| Silos | |
|---|---|
| Origin | New York City |
| Genres | rock |
| Years active | 1985–present |
| Labels | RCA Normal Record Collect Watermelon Checkered Past |
| Associated acts | The Vulgar Boatmen The Setters Cracker |
| Website | http://www.thesilos.net |
| Members | |
| Walter Salas-Humara Konrad Meissner |
|
| Past members | |
| Bob Rupe Drew Glackin Graham Maby Brian Doherty J.D. Foster Kenny Margolis |
|
The Silos are a rock band formed by Walter Salas-Humara and Bob Rupe in New York City in 1985.
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Prior to starting the Silos, Salas-Humara had been a member of The Vulgar Boatmen, and Rupe was in a Florida band, The Bobs. The band put out the independently-released album About Her Steps in 1986, which received a warm critical reception. Rupe composed songs for the band and contributed to Salas-Humara's songs, but according to record and CD credits, was primarily a key figure in production and engineering between 1985 and 1990. The band's 1987 follow-up album, Cuba, also independently released, received even more recognition. The Silos were named Best New Artist in the Rolling Stone magazine critics' poll. Cuba continues to be cited as highly influential among alternative country artists. The band subsequently signed to RCA Records and released their self-titled third album, produced by Salas-Humara and Rupe along with Peter Moore. Commonly referred to as "the bird album" or "The One With The Bird On The Cover," The Silos led to the band's network TV debut appearance on Late Night with David Letterman.
Salas-Humara quit the band following the release of The Silos, and purchased the rights to The Silos name from Rupe in 1991, thus dissolving the partnership. [1] Subsequent albums included Hasta La Victoria (1992), Susan Across The Ocean (1994), Heater and its remix companion Cooler (both 1998). After Heater was recorded, Salas-Humara turned the band into a three piece with Drew Glackin on bass and lap steel guitar and Konrad Meissner on drum and backing vocals. The subsequent records were Laser Beam Next Door (2001), When The Telephone Rings (2004), and the live This Highway Is A Circle followed. Bloodshot Records released the Silos' 2007 offering, Come On Like The Fast Lane. In 2008, Glackin died.[2] Salas-Humara and Meissner continue to perform with other players. In 2011, the band released Florizona with Rod Hohl playing bass, Bruce Martin on keyboards and Jason Victor on guitar.
Salas-Humara has also released the solo albums, Lagartija (1988), which also featured Bob Rupe, and Radar (1995), and joined Alejandro Escovedo in a side project called the Setters. The novelist and music aficionado Jonathan Lethem called Salas-Humara "a melodic genius, one of our greatest songwriters."[3] Rolling Stone said Salas-Humara "has a deft songwriting touch, creating terse, stripped-down songs as elegant as Shaker furniture.[4]
Bob Rupe went on to record with House of Freaks, Gutterball and Sparklehorse. He was a member of Cracker from 1994 to 2000 and has appeared as a guest artist on releases by many other artists.