Welcome the Silence

Local Band Q&A: Welcome the Silence

•Who: Welcome the Silence is back after spending the past eight months toiling over their forthcoming self-produced independent release, "Is Anyone Listening?” They're ready to hit the stage again for their CD release show and unleash their blend of powerful riffing, a propulsive rhythm section and heartfelt and intense vocals. Check them out online at www.myspace.com/welcomethesilence.

•Where: Bricktown Ballroom, 103 E California, Oklahoma City, OK.

Q:What is the significance of the name Welcome the Silence?

A:Denovan Ratcliffe, vocals: We were actually trying to come up with a name for months, because we were really wanting to be able to take it to a dot-com rather than a "whatever/your momma/geocities/this-that-and-the other,” so a friend of ours named Chris Shy (former drummer of now-defunct Fear the Clown) came to us one night and said, "You know, we have this name, and if you want it, you can use it.” It was Welcome the Silence. I was like: "Yeah, that's pimp.”

Q:What is the usual creative process for you as a band?

A:Ratcliffe: Justin (Bornemann, guitarist) will lock himself away in his room and just pound out guitar ideas, and we all get together and he plays it for us. If we all dig it, we'll just start jamming on it. I get the vocal melodies down, and then I wait until we get in the studio to actually write the lyrics — that, or I take some old lyrics that I have already and then fit them into the vocal melody, which seems to work out pretty well for me.

Q:You've been working on self-producing "Is Anyone Listening?” for the past eight months. During that time, you haven't performed live. How are you all feeling about playing again after so much time?

A:Ratcliffe: It's going be like the freakin' Super Bowl halftime show, man. I cannot tell you how badly I miss playing. It's ridiculous.

A:Craig Bornemann, bass: It's going to be like playing the first show again.

A:Justin McCart, drums: I think that's kind of cool that because we did record it ourselves and got so frustrated with the whole process that it kind of helped fuel the music a lot more, because this album is a lot heavier than our last one. There's a lot more energy.

Q:Tell the folks at home a little about the show tonight.

A:McCart: Guitar Center will be sponsoring the show, so we're bringing in a ton of lights. It's going to be sick. And we'll be giving away a guitar, an Epiphone Les Paul.

A:Ratcliffe: The doors open at seven. The show starts at eight, and (DJ) Lord Paturn's going to start spinning. He'll be spinning between bands — just something to keep the atmosphere, you know?

— Michael Senior, oklahoman.com