The Silver Lines gear up for biggest headlining gig

After a string of shows in New York in the summer, they are now gearing up for their biggest headline gig to date at the Forum in Birmingham next month.

Brothers Dan and Joe Ravenscroft, singer and guitarist respectively, who hail from Kidderminster, joined forces with drummer Jake Kindon and base guitarist Joe Cartwright, both from Wolverhampton to form the group in 2018.

"Growing up being a teenager in the 2010s, there was no breakthrough bands that we “aspired to be” if you must," says 23-year-old Joe Ravenscroft.

"We felt everything we were listening to was in the previous decade or century. So we decided to have a go ourselves and make up for what was lacking in our personal taste.

"We wanted to make guitar music with an edge that was reminiscent of the early 70s alternative music, where lyricism wasn’t afraid to be daring and touch upon taboo subjects but also allowed the listener to obtain personal and hidden meanings within songs, contrasting the very obvious lyricism and straightforwardness of modern indie guitar bands from the 2010s onwards," he explains.

Inspiration for their music comes from a wide range of influences including The Rolling Stones and The Strokes.

"Our uncle, who was a former musician, was our greatest influence, he introduced us too lots of different styles of music. Something that we’ve only just started to appreciate now. Sadly he passed away when we were just getting started but he left us with a guitar and a few amps, which I still play live to this day. I am discovering new music from his vast CD and LP collection he left us," explains Joe, who now lives in Erdington.

"The Stones just always had an edge which we love and we always seem to be drawn back to their vast back catalogue.

"However, if you dig a little deeper that all originated from Muddy Waters and his contemporaries from the “delta blues” scene. As individuals we all like and look up to different things from 50s rock n roll to 90s dance so it’s a good mix of ideas really," he tells Weekend.

Joe describes their music as having a "very honest sound" and "the type you can make in your garage with a few mates".

"I don’t think we need to box it up in genre like indie or something, because even that nowadays contains everything from bubblegum pop to dad rock. We’re pretty conscious of our sound and want to keep the same feeling that all bands have when they first start to get together and make music - the feeling that anything can happen when it’s just a few mates versus the world.

"We don’t have much time for spending thousands of pounds of pedal boards, synths and other equipment. No amount of studio trickery, expensive equipment or high level production can compensate for a well written song that originates from a bedroom or your best mate’s garage," he says.

Over the last few years they have developed a loyal fan base and their singles have been heavily championed by BBC Introducing and have had airplay on BBC Radio 1, 6 and Radio X.

In March 2020, they played their first international festival, The New Colossus, in New York with the likes of Tim Burgess of The Charlatans and The Orielles.

It proved to be an eventful trip with the band having to escape the pandemic-hit city on the last flight back to the UK

"Our last show was cancelled and the city was shutting down due to Covid. We were stuck in the basement of a hotel room unsure whether or not we would be getting home. We had lots of time to kill so we just started messing around and wrote our latest single Hotel Room.

"It was pretty organic as all four members were involved in the process and it didn’t deviate much afterwards from what we originally wrote in New York. We kind of feel the tune really captures the lamenting aspect of what we were feeling at the time.

"As we’d never been to New York and had a surreal experience but it was all over indefinitely and our immediate future of leaving NY was uncertain. It’s a pretty good snapshot into our lives at the particular time," explains Joe.

They returned to New York in August 2022 to do a string of headline dates in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

"We played at some esteemed venues such as the Rockwood Music Hall, where the likes of Sting has played, at midnight, and some punky grungy clubs like Arlene’s Grocery. It was unbelievable seeing all these New York students singing along," Joe tells Weekend.

Next month, the group will take to the stage at the 350-capacity Forum in Birmingham and next year they will be releasing a new EP to coincide with their first UK tour.

They also plan to travel to European festivals and the back to the States again,. "This time we’re hopefully looking to get further around the country. Maybe even a proper US tour," says Joe.

"There’s nothing better than packing up the van and hitting the road with your mates. When you’re in a band, particularly a gigging one you become in your own little world, and become this little tight unit that does everything together. You can’t really beat it."

See www.thesilverlinesuk.com