Silversun Pickups

Music group

Brian Aubert

• Born: June 12, 1974
• Place of Birth: Topanga, California

Christopher Guanlao

• Born: May 25, 1975

Nikki Monninger

• Born: July 25, 1974
• Place of Birth: Miami, Florida

Joe Lester

• Born: June 25, 1976

• Brian Aubert
• Singer and guitarist

• Christopher Guanlao
• Drummer

• Joe Lester
• Keyboardist

• Nikki Monninger
• Bassist and singer

Contribution: Silversun Pickups are an American rock band founded in Los Angeles, California, in 2000. The band was nominated for a 2010 Grammy Award for best new artist.

Background

The groundwork for Silversun Pickups was laid in 1994, when future members Brian Aubert and Nikki Monninger met on a plane to England en route to the same study-abroad program at Cambridge University. The pair’s friendship, solidified over a shared taste in music, would last throughout their time abroad and continue following their return to California.

Aubert and Monninger were sharing an apartment in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles when Aubert chose to leave the fledgling band in which he played bass guitar. At the same time Monninger decided she wanted to learn to play bass, so the two began practicing together, along with fellow roommate Elvira Gonzalez, who was learning to play drums. Eventually they ended up forming a band, along with Monninger’s then boyfriend, Jack Kennedy, on rhythm guitar. The new band’s name, Silversun Pickups, referred to their frequent runs to a nearby liquor store called Silversun Liquor. While it has been reported that the band was originally called A Couple of Couples, as Aubert and Gonzalez were also dating at the time, both Aubert and Monninger have said that “A Couple of Couples” was more of a joke and that they had their current name almost from the beginning.

In 2000 the group applied to New York’s venerated CMJ Music Marathon festival on a lark. To their surprise, their application, which included a crude audio tape of three songs recorded from a boombox and a fake bio that discussed their pet cat, was accepted, and the group flew to New York City to perform at the event. While there they met the owner of the renowned Silver Lake nightclub Spaceland, who suggested the band play at his club when they returned.

While the first incarnation of Silversun Pickups eventually dissolved when Gonzalez and Kennedy left, drummer Christopher Guanlao and keyboardist Joe Lester joined Aubert and Monninger in 2002, forming the band as it would come to be known. After several years of honing their sound at live performances throughout Silver Lake and greater Los Angeles, the band developed a significant following. However, they had no desire to record an album until a fan played Aubert a bootleg recording of one of their shows. The quality of the recording was so poor that the band decided they would have to record after all.

Career

The quartet signed with the independent record label Dangerbird Records, which was also based in the Silver Lake area, and released their first recording, the seven-song EP Pikul, in July 2005. Some of the songs on Pikul were recorded as early as 2002, while others were recorded specifically for the release. The band’s record debut was celebrated by fans and critics alike, and Silversun Pickups supported the release by playing larger shows in the Los Angeles area, Seattle, and other West Coast cities.

In the wake of its success, the band opted to reenter the studio with the notion of embracing a singular narrative concept, succinct musical frameworks, and a more refined sound. Their debut full-length album, Carnavas, was released in 2006 and was both a critical and commercial success, with two of its singles reaching the top ten of the Billboard Modern Rock chart. Carnavas established the group as one of America’s premier up-and-coming bands.

After touring internationally in support of celebrated bands OK Go, Snow Patrol, and Foo Fighters throughout 2006 and 2007, Silversun Pickups would wow critics again with their 2009 release, Swoon. The release debuted at number seven on the Billboard 200 chart and earned the band a nomination for best new artist at the Grammy Awards in 2009.

The band’s 2012 release, Neck of the Woods, offered a slight departure from their signature sound, incorporating aspects of drum, bass, and post-punk styling. Nevertheless, it was similarly well received, earning rave reviews from critics and debuting at number six on the Billboard 200 chart.

The band's 2014 compilation, The Singles Collection, comprising songs from Pikul with two tracks, "Cannibal" and "Devils Cup" that had never been released before. The compilation was their last release on the Dangerbird label before forming their own label, New Machine Records. In 2015, they launched the label with their fourth full-length album Better Nature. The album did very well, and peaked in the Billboard 200's Top 20. The band followed up with a reimagined version of the album, Better Nature (Revisited) in 2017.

In 2019, the band released their fifth full-length album, Widow's Weeds, a collaboration with Butch Vig, a producer well-known for his work with bands including Nirvana, the Smashing Pumpkins, and Sonic Youth, among many others. Monninger, praised Vig in an interview with Spin's Will Gottsegen (11 Apr. 2019): "He really listens to each band member, and he puts a great value on each individual and what they can add to the music." Silversun Pickups followed Widow's Weeds with their sixth album, Physical Thrills, in 2022.

Impact

Since their triumphant rise from the chaotic Los Angeles rock scene, Silversun Pickups have been both affectionately and derisively described as ’90s revisionists. Some regard their guitar-laden sound and penchant for aggressive vocal styling as homage to the alternative rock bands of that era—notably, the Smashing Pumpkins, to whom they are most often compared. Yet to their legions of fans and those critics worldwide who continue to heap praise on the band’s catalog, they are less imitators of ’90s American rock than an evolution of it. In the post–FM radio era, Silversun Pickups remain one of the few competent, critically acclaimed, and successful young bands content to explore the possibilities of the genre.

Personal Life

Brian Aubert married musician Tracy Marcellino of the band Twilight Sleep and the duo Oh Boy Les Mecs in Stresa, Italy, in 2010. Nikki Monninger gave birth to twin daughters in December 2012.

Bibliography

Aubert, Brian. “Interview: Silversun Pickups Guitarist Brian Aubert Discusses New Album, Neck of the Woods.” Interview by Alex Rice. Guitar World. NewBay Media, 27 July 2012. Web. 19 Aug. 2013.

Aubert, Brian. “An Interview with Brian Aubert from Silversun Pickups: Play Time.” Interview by Andrea Seastrand. Aquarian Weekly. Arts Weekly, 10 Oct. 2012. Web. 19 Aug. 2013.

Aubert, Brian. “Seattlest Interview: Brian Aubert of Silversun Pickups.” Seattlest. Gothamist, 19 July 2006. Web. 19 Aug. 2013.

Bell, Mike. “Bassist Ready to Get Bumped.” Calgary Herald [AB]. Postmedia Network, 30 Aug. 2012. Web. 19 Aug. 2013.

Corcoran, Nina. "Physical Thrills," Pitchfork, 22 Aug. 2022, pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/silversun-pickups-physical-thrills/. Accessed 23 Sept. 2024.

Gottsegen, Will. “Silversun Pickups Announce New Album Widow's Weeds, Release First Single.” SPIN, 11 Apr. 2019, www.spin.com/2019/04/silversun-pickups-widows-weeds-it-doesnt-matter-why/. Accessed 23 Sept. 2024.

Jordan, Mark. “Silversun Pickups Doing Well Enough to Be Left Alone.” Go Memphis [TN]. E. W. Scripps, 25 July 2013. Web. 19 Aug. 2013.

Monninger, Nikki. “We Talk with the Silversun Pickups.” INsite Gainesville [FL]. Joom Frequent Demo, 2 Oct. 2009. Web. 19 Aug. 2013.

Murfett, Andrew. “A Pickup to Swoon Over.” Age. Fairfax Media, 24 Apr. 2009. Web. 19 Aug. 2013.