By: Jenny Flanigan
Lost in Silence is a local band out of Greeneville, TN consisting of Lester Ford as the vocalist and guitarist, Alex Keys, as the drummer, Nathan Suggs as the guitarist, Michael Serra as the bassist, and Leon Terry as the DJ. LIS recently had a Sirius XM radio debut on Octane with their hit single, Ghost. I had the privilege to sit down with some of the guys in LIS after their killer show in Bristol, TN at Sidetracks with Tantric March 11th to discuss their success prior to the release of Ghost on March 17th. How do they feel about this amazing accomplishment? We will get to that in a moment, but first, here is a little background on the band.
The guys of LIS listen to just about everything… having an eclectic mix of influences as well. Lester’s major influence is Miles Kinsey, with Leon being influenced by Boston, Vinny Paul, and Pantera. Alex loves Benjamin Burnley from Breaking Benjamin and quotes Breaking Benjamin as being his “favorite band ever” who he finally got to see in 2015. Alex also quotes being influenced by Alter Bridge and Creed as well as some old favorites such as Tantric, Sevendust, Van Halen, and Rick Allen from Def Leopard. Michael was influenced at an early age by Metallica.
If any of them could collaborate with anyone, dead or alive, Lester stated he would like to collaborate with Limp Bizkit, while Alex sticks with his favorite band, Breaking Benjamin. Leon said if they could collaborate with anyone, he would choose Chester Bennington and Linkin Park stating, “He [Chester] and Lester have the same high voice, and LIS does electronic stuff like Linkin Park does as well.”
The imagination and creativity coming from the guys in LIS is profound. They have a collaborative songwriting process that includes Lester coming up with a riff or a chorus and bouncing the idea off his bandmates and/or the producer’s standpoints and running with it to see what they come up with. “We always have a lot of insight with people that’s in the industry that are recording bigger stuff. It always just starts with something simple and ends up being what it is now.” stated Lester. Leon, talking about the killer track, Ghost, getting ready to debut, said it took about three days to get that song completed. They had no plans to work on that song, and when the band entered the studio, the guys were there to work on something entirely different.
Leon: “We never thought that song [Ghost] would be what it is becoming right now, and that song was finished in three days. The first night, we sat in the studio with our producer, Alex Ryan, and wrote the guitar riffs. The next night, Alex was in the studio working on drums, and the night after that, Lester was doing vocals at his house, and it was done. The creativity that is in this band is just amazing. Lester is constantly sending stuff to us asking what we think about it. If somebody went through the entire drive that he has done, we would probably have four or five albums. And it’s just stuff that we can pick up and run with. Like he said, some things we might not use. There’s a couple of songs that we don’t even touch right now that are great songs, and we are contemplating on bringing them back. That’s what it is for me. It’s amazing. The imagination is crazy.”
So, how do the guys of LIS feel about Ghost debuting on Siruis XM Octane? Here is what they said:
Q: Let’s talk about Ghost debuting on Sirius Octane. How do you guys feel about that?
Lester: It’s a huge, huge accomplishment for us to even have that opportunity. I sit back and think about it on an everyday basis. I don’t even know how we are in this situation because like he [Leon] said, the song wasn’t even supposed to be there, and we just went in on a whim. I listened to the song, and I thought it would be cool to try to remake it. The next thing you know, we sent it to our music guy, and he’s just like, ‘I didn’t think you guys could top the last song you sent me to send to Octane.’ He said, ‘I have to send this to Vinny, and I have to send this to Jose, and I can’t wait.’ It was like, ‘are you serious?’ Because we’ve all dreamed about that. My goal was to be on Octane five years ago, and I’ve been trying to do it ever since, and this is the first time we have ever had that opportunity to do it. So, it’s just overwhelming to me to think that in a few days, we’re going to be on test drive and could possibly make it to the next level on Octane.
Leon: The craziest thing about it, too, is we got on there with a rough version. That wasn’t even our final mixed version at all.
Lester: It’s almost like it’s surreal. Like it doesn’t even feel real to me.
Leon: I was at work when we found out we were on there and I called him [Lester] telling him we were debuting on the 17th, and his exact words were, ’You’re shitting me.’
Lester: No, I didn’t believe him, and it’s still like it’s not real to me. Like I do not see that as being something that’s real because I’ve always wanted to have that happen. Now, everything’s happening so fast, we don’t know what to think. I know I don’t know what to think, and I’m like when I hear my band on there or that song on there and hear us all on there, I’m going to think this is the craziest thing because I’ve always wanted it to happen.
Leon: It’s almost like a numb feeling too… Like you just can’t describe the feeling of excitement. There’s also fear of the unknown of what is going to happen after, and it’s just crazy,
Lester: Yeah, because it could really make or break where we’re at.
Alex: I would just say it’s just surreal for me. Definitely one of the most fun tracks I’ve ever laid down. It’s a good song. It really is, and the crazy thing is, Octane doesn’t usually give a lot of world premieres on unsigned bands, and we’re getting our world premiere like they’re focusing on us. That just tells you that the powers that be just see something. You can attest to this. They said we could potentially be the next album out.
Leon Terry: That is the crazy thing about it. We were planning on releasing Ghost and going ahead and distributing it ourselves, like through Spotify, iTunes, and stuff like that.
Alex Keys: They told us to stop.
Leon Terry: Our radio guy told us that was fine and to go ahead and do that, and he called me a couple of days after we announced and told us to stop it in its tracks right now saying the distribution needs to stop. He said, ‘They [Octane] want the full exclusive world premiere and don’t want to release it to the US midnight of the 18th.’ So, we had to redo everything and stop it where it was. When my radio guy first contacted me about it, he said, ‘They [Octane] booked up all the way through March. If they like the song, they won’t be able to get you in until months down the road.’ Then, he called me back and said, ‘Not only did they love the song, but they put you guys into the March 17th spot.’ So, we, essentially, took someone’s spot because they liked our song so much.
If you are in the Illinois area or want to take a drive, LIS will be playing a show on June 4th with Black Stone Cherry. You can also check them out June 25th in Syracuse, New York. LIS will also be at Metal in the Mountains in Pipestem, WV in late August. It’s already a killer line-up, so go get your tickets now! They will also be hitting the recording studio in late July and in August to give us more amazing hits, and possibly more songs debuting on Octane soon!
Lost In Silence is definitely a band to be watching out for, and if you haven’t already, subscribe to Sirius XM and tune in to Octane to listen to their hit, Ghost, and don’t forget to vote to keep it in rotation! You won’t want to miss it!
Interview Quotes
Q. What is your major influence or inspiration?
Lester Ford: My major influence would probably be Miles Kinsey.
Alex Keys: I have a few Scott from Alter Bridge and Creed. I played a lot of that. I also played a lot of Tantric too. Morgan Rose from Sevendust is a big one. Anything Breaking Benjamin. I played a lot of Van Halen too, so Alex Van Halen. Rick Alen from Def Leopard. You know him having one arm was just crazy, so those are my main influences.
Leon Terry: I remember when I was a kid… Boston, Cinderella and stuff. My dad really raised me up. My mom actually wanted me to do Christian Bluegrass. My dad was always there with Rock and Roll, so a huge influence is Boston for sure. They were a huge part of my dad’s life and his favorite band, so I listened to them all the time. Then as a I got older, it turned into Vinny Paul and Pantera.
Q. One band or artist dead or alive that you would like to collaborate with?
Lester: If I was to collaborate with a band, I would like to collaborate with Limp Bizkit. I think that is a good one.
Alex: Ben from Breaking Benjamin. They are my favorite band ever. I finally got to see them live in 2015 and they are one of my favorite musicians.
Leon: Chester Bennington and Linkin Park because I think his voice… He and Lester have that same high voice, and we do the electronic stuff like they do as well. I feel like if you could compose with him, that would be something amazing.
Q. Tell me a little bit about your songwriting process.
Lester: I’ll come up with an idea on the guitar and get some eyes and some ears on it from another producer standpoint and the guy’s stand point and see kind of where we stand with the song. Sometimes they make it, and sometimes they don’t. Usually this starts off with a riff and a chorus idea, and then we build from that, whether it’s with the producer’s standpoint or whether we try to get it to that point. We always have a lot of insight with people that’s in the industry that are recording bigger stuff. It always just starts with something simple and ends up being what it is now.
Alex: Really, I just go off what he [Lester] does. I’ll go to the studio. They’ll get everything structured. I’ll play through it a couple of times and get a feel for it and do my part and feed off the producers back and forth and wing it really.
Leon: I get to watch it [songwriting process] from the outside looking in. I’m going to talk about Ghost which is going to be featured on Siruis XM Octane. So, when we went to the studio to record that, we weren’t even there to record that song and were there to work on something entirely different. We never thought that song would be what it is becoming right now, and that song was finished in three days. The first night, we sat in the studio with our producer, Alex Ryan, and wrote the guitar riffs. The next night, Alex was in the studio working on drums, and the night after that, Lester was doing vocals at his house, and it was done. The creativity that is in this band is just amazing. Les is constantly sending stuff to us asking what we think about it. If somebody went through the entire drive that he has done, we would probably have four or five albums. And it’s just stuff that we can pick up and run with. Like he said, some things we might not use. There’s a couple of songs that we don’t even touch right now that are great songs, and we are contemplating on bringing them back. That’s what it is for me. It’s amazing. The imagination is crazy.
Q: Let’s talk about Ghost going out on Sirius. How do you guys feel about that?
Lester: It’s a huge, huge accomplishment for us to even have that opportunity. I sit back and think about it on an everyday basis. I don’t even know how we are in this situation because like he [Leon] said, the song wasn’t even supposed to be there, and we just went in on a whim. I listened to the song, and I thought it would be cool to try to remake it. The next thing you know, we sent it to our music guy, and he’s just like, ‘I didn’t think you guys could top the last song you sent me to send to Octane.’ He said, ‘I have to send this to Vinny and I have to send this to Jose, and I can’t wait.’ It was like, ‘are you serious?’ Because we’ve all dreamed about that. My goal was to be on Octane five years ago, and I’ve been trying to do it ever since, and this is the first time we have ever had that opportunity to do it. So, it’s just overwhelming to me to think that in a few days, we’re going to be on test drive and could possibly make it to the next level on Octane.
Leon Terry: The craziest thing about it, too, is we got on there with a rough version. That wasn’t even our final mixed version at all.
Lester Ford: It’s almost like it’s surreal. Like it doesn’t even feel real to me.
Leon Terry: I was at work when we found out we were on there and I called him [Lester] telling him we were debuting on the 17th, and his exact words were, ’You’re shitting me.’
Lester Ford: No, I didn’t believe him, and it’s still like it’s not real to me. Like I do not see that as being something that’s real because I’ve always wanted to have that happen. Now, everything’s happening so fast, we don’t know what to think. I know I don’t know what to think, and I’m like when I hear my band on there or that song on there and hear us all on there, I’m going to think this is the craziest thing because I’ve always wanted it to happen.
Leon Terry: It’s almost like a numb feeling too… Like you just can’t describe the feeling of excitement. There’s also fear of the unknown of what is going to happen after, and it’s just crazy,
Lester Ford: Yeah, because it could really make or break where we’re at.
Alex Keys: I would just say it’s just surreal for me. Definitely one of the most fun tracks I’ve ever laid down. It’s a good song. It really is, and the crazy thing is, Octane doesn’t usually give a lot of world premieres on unsigned bands, and we’re getting our world premiere like they’re focusing on us. That just tells you that the powers that be just see something. You can attest to this. They said we could potentially be the next album out.
Leon: That is the crazy thing about it. We were planning on releasing Ghost and going ahead and distributing it ourselves, like through Spotify, iTunes, and stuff like that.
Alex: They told us to stop.
Leon: Our radio guy told us that was fine and to go ahead and do that, and he called me a couple of days after we announced and told us to stop it in its tracks right now saying the distribution needs to stop. He said, ‘They [Octane] want the full exclusive world premiere and don’t want to release it to the US midnight of the 18th.’ So, we had to redo everything and stop it where it was. When my radio guy first contacted me about it, he said, ‘They [Octane] booked up all the way through March. If they like the song, they won’t be able to get you in until months down the road.’ The he called me back and said, ‘Not only did they love the song, but they put you guys into the March 17th spot.’ So, we actually, essentially, took someone’s spot because they liked our song so much.
Q. What are you currently listening to?
Lester: Wage War. Their new album is amazing.
Leon: Wage War.
Alex: I’m really into Nu Metal, and there are a lot of new bands coming out mixing metalcore and Deathcore with Nu Metal, and I really like it. I also listen to a lot of older stuff, like Tantric and Cold… bands like that. It’s just sparked my interest in that era again… like Taproot. I watched a documentary on Marilyn Manson the other day, and I liked some of his songs but never was a huge fan. But seeing how he did what he did and when he did it, it was so controversial. But I listen to a lot of different stuff. I listen to Bluegrass. I like Billy Strings. I’ve been listening to I prevail and Wage Wars. There’s a lot of bands I like. Too many to mention.
Leon: I’ve really been into Architects. I love Architects, and I’ve really been listening to Fire From the Gods. The new Veer Union stuff is really good too. I listen to pretty much everything.
Alex: I literally have Tracy Lawrence in the car. It’s the Time Marches On album and it came out when I was four years old.
Q. What is one piece of gear you can’t live without?
Lester: A laptop.
Alex: I would say it’s my double Bass Pedal.
Lester: June 4th is Black Stone Cherry and June 25th, we are going to New York… Syracuse. We always have shows in the mix and music in the mix. We are going to go back in the studio at the end of July or in August. We’re going to go work with Chris Dawson, and he’s the one who mixed the track of ‘Ghosts.’ He’s awesome. He’s had ten number 1s on Octane so far.
Alex: He does Saw, Any Give Sam, Like a Storm.
Leon: He’s [Chris Dawson] is so honest with us too. He pretty much guided us through this whole situation with Ghost. He’s been so honest with us and straight up. He’s really helped us a lot.
