This is a big year for Silversun Pickups.
The Los Angeles-born band just dropped their seventh studio album Tenterhooks. They’ll kick off an extensive North American tour in support of the record later this month. And before all that, Brian Aubert spent the month of January with his bandmate and SSPU drummer Christopher Guanlao and longtime FoH operator Che Arthur on an intimate acoustic tour.
I spoke to Brian Aubert when the trio were at the Sanctuary Detroit in Hamtramck, Mich.
Listen: Silversun Pickups’ Brian Aubert speaks on new album, band anniversaries and more
Tenterhooks is the third album that Silversun Pickups have worked with legendary producer Butch Vig on following 2019’s Widow’s Weeds and 2022’s Physical Thrills. Since this wasn’t the first rodeo between SSPU and Vig, recording went pretty fast compared to previous albums.
“There’s no system, you know? This time I hear enough things in my head…where I just think, ‘Okay, we don’t know what we’re making, an EP or whatever, but let’s start doing stuff because there’s a lot of songs in my head,'” Aubert said. “And we just go straight to Butch and we start. I start playing acoustic and everybody’s there, and we start listening to the songs and we kind of start recording from there, like right off the bat. And it was a really quick experience, to be honest. Things are just falling into place, put together really, really well.”
Ahead of January’s acoustic tour, Aubert had some down time and decided to improve his skills in a few key areas. One of those skills was…Fortnite. Just like the tens of millions of people who play the battle royale video game juggernaut, Aubert quickly found himself enjoying the experience with his friends.
“I had about two months sort of off really, where I kind of got to relax and…able to just really kind of be at home. And three things that I got better at is I started doing magic card tricks, and I started playing piano better…and Fortnite,” Aubert shared. “I did not want to play that at all. I wasn’t interested in it at all. And then we know somebody who works for the music part of Fortnite and Daft Punk is going to be a part of this. And we’re like, ‘What do you mean Daft Punk is going to be on Fortnite?’
Aubert continues: “So then a group of friends just said, ‘Come on Fortnite, we’ll all come on together, we’re all going to play this thing.’ And immediately it was just like the most fun hang with my friends. All of a sudden I have another skin, immediately went from zero to sixty and like, ‘No way, Beavis and Butt-Head skins!’ At first I was not good at it, and then my friend who’s been playing for a while, she just thought, ‘Whoa.'”
Listen to the entire interview above where we also talk about Shirley Manson being the best Terminator, whether or not SSPU will celebrate a few milestones on the road, their cover of the Yo Gabba Gabba! classic “Party in My Tummy” and more.
Silversun Pickups new album Tenterhooks is available now. They’ll perform at Elevation inside The Intersection in Grand Rapids on May 13. Tickets are available at sectionlive.com.
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