S1: In November of 1969 , a small group of 20 San Diego State students joined together and formed KCR radio.
S2: From take two.
S3: Welcome to Basin beats. KCR Radio's deep dive into the San Diego sound. Each week we bring you live sets and raw conversations with local artists , pushing boundaries and turning up the volume on the city's underground music scene. Silver bullet shakes through the basement with their explosive classic rock sound. Join us as they perform a live set from our studio and your radio , and stick around for a 1 to 1 interview with the band. Now on to their performance.
S4: Basement beats. We are silver bullet. That's what I gave you. We gave it a single shot. Do you see it this way? The goal for you is to get this thing. And what do. You think you should get? You get what you like You love. Babies cooking baby things. And I am looking for you , baby. For you. Then will you let me go? I. Do love you. Love. If you love. I. Do this all for sharing the excuse of the style. Just cause for your tired action. You gotta give it up. You gotta give it up. Get up. There's something up. You gotta give it up. You gotta give it up. Don't go. The exhibition. Are you gonna go with the Eagles and how you can kiss? Because I wanna stay and you. Gotta give up. You gotta give it up. Give me something on you too. Gotta give it up. You gotta give it up. Don't go with the mission. I. Run! Simmons! Everybody! We have every Nelson. I'm. Glad we have John Kelly. I.
S5: This next one's called the Evil Cowboy.
S4: Way you found. You said you won't stay with my home. Stay. With me. Oh my God , you to go. Take me to love. You don't get to go. Go. I'll give you. My cheeses. You see? I got you. I. Got you , I got. I. Mean , you are done. You get it done. Well , you know we don't get to. Go. Wow. Walking in. The footsteps of my shoes. I put you on your knees. I begin listlessly. To lose you. Hope you. We're shooting a good shot. I got you all the way. Yes. We've never. I.
S5: Thank you so much for having us. Once again , we are a silver bullet.
S6: Hey , what's up everyone? This is Connor O'Toole.
S3: On KCRW radio is basin's beats. Today I am here with Silver Bullet. Guys , how are we doing today?
S5: Pretty good.
S3: All right. Fantastic. They just played a killer set. Before we get started , can I get a quick introduction to everybody here in the band and what they do?
S7: I'm John Kelly , I play guitar.
S5: I'm Hannah Geller , I'm the lead singer.
S8: I'm Avery Nelson , I play the bass.
S9: I'm Ryan Simmons , I play the drums.
S3: All right. Fantastic. Do you guys mind telling me the name behind Silver Bullet? Maybe some of the rejected band names? I've been doing that as of recently in some of the interviews.
S7: Oh , I got you. Oh , yeah.
S9: We had some good. We had some really bad ideas. Yeah.
S7: Yeah.
S3: We all. We all start somewhere.
S7: I don't remember , Ryan , help me out. I don't remember all.
S9: There was something with velvet at one point. Oh , I remember.
S7: That name , I hated it. So the name Velvet Thunder was. Oh. Oh , yeah. No , let me just let me make it very clear. It was not my like , suggestion to color name that. And this is with our old singer. So this is like the original line up. Um , we were like , brainstorming band names and stuff. And it was between Silver Bullet , Velvet Thunder and Wild Fang. I liked I liked wild , Wild Things.
S3: That's pretty chill , I guess.
S9: I think you know what I think at one point we were about to mash them up and do Velvet Fang.
S3: Velvet fang.
S7: We have so many ideas , but we came with Silver Bullet because it was kind of like a coincidence. So our old singer thought of it , and then our original bass player thought of it , and they had no connection to their respective ideas of the band names. It was like both people were like , oh , how about Silver Bullet? Yeah.
S3: Silver bullet. Oh yeah. Right on. Solid stuff. And , uh. So do y'all mind tell me about the songwriting process. Like , how does Silver Bullet come up with a song?
S7: There's like a million different avenues. But I'll give you , like , the , um , like a , like a brief premise of what we do. So our original bass player , Jake , shout out , Jake , we love you. Um , him and I would meet up , like , every Tuesday at his apartment , and we just make demos , and then we'd send him to the band group chat , and then on Friday we would practice. And so we'd we'd just , like , listen to the song , practice it together. And then we kind of had a song. So like the first , like six months of , like our formation. That's all we did. We didn't play shows , we didn't do anything. We just wrote songs and then practiced those songs. And then that was like the fall 2023 semester. Gotcha.
S3: Gotcha.
S7: Right on. And then spring 24 is when we started playing live. Okay. And now that Jake's gone , we kind of just we'll just , like , throw like all I have some , like , riff ideas. So we'll go to like a , we'll be at rehearsal together. All four of us. I'll be like , you guys like this. And if they do , then we'll just all kind of put our own ideas together. Exactly.
S3: Exactly. Everyone puts their own spin on it. Exactly.
S7: Exactly. And it's just like supernatural.
S9: And one thing we did for this , like last song we wrote , it was Boot Licker. That was the last song we wrote. We actually wrote it in , like , the last few weeks. Was like , John came in with a riff and me , John and Avery just , like , jammed it for like ten , 15 minutes and played it like a bunch of different ways. Then pretty much picked out our favorite parts. Like , that's how we formed the song. Yeah.
S7: Yeah. So it's a lot more of an experimental , experimental like way of going about it now rather than just like making a demo and then just practicing it. So it's more just like us jamming and building our chemistry now. Exactly.
S3: Exactly. Kind of like throwing something at the wall and see what sticks.
S9: Speak pretty. Precisely.
S7: Precisely. Yeah , yeah.
S3: And how would you all describe your sound?
S5: I'd say it's kind of like a blast from the past with a new little feminine twist on it , because I kind of have the well , the everybody in the band plays like super heavy , super sick riffs. And then I kind of have a breathy , airy voice , but then I can also belt really loud. So it's like those female vocals mixed with the heavy rock , and that's I know that's been done before , but it's kind of , you know , coming back. I think the female rock bands are really making their way back now , and I'm loving that. And yeah , we're just very heavy and I like it.
S3: Right on solid stuff. And by the way , you have an amazing voice , by the way. Thank you. Yes. Fantastic. Yes. And now kind of speaking of sounds , um , what are guys , what are y'all's , uh , influences for each member of the band?
S9: Um , for me , it's definitely like Black Sabbath. Um , LED Zeppelin. Um , you know , I like a lot of 90s music , too. Like grunge stuff. I do a pretty big jump from , kind of like the hard , heavy rock in the 70s to , you know , like Alice in Chains , Nirvana , tool. Stuff like that. So I just , I think I just like heavy music a lot and like putting different spins on it. Right.
S3: Right. On any specific drummers?
S9: Uh , Bill Ward's my favorite drummer. Um , I mean , I like Danny Carey , but I don't play like Danny kid.
S8: Uh , I would say , like , for me , I'm just their bass player. Like , I sort of fell into this out of nowhere. So this isn't really the type of music that I listen to or play , but they have kind of influenced me to listen to , like Black Sabbath , LED Zeppelin and all this kind of stuff because I have to learn covers and I'm like , wait , this is really good. Yeah. So I've been getting really into LED Zeppelin and Black Sabbath and Metallica. Um , and honestly , like , it's totally shaping my sound to be something different than it was before. So , yeah , I mean , I'm mostly like a funk person , but this has been super , super formative and fun and like , it feels historical , almost like I'm learning about my forefathers.
S3: So the founding fathers of rock. Yes. Yeah.
S5: Yeah. Similar to Avery. Like , the heavier rock isn't usually my thing. I am very into alternative psychedelic rock. That's the influence for my own solo project. But coming here , I got really , really into the heavier stuff. I love LED Zeppelin. I love them before. But now after being in Silver Bullet , I really love LED Zeppelin. Um , and I'd say vocal wise. Tash Sultana is a huge inspiration for the type of vocals that I do , so.
S7: I'd say for my inspiration. It's very similar to Ryan. I love like heavy rock. Um , I'm super blues oriented , so I love like , the blues guitarists and all that. I'm a huge fan of , uh , Peter Green. He's like Fleetwood Mac's original guitar player , that dude , he was like Eric Clapton before Eric Clapton. Right on , you know? So I like him a lot. I like Clapton too.
S3: Oh , yeah. Of course.
S7: Yeah , yeah. Um , I.
S3: Heard you play Layla , actually , during the warm up to it.
S7: Yeah , yeah , yeah , exactly.
S9: And Beatles beef. Yep.
S7: Yep. Speaking of Beatles , I love George Harrison too. I think he's one of the most underrated guitarists of all time , honestly. And he's. It's crazy because he's in , like , the biggest band ever. Yeah , but he's such an underrated.
S3: Oh , he's so underutilized in the band , though. That's the. Thing.
S7: Thing. Yeah , exactly. I also , I mean , couldn't tell from my outfit. I'm a huge Zach Wilde fan. Oh , yeah. I love just the way he shreds. And then like , Dimebag Darrell. Oh , yeah. Um , let's see who else. Zakk Wylde , Dimebag Stevie Ray Vaughan. Oh , yeah. Jimi Hendrix , those guys. I I'm just a big rock guy , honestly. But I love blues. Um , psychedelic rock as well. Like , kind of like Hannah.
S3: Oh , yeah.
S7: Right on. Like late 60s , early 70s , psych rock. Nice , super cool stuff.
S3: But I. I hear a little bit of Aerosmith in your sound , too. I was hearing that especially with , like , sweet Vicks and very much reminded me a lot of those early Aerosmith kind of records.
S7: Oh , totally. It was silver bullet sound I wanted , like at least from my , like , part of the band. I wanted to bring that element to the band because , like , we love the heavy rock , but I love the groovy ness of the 70s music. So kind of want to mesh that. And that's kind of what we got. Exactly.
S3: Exactly. And that actually was Van Halen who said something about this. And I noticed this within your sound as well. Like make it's one thing to make great rock music , but it's also one another thing to make great rock music that you can dance to and actually really feel the groove as well.
S7: Exactly , man , that's what we want. We want people to be able to dance to it , because if they can't dance to it like , aw , mom , that counts.
S3: That counts , that counts as dancing.
S7: It does counts. That totally counts.
S3: Oh yeah , without a doubt.
S7: It's the most inclusive form of dancing , in my opinion. Exactly.
S3: Exactly. You get to throw hands and express yourself. Yeah , it's a truly beautiful art form , I must say. Yeah. So one of your most popular songs on Spotify is Baby's Truck. And do you guys mind telling me about the songwriting process for that and kind of how that song came to fruition? Yeah.
S7: Yeah. Of course. So Jake , our original bass player , he sent Ryan and I a demo and it was basically the skeletons babies trucking. Yeah. And he was like , because we were we were still trying to figure out , like , what sound we were going for because we had jammed like once or twice and we were like into like we all did , like the rock and roll stuff. But you want to chime in?
S9: Yeah , I just I just want to like a little Inside Story , the original demo Jake song on. Oh , just just so we got like the kind of the lyrics like.
S7: Yeah , definitely.
S9: Got the progression in the lyrics. And he recorded it , I think , in the back of his truck , and I think we played it for our original singer , and she probably almost quit when she heard.
S7: We're like , trust me , it's good , it's good , but.
S5: Basically just goes baby's truck.
S7: After that , Jake and I met up and I added like , leads and stuff to it. And then , um , we kind of , we tweaked it just a little bit , just enough to where we got the song polished , and then we just jammed it forever. And then when Hannah joined the band , we had lyrics written , but then like , like Hannah kind of just , um , said she kind of just made it her own version of it.
S9: And some of the guys perspective originally?
S7: Originally , yeah , it was from a guys perspective. So then Hannah made it into like , a woman's perspective. Right on. Do you want to chime in a little more about that?
S5: Yeah , yeah , this is kind of my audition song for Silver Bullet. I came in learning this and I made up my own melody , and then we played all together , and it it worked. And I think they liked me , because here I am. Exactly.
S6: Exactly. You got. You got the gig here. You got it at the gig.
S10: Got busy with another heavy hit.
S3: That's a wrap on this week's Basement Beats. I'm your host , Conor O'Toole. Sammy Thomas is our producer. Rudy Shroff and Nolan Conrad are recording , mixing and mastering engineers. Kayla Parra is our audio editor and sound designer. The theme is created by Mouton. If you like what you heard , find the full session interview on our website , KCRW , or follow us on our socials at Bassman Beats. See you next week with more local music and fresh voices.
