Biography
In February 2002 Joel Shanahan (guitar), Jake Swenson (guitar), and Andy Ohm (bass) had discussed starting a band that would stray from stereotypical new metal. They wanted to create music that was versatile and melodic, yet heavy and strange. Now their task was to find a drummer, and a singer, which, in Central Wisconsin, is not easy. As fate would have it, the three musicians crossed paths with Jeremiah Bowden (vocalist for the band F5).
Jeremiah's band at the time was going through problems trying to find another bass player. After having a few conversations with Joel, he decided to audition for S I L I K.
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After the first time the four of them got together, they realized it was time to find a drummer; that's where Kent Evans comes into the picture. They knew they had found their fifth member. The first practice felt like nothing the group had ever felt before; a mixture of feelings arose from all of them, and came through into their music. After little more than a few weeks, it was time to play their first show. Within a matter of two months, they headed to Sleepless Nights Recording Studio (Cold, Middleworld) to record a two song demo featuring the songs After and Away, and The Fallen.
From that point on S I L I K had been booking shows throughout Wisconsin, and were looking to move beyond that. They returned to Sleepless Nights Recording Studio in August, to record two more songs: Stripped Silent, and Polaroid. Later that month, they traveled to Detroit to play at The Wired Frog. This was the last show for Andy Ohm (bass), he had given notice to the band that he wanted to move in another direction musically.
Jeremiah Bowden (vocals) let it be known on a local music web site that silik was now searching for a bass player. They got very lucky. Jeff Ritter (bass) from Myopic Son had been looking for a chance to go another direction musically from where his current band was going. When he saw the post on the web site, he called Jeremiah and they set up a time for Jeff to audition. The night he tried out, S I L I K stopped looking for a bassist and held their breath waiting to see if Jeff would quit Myopic Son and join them. After about 4 practices, Jeff joined S I L I K. Everyone in the band agreed that this was an excellent line up.
In March of 2003 S I L I K packed up their van and embarked on a three week, self funded tour to the West Coast and back. They played in different cities across the country almost every night of the week, including shows at the legendary Roxy in Hollywood, and at USC.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.