'Mary Jane' written by Silvertide & David Ivory
produced and engineered by David Ivory
"Dave Ivory, a true rebel and leader in a world of followers." ~ Walt Lafty [Silvertide]
NEWS
Philadelphia band Silvertide have scored the support spot
on the first leg of Van Halen's US tour as well as the first round
of dates for Velvet Revolver.
BIO We may be approaching a moment in rock and roll when a band
has finally come along to transform the scene and shift what fans
want and expect. Their name is SILVERTIDE. Bubbling up from the teenage
wasteland of Northeast Philadelphia, SILVERTIDE seem beamed straight
off the pages of Cream magazine, sent to revive the live action music
show and reintroduce classic rock for their generation.
So agrees anyone who has witnessed SILVERTIDE in all their monstrous
rock glory. Philadelphia Inquirer’s influential scribe Tom
Moon who witnessed the band early on astutely stated that these disciples
of the Church of the Power Chord that somehow pick up cultural information
that their peers missed where classic-rock elements are reborn as
signifiers of a wild, feral, renegade life. A recent show spurred
website AroundPhilly.com to write, Silvertide’s performance
was a high dosage of eye candy as concert-goers seemed unable to
look away from the band, especially frontman Walt Lafty and lead
guitarist Nick Perri, a charismatic tandem like Tyler/Perry, Slash/Rose,
and perhaps, dare I say, Page/Plant.
The band is composed of spirited lead vocalist Walt Lafty, maniacal
whirling dervish guitar god Nick Perri on lead, Mark Melchiorre on
rhythm guitar, banjo, sitar and anything else that strums, bass player
extraordinaire Brian Weaver, and Keith Moon-inspired Kevin Frank
on drums. Together since January, 2001, the love of music brought
Lafty and Melchiorre together with Perri and Frank (both high schoolers
at the time) at a local studio’s open mic night. They finalized
the lineup a few months later by adding Weaver, who had been playing
with Melchiorre since they were 8 years old. From their first practice,
Silvertide clicked. They worked every day in Perri’s basement
writing songs and developing the killer attitude they would use in
their celebrated live shows.
After a few months underground, Silvertide climbed out of the basement.
Unknown and without a gig, they ventured into the harsh light of
Philadelphia’s original music scene by playing local open mic
nights. This initial exposure led to a steady weekly gig at a South
Street Club. From there the story is classic rock and roll. Their
first shows were for a couple of uninterested drunks at the bar.
But, form their sheer will to rock and roll, Silvertide won fans
over. The buzz spread. Everyone began talking about this incredible
band: in a few months people were lined up each week outside the
door trying to get in. Silvertide soon moved on to bigger and better.
They opened for Aerosmith, earned regular mentions in the City Paper
and were featured in their first Philadelphia Inquirer feature article.
A record deal soon became a reality. After a spirited courtship,
and shortly after the band’s one-year anniversary, Silvertide
signed a recording agreement with music legend Clive Davis’ J
Records.