Stacking The Deck with Fiona Silver
Stacking The Deck is a feature exclusive to Adam’s World where I bring packs of 1991 Pro Set Superstars MusiCards to artists, and we discuss who they find in each pack.
Whether she’s embracing her rock side, or her soul side, Fiona Silver is force in NYC’s indie music scene.
Having spent a considerable number of years building her career from the ground up, Silver is making a bit of a left turn this year, as she reveals her plans for 2021 involve having no plans at all. “Honestly, I have no agenda for 2021,” she explains, “and it feels very freeing.”
Silver continued, adding, “I had all these plans last year at this time. I had just shared a stage with Gwen Stefani for the New Year’s Eve thing on NBC, and I was like my record’s about to come out – Hostage of Love came out in February (of 2020) – I had a tour booked, which of course got cancelled. I had all of these things, and I was really excited for the things I had at South by Southwest, and it’s just like everything went out the window, and … it’s all good. You know, whatever.”
Silver gave 2020 a proper sendoff with a single named after the year.
I recently caught up with Fiona Silver via Zoom to open up some packs of MusiCards, and the artists we found sparked conversations about the wonderful randomness of NYC’s music scene, childhood drives with her father, and working with Ronnie Spector. She also opened up about the important work she’s doing outside of music that’s making a positive impact, and changing lives.
When you think of Janet, is she an influence on your career, an influence on you as a person, or just someone you grew up listening to?
Probably all of it, though it’s more subtle than when people usually ask me what my musical influences are, she’s not someone I’ve ever said before, but just the fact that she’s such a powerful woman, and she’s been such a … just in the same way that Madonna has, she really paved the way, in a lot of ways, for just being a force of nature, and super hard work.
When I think of her, I think of her dance moves. Everything about it is so meticulously tight.
She has it all, and I think that’s something I really respect, and admire, and look up to, so even if my music is totally different, I look to her as a total icon.
Do you think the people who work with you would say you’re extremely meticulous about everything, and very detail oriented?
Sometimes.
I try to let there be some level, especially with my band, of flow, and allowing other people to bring their expertise to the table, but at the same time, yeah, that is something I have been told. {laughs}
I’m not afraid to be bossy, and I know what I want, and I’m very clear, usually, about if I’m into something, or if I’m not.
Sami Yaffa is one of the members of Hanoi Rocks, he was the bass player. I met him at Bowery Electric (in NYC) because he had this awesome Gypsy band (Mad Juana). It was with his ex-wife, and he did this crazy Gypsy music, and it was really fucking cool. It was one of the best shows I’ve ever been to. I was so blown away.
I don’t listen to a ton of Gypsy music, but just the fun, and the element of surprise – they had this trumpet player that went through the crowd. It was very rowdy and cool.
I just remember being like oh my God, the energy is so incredible, and their trumpet player, Indofunk Satish, ended up being my trumpet player years later.
That’s wild, you go to see a Gypsy music show featuring one of the guys from Hanoi Rocks, and somehow end up with a trumpet player out of it. That’s the most New York story you could possibly find.
Right? And I’ve met Sami a couple times and he’s always been really nice. He’s just like a sweet dude, which a lot of rock stars are not. He’s always (been) really encouraging, and super cool, so I thought that was really nice.
I also like that he somehow went from Finnish hair metal, to Gypsy music.
Yeah. {laughs}
That’s a jump most people don’t make.
Yeah. He’s an interesting dude. I think at one point he started doing a European travel show, or something. I think it makes sense, he’s traveled the world.
There are times when you’re super soulful, and there are times when you’re rockin’ out, so is this your rock side?
Definitely. I love Zeppelin. I grew up on Zeppelin.
One of the classic memories I have of my father is (of us) driving down the West Side Highway in his beat up car, and he’s smoking a cigarette, blasting Zeppelin.
My dad passed away years ago, but that’s one of those memories that I just cherish of him because it’s like he was a super rock n roll dude.
I love Zeppelin’s music, my older brother was into them, and I definitely feel like that is a huge influence on how I view rock n roll.
What else did your dad have in rotation on those rides down the West Side Highway?
He loved classic rock, so it was a lot of that.
I’m trying to think of what else he was into. This was a really random one, my dad was from The Bronx, and he was like a Mediterranean Jew, but there’s a big Irish community in The Bronx, too, and there was a band called Black 47, and they were real Bronx Irish people. My dad used to love that fucking album, the one with the fist and the chain (Home of the Brave), he used to play that shit all the time!
So you had a pretty awesome childhood in terms of a musical experience growing up. What else do you remember from those drives? They sound like they were special.
I was super close to my dad growing up. My parents were split up. My mom is kind of like an introvert, and my dad was super in your face. He was a chef, and he was just a really fiery guy.
You had good music and good food!
Yeah!
So I think I got a lot of my personality, and who I am, from him. He was a softy on the inside, but really tough on the outside, and just like, you know, fight through whatever you gotta do, and all that kind of stuff, but really with a positive mentality.
Would you say you’re hard on the outside, but a softy once someone gets to know you?
Yeah. I mean, I think I’ve definitely softened a little bit as I’ve gotten older, and grown up. I think that part of that exterior was just being an adolescent, and feeling like I had to kinda like put on a front.
For so many reasons I think every kid is a little bit scared inside, and doesn’t want to show that, but also being a kid in New York, and dealing with certain things, it can be tough, and you feel like you have to kinda like look like an adult, or feel like more than you really are.
I remember some of your early promo photos. I saw them, and thought, “Damn, she looks like she’s kinda tough.” I respect the hell out of that, because I love badass people, but I was also like, “Would she want to sing me a song, or try to kick my ass?”
{laughs}
Yeah, I think it’s cool to look like a badass, but in reality I would much rather be laughing and having fun.
You can harness the badass when you need it.
Exactly.
B.B. King, obvious legend. I never got a chance to see him play, unfortunately. The first thing that jumped out when I got the B.B. King card was a memory of the venue B.B. Kings.
I was going to bring up the old venue.
The only time I actually went there was when I was assisting Ronnie Spector on tour, and she was playing B.B. Kings. That was such a cool moment. She was doing her Christmas show. She used to do a Christmas tour every year, and I got to come out on stage.
She had this bit in the show where she threw candy out to the audience, so I got to come out on stage and be like her little helper elf and give her the thing of candy to throw out.
She’s a huge inspiration to me, and another pioneer of rock n roll, really.
It’s funny, because I think people think of ‘60s girl groups as pop. It is pop music, but a lot of that stuff, it’s all kind of connected, and she was friends with Joey Ramone, and Bruce Springsteen, all these rockers, and she always was really more in the rock world than anything else.
So yeah, I just remember that, and I’m like wow, I’m so lucky I got to be there with her.
How long did you work with her, and tour with her? Were there other parts of the world you were able to see because you were working with her?
Yeah. I worked with her on and off for years.
Basically one of my best friends was her assistant for years, and at a certain point my friend was in grad school, or something, she just was really busy, and she was like, “Look, I can’t take this tour, I have too much on my plate, take Fiona, she’ll be a great sort of B team.” So that’s how I got in, which was awesome.
One of the coolest things I got to do was I was actually in L.A., and she was coming to L.A., and I got to be in Capitol Records with her in the main studio. She was doing a guest spot collaboration thing in the studio with another friend of mine, just the smallest world, this artist named Pete Molinari. He’s really cool. He’s from England. He’d just signed to Linda Perry’s label.
So it was Linda Perry, who is a huge icon of mine, my friend Pete is the artist, and Ronnie is my boss and she’s there, and then Don Was. I didn’t know who Don Was was, but I was like damn, that dude, when you’re in a room with him, if you don’t know who he is, you know he’s somebody. He just has a vibe. He didn’t really even say anything, I just was like – that dude is somebody. Then I found out later that he runs Blue Note at the top of the building.
That was definitely a cool experience.
You debated whether or not you wanted to include this card, but you ultimately decided to keep Steve Earle in. You have a Steve Earle story?
Yes. I had to think about what I want to say here.
One of the coolest experiences I’ve ever had was I got to go to Luck Reunion, which is a small music festival that Willie Nelson puts on. It’s about an hour outside of Austin, Texas, in the middle of the desert, (where) there’s an abandoned set from an old Western movie, so there’s a saloon, and a church.
This sounds so cool.
It’s so cool, and he bought this place, and every year he puts together this incredible, basically friends and family festival.
I got to go there, I guess it would’ve been two years ago, because it wasn’t this past South By, but the one before, because this South By didn’t happen.
So 2019?
Yeah, and it was so cool, and Steve Earle was one of the performers. Marcus King performed. He’s amazing. My friends Daddy Long Legs (performed), they’re from Brooklyn, you’ve gotta check them out, they’re amazing. Brian Hurd is the lead singer, and he’s a harmonica player, and he just kills it. They’re very old school Americana, blues, rootsy, but really gritty. (The band is) a three piece – slide guitar, harmonica, and drums.
I also got to see Lukas Nelson, Willie Nelson’s son. He’s an incredible guitarist, almost Jimi Hendrix level. I was completely blown away.
Is he as much of a cannabis enthusiast as his dad?
I think so. They were selling weed at that show for sure. {laughs}
And that festival is your Steve Earle connection.
Yeah. The other thing about Steve is … this is a darker bit, but his son recently passed away. His son was an artist, too. Justin Townes Earle was his name, Townes being from Townes Van Zandt, who Steve Earle was a huge fan of, as am I.
It’s a huge tragedy, but Steve is somebody that I think has helped a lot of people through struggling with addiction, and sobriety, and stuff like that, and that’s a connection I have, as well. I know that part of his life purpose has been about helping other people.
You mentioned a connection regarding this. Outside of music, do you help others through addiction?
Yeah. It’s actually my side job. I work as a sober coach, and I’ve been sober for seven years.
Oh wow! Congratulations.
Thanks!
For a long time, I’m talking at least five years, I was very quiet about that. If you knew me from that side of my life, then obviously you’d know, but I would never talk about it in an interview, or anything like that. I don’t know, maybe it was partially because I was scared if I ever relapsed then I would look like an asshole.
For whatever reasons, I decided I preferred to be private about it, and now I feel like it’s so much a part of who I am, and yeah, we don’t know what the future holds, but this work that I do, and most of it is outside of money, is really a huge part of my life, and it’s something that brings me a lot of fulfillment.
Definitely. That’s awesome. Thank you so much for sharing that.
Yeah. For sure.
For more Fiona Silver check out fionasilver.com, listen to her music on Bandcamp, and follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
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