Metal band finds inspiration through anger, experiences

"Once upon a time, with tale as old as I am, a young girl told a lie, but she is the one who's cryin'. How many times, have you taken me for granted? You doubted every word I said, cuz they were covered up, by every lie you planted. Stay away from me, I don't want to be your whipping boy. I gave you everything, you played me off as background noise."

It's overwrought, sure, but those lyrics are just a taste of what people like about Lincoln's own Silent Havok.

This up-and-coming local band has a style somewhere in between hard rock and hardcore. Members include Ben Fischbein (Havok) on guitar and background vocals, Harry Norman (H.) on lead vocals, Evan Potter (Hollywood) on guitar, Nick Miesbach (Stitch) on bass and Sean Hansen (Seany Grimm) on drums.

Over the course of the band's five years in existence, Silent Havok has filtered through a multitude of members, In fact, the band has been working with its current line-up for about two months.

Pulling through with this crew will be possible only by drawing motivation from the fans, said Fischbein, a freshman general studies major at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

"I feel like without music, the entire world would just be plain," he said. "It wouldn't matter if there were colors or sounds. Without music itself, it would just be so boring."

Silent Havok's first album, "Choke the Silent," came out four years ago. It's a rock album, interspersed with bits of heavy metal. They next produced the EP "On My Own," which contains four songs, one of them being an instrumental piano piece. They plan to record again in May and Fischbein said Silent Havok's sound will be fine tuned by then.

Aaron Johnston, a sophomore graphic design major at the Art Institute of Colorado, said Fischbein writes music from the heart. He is influenced by everything he sees, telling a little story with each song.

"Ben will be sitting in class and when he gets bored, he starts thinking of different notes to play on the guitar," Johnston said. "His hand is constantly moving like it's on his fret board. He draws everything from the outside world to influence this art that he calls music."

Musical inspirations come from bands such as Avenged Sevenfold, Asking Alexandria, Atreyu, Burn Halo and Like Moths to Flames.

A lot of Silent Havok's lyrics are angry, but in a positive way, Fischbein said. He writes about never giving up hope and just being you.

"The way we sort of cope and get over stuff is to write songs about it," Fischbein said. "The same stuff happens to other people. We're not different just cause we're in a band. We just take our experiences and write about them so we can help someone else get over what they're going through."

Tim Kechely, the owner of Fuse Studios, who has helped the band record in the past, understands why Fischbein writes music. He thinks Silent Havok does a great job of expressing their identity.

"I think, as an artist myself, I write because I feel," Kechely said. "I feel, therefore I write. You see certain things in life, certain things happening, things going on and it spurs you into a lyrical or rhythmic idea. You want to paint that picture in music and once you get attached to song writing, you get locked in."

Working as a team to bring a new genre of music to Lincoln, all members of Silent Havok have learned how to interact. Kechely said they all get along well and have worthwhile rehearsals.

"They're very focused on what they're doing," Kechely said. "The creativity flows amongst them all. Their interaction is better than I've seen in a lot of bands."

Fischbein, Norman and Potter recently got wireless guitars and microphones, allowing them to be more active on stage. They move around, switch sides and get in audience members' faces.

When Fischbein is doing solos, he wants audience members to know he was meant to write music for other people. In his mind, there's no point in playing music to an empty room.

"We like to let them know we're singing to them, not at them," Fischbein said. "We just try to bring the energy and professionalism of a famous band into a little show. When and if we do get big, we'll already be ready."