The 2016 North American Independent Rock Music Association Awards took place on Friday January 22, 2016 at the Yost Theater in Santa Ana, California. The annual awards show featured live performances by well known independent artists such as Drowning Pool, as well as some up and coming bands like City of the Weak, Varna and Act of Defiance. Omaha based Screaming for Silence, who were the 2015 Ernie Ball Rock on the Range Battle of the Bands competition winners, carried their momentum from 2015 straight into the new year by not only being invited to this year’s edition of the awards, but more importantly, they were nominated for Most Outstanding Song by an Unsigned Band. As a part of their invitation, Screaming for Silence got the opportunity to be the first band to perform Friday night. Little did they know what would happen a few hours later.
The song “The King Is Crowned” was nominated in the category of Most Outstanding Song which requires that “a song must contain melody and lyrics and must be either a new song or a song first achieving prominence during the eligibility year. Songs containing prominent samples or interpolations are not eligible.” Anyone who knows Screaming for Silence knows that they are a hard-working band that is on the road the majority of the year – every year. I caught up with Zeb Christensen (vocals), Casey Newsom (guitar), Danny Irwin (guitar), Matt Tatroe (drums) and Mike Friese (bass) to find out exactly what was going through their minds when “The King Is Crowned” was announced as the Most Outstanding Song by and Unsigned Band!
Side Stage Magazine: When did you first learn about the nomination for Most Outstanding Song?
Zeb: I believe we were told sometime in November about being nominated. I remember we were out on the East Coast on tour!
When you learned you were nominated, what was the first thing that popped into each of your heads?
Zeb: When I saw the whole list of nominations and recognized a lot of the bigger names on the list, I remember thinking it was pretty cool to be on there along those names. It was cool they were recognizing some unsigned acts along with the signed acts.
Matt: Tubular!
Danny: This is going to be a really fun opportunity and excited to be a part of our first award show.
Casey: It was pretty exciting, obviously. It’s always nice to get recognition, and it’s also a big honor to be part of the nominees.
Mike: Who else got nominated?
S4S opened the show Friday night and then had to wait a long time until your category was finally called. Describe how you felt while you were waiting for the winner to be announced?
Zeb: It was cool to open the show. After we played, we got to kind of relax and talk with a lot of the people that were there and do a ton of socializing. I just remember thinking we were going to miss it (laughs). Once they got to our award we were all pretty quiet.
Matt: Anxious. Nervous. Excited. Hungry.
Danny: We were having so much fun hanging with everyone, I honestly thought the award had been read already and another band won (laughs). So, I guess we were not really waiting for the award to be announced.
Casey: I was trying not to think about it too much, it was just an honor to be there and to have opened the show with performing “The King Is Crowned” and “Varsity Blues”. But I was thinking if we actually won it, then that’s just icing on the cake.
Mike: Pretty chill. Wasn’t thinking about it much as we were all meeting all these people, conversing, and watching the rest of the show.
Once they announced that “The King Is Crowned” won, it had to be a surreal moment for you. How emotional was it knowing how hard you all have worked to get to this point in your career?
Zeb: It’s pretty cool man. We are pretty fortunate to be able to do what we love and spend as much time as we do playing music. The support we get from our fans/friends/family really keeps us going, but it’s a great feeling to be recognized by people in the industry. Sometimes things start happening really fast so it was nice to take in the moment and enjoy it!
Matt: Very emotional. Everyone was bawling and hugging. Everyone. Not just us.
Danny: It was a cool feeling to have our song be recognized on a national level. Especially since we had worked our way to this music 100% independently.
Casey: It was just a proud moment for us. We all were really excited when we heard our name, and it truly was an honor to take the award home being in a category with some tough competition.
Mike: For me there was that initial shock and then just celebration. Just happy to be honored in that way.
Lightning usually strikes fast in this industry. Have you had any calls from labels trying to ride this wave?
Zeb: This day and age getting signed to a label is extremely tough. Especially for them to come chasing. The team we have now is doing a great job and its nice to see where there is progression made. We are always open to hear what they have to say and what they can bring to the table. We try not to worry about it and just keep doing what we do. We will see what happens.
You’re on a little tour right now that takes you from California, through Texas and then back home to Omaha on February 14th. What, if any, plans does S4S have for the rest of February and March?
Zeb: We actually just released our next tour for February and March. We are going out with a band from Minneapolis called Sleep Signals. Starting north and start working our way south ending down in Texas for SXSW. We named it the Searching for Sasquatch Tour!
Finally, 2015 was an exciting year for the band. You won the 2015 Ernie Ball Rock on the Range Battle of the Bands competition and got a spot on AXS TV, you played several festivals in front of huge crowds, you were recently crowned the winners of the “Best Hard Rock” category for the Omaha Entertainment Awards, and now this prestigious NAIRMA award. How will you continue to reach higher in 2016?
Zeb: We’re always trying to find ways to make ourselves better and how we can top what we have already done. 2015 was an awesome year. This year has already started off great and I’m looking forward to see where it takes us. Looking forward to touring and writing new music to get ready to record!
Is there anything that you want to say to your fans?
Zeb: More than anything just THANK YOU! Being an independent band, it’s the fans that really keep us going and gives us that drive take this as far as we can. We couldn’t do any of this without them!
Matt: Hi!
Casey: Thank you so much for the continued support. Without you we wouldn’t be here today, and for that we are forever grateful!
You can still catch Screaming for Silence at one of the following shows:
1/30/16 Whisky A Go Go Los Angeles, CA
1/31/16 Brick by Brick San Diego, CA
2/4/16 Acadia Houston, TX
2/5/16 Tomcats Fort Worth, TX
2/14/16 The Bourbon Theater Lincoln, NE
3/11/16 The Waiting Room Omaha, NE
Keep up with Screaming for Silence on their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts!
