proud and happy. The process was long because it was a really taxing record intellectually and emotionally, we put a lot into it. Everyday felt so exhausting but I think it turned it out very well and we are all proud of it.

SCENEzine
You released an awesome video recently for “The Continual Condition” was that fun to make? And after doing that have you though about giving up the band for acting instead?

Paul Marc Rousseau
(laughs) Yes that video was super fun to make. Definitely the most fun I’ve had on a video shoot ever. Again it was very tiring. Doing a video is such a trying thing because you stand around for so long and I’m not used to doing that. But it was definitely a lot of fun and we want to step our game up and go bigger and better every time from this point on. As far as a career in acting goes well I was told by the director that I had a flare for it. I don’t know if that’s something directors say to everybody but yes I have considered it (laughs).

SCENEzine
You’ve been with the band now around 4 or so years. Since joining how much has your life changed?

Paul Marc Rousseau
That’s cool no ones ever asked me that. They’ll just say how has it been or do you like playing in a band and of course I like playing in a band. But how my life has changed well it’s pretty difficult to say what I’d be doing if I wasn’t doing this. At the time when I joined I was working in a restaurant and writing songs by myself and I was miserable. So I think immediately my life changed for the better and I started smiling a lot more. I feel like I’m better travelled now than I was that’s definitely true. I get to work with music everyday so it’s a pretty good feeling but I also feel incredibly lucky. So the change has been for the better is I guess what I’m saying.

SCENEzine
Being the newer guy in the band is it challenging if fans yell out really old Silverstein songs that you may not know?

Paul Marc Rousseau
(laughs) Yes but I take solace in the fact that I don’t think the other guys know how to play them either. The catalogue is so big now I think we have well over 100 original songs. There’s just no way that we could remember all of them at once. We do our best to rehearse 30 or so songs including a number of old songs before every tour. So we’ve got them sort of fresh in our minds but we go way back it’ true. I think I’m just as capable as everyone else.

SCENEzine
We really love the track “Arrivals” from This Is How The Wind Shifts where you are doing vocals. Are you able to tell us the meaning behind that track?

Paul Marc Rousseau
Yeah absolutely and again thank you. It was just after I joined the band. I joined the band in August of 2012. It was around late September and I was living with my girlfriend at the time.
I don’t know what she did at work exactly but she was some kind of important person at American apparel. She was away working but it had had no end date. She flew over to this other part of Canada and was just there until she wasn’t going to be there anymore. Everyday I’d get a call or message saying I think it’ll just be for another day or two. That went on for like 2 weeks. Then the seasons were changing that’s why there’s a line about that. Everyday I went to the coffee shop we used to go to and had a empty chair next to me. So yeah it’s just about that situation. But I actually recorded it as a voice note because I wrote it specifically for her and I sent it to her. She said she was listening to it in the food court of a mall and she cried and I felt both good and bad about that.

SCENEzine
Are you still with her?

Paul Marc Rousseau
No but we’ve become friends again. We played tennis together the other day.

SCENEzine
The exciting news for Australians is you’ll soon be back. You’ve been here a couple of times now. Do you have a favourite Australian memory?

Paul Marc Rousseau
Every minute I spend in Australia is my favourite memory. If it was easy enough for me to move there I swear to god I’d do it. I bet you get that answer all the time. But it feels enough like Canada where it wouldn’t be culturally too shocking for me. I find America at times to be so shocking with the guns and violence and all that shit. It’s also always fun for me as a tourist to see all the weird animals. I played tennis on the rooftop of a hotel in Brisbane that overlooked the river I really loved that.

SCENEzine
You’ll be coming to Australia with Pierce The Veil, have you played with those guys much before?

Paul Marc Rousseau
Yeah a bunch of times. It’s kind of a thing that’s been happening with Silverstein lately. Bands that used to open up for us have blown up and are now very graciously allowing us to play with them. So many times going back to 2008 they would open up for us. A Day To Remember did the same thing back in 2010 and now they are enormous and they took us on tour to Mexico and it was awesome.

SCENEzine
You’ll also be playing with Beartooth. Can you tell us exactly what Silvertooth is?

Paul Marc Rousseau
(laughs) I can try but I don’t think anyone knows exactly what Silvertooth is yet. First it’s important to explain that Warped tour is hot and the days are long and at points it becomes very routine and boring. It’s fun but it has moments where it really drags. So everyday Silverstein and Beartooth would park next to each other and sit in the trailers and hang out.

We noticed that we could combine the names. Then we were like what can we actually do. Since we were playing on the same stage back to back we decided to combine our sets to make 1 full hour set. We set up all our gear on stage at the same time including 2 drum kits and 6 vocal mics. Then we did the whole thing going song for song and doing cover songs or playing each others songs. It was so much fun. It was supposed to be only 1 time but we ended up having to do it again because it became such a thing.

SCENEzine
Last year we interviewed Silverstein’s Shane Told, since we were going to Toronto he gave us a bunch of advice. We stumbled across a place called Tim Hortons. Do you have a favourite donut from there?

Paul Marc Rousseau
(laughs) Well I don’t go there everyday because I think there’s nicer coffee shops but if I’m touring in Canada I’ll go there. But my favourite donut from Tim Hortons is a very unpopular donut called the old fashioned plain. It’s exactly what it sounds like and is the least sweet donut they have. I don’t have much of a sweet tooth so I’m all about the old fashioned plain.

SCENEzine
Toronto was a really cool place to us. What do you like to do in Toronto when you’re not touring?

Paul Marc Rousseau
It seems like whenever I’m off tour the weather is really bad so it’s harder to want to do things outside when it’s freezing cold. But I do play hockey around Toronto there’s a bunch of outdoor ice rinks. This winter I was going there almost everyday with my roommate and we’d play ice hockey which was super fun. Now in the summer I’ve taken up tennis as I’ve mentioned now for the third time. I’m quite bad at it but I’m trying and it’s fun. I feel like I’m gunna stay in shape and then meet a really nice rich girl who’s parents will insist that we play tennis and I’ll be prepared.

SCENEzine
When we interviewed Shane he said he’s a massive Maple Leaps fan and that causes a rift sometimes.

Paul Marc Rousseau
That’s because of me I hate the Maple Leafs and I love the Montreal Canadians so we argue about that all the time.

SCENEzine
There’s been so many bands from a similar era calling it a day like Anberlin, Motion City Soundtrack, Funeral For A Friend, My Chemical Romance. Can you please assure us Silverstein isn’t leaving us anytime soon?

Paul Marc Rousseau
Yes I can. We’ve started talking about new music already so we are still around.

SCENEzine
Lastly can you leave us a message for your Australian fans?

Paul Marc Rousseau
Australian fans I love you so much please don’t forget about us. We don’t come as often as we want and you want but know that it’s just because it’s very far away and costs a lot of money to go there. But we can’t wait to see you in August don’t hold your breathe because you’ll die but be ready.

(interview by Christian Ross)