Spring Silver, aka K Nkanza, is a mult-instrumentalist from the Washington DC area who has been dropping albums over the past couple of years. Their new album is out this Friday, and TGEFM got in touch with a roll of the dice! We rolled a FIVE.
1) I rolled a five for this interview which, oddly, seems to be a fairly common roll. I could be wrong about that, but we’ll see. Anyhow, you’ve got a new album coming out, I Could Get Used to This, on Friday. It looks to be your first proper release since the Plead Insanity / Long Road Home digital 7” from Oct 2020. What has it been like writing and recording during the pandemic?
I recorded my first album almost entirely without a studio, instead making it in my parents’ house. It was the same situation this time around, so the recording process was actually not too different, from a practical standpoint. However, there was certainly an added urgency I felt about expressing myself, because of the isolation I, and so many others, have been feeling. That informed the conciseness of this album, in comparison to my first album ‘The Natural World’, which is nearly twice as long in time length!
2) Looking at the album’s listing on Bandcamp, you have a bevy of guest musicians on board for different parts of the album. As the primary song-writer, how much of the final product is solely coming from your creative vision, and how much (if any) results from a collaborative process with the other musicians?
The overwhelming majority of the vision is mine. Especially on this album, where it was created primarily during quarantine, there wasn’t much opportunity for in-person collaboration. So, a lot of the parts (especially the vocals and drums), are written by me and then sent to my friends to record and/or perform.
3) Your Bandcamp description describes Spring Silver as “queer metal they/themcore” which I’d say is a fairly apt (and awesome) description and, listening to your music catalog (which rocks, BTW), I can hear a whole lot of styles in there. What are some of your musical influences?
Thanks! I grew up listening to a lot of different music. Classical, metal, funk, progressive rock, electronica. It’s all in there, to certain degrees.
4) Could you name a few bands that TGEFM readers may not have heard of, but should be listening to?
Check out XK Scenario! They make this amazing mix of progressive rock, punk, and hip hop. It’s like Mars Volta mixed with Bad Brains. They have this demo mixtape out called “The Art of Attrition”. It’s fantastic. Whenever I think of underrated bands and underrated songs, I always think of “If You Fail, We All Fail”, a song by this English prog band from the mid 2000’s called Fields. There’s another English prog band called Fields from the 70’s but I’m not talking about them, though I’m sure they’re good. Anyway, if you check out “If You Fail, We All Fail” from their album Everything Last Winter, you’ll see why I like them. It’s a really cool, emotive mix of shoegaze, prog, and post-rock. Despite being on Atlantic, and opening for Bloc Party, they didn’t get much recognition and quickly broke up. But you can check them out on youtube!
5) You’ve got some gigs coming up soon but, aside from that, what’s next for Spring Silver?
I’m hoping to continue to play shows and in general have opportunities to show people my music. I’m hoping this album opens the door for a lot of possibilities, so I’m kind of asking that question myself!
Spring SIlver’s new album is available for pre-order here. You can also click that link, or head to Spotify to hear more from their discography. You can also check out their upcoming gig dates, and social media channels below.
- 05 Mar 2022 Pie Shop Washington, DC
- 09 Apr 2022 The Pocket Washington, DC
Roll of the Dice is a short interview format with a variable amount of questions. A Pair of dice is rolled and the total, between 2 and 12, is the amount of questions we can ask. All questions are given to the interviewee(s) at once, and no follow-ups are allowed.
the white drew carey (aka – Jeff Sorley) is the founder and head editor of TGEFM. He’s lived (outside of) Chicago, Madison WI, (ugh) Penn State, Lyon FR, Oxford UK, central New Jersey, and now within earshot of SFO in the Bay Area. When not scouring the web for more great bands and labels to post about, he also spends time drawing (mostly) silly sci-fi and anime stuff under the name Asplenia Studios.
