There are some dialogue excerpts on the Silencers’ albums; at the beginning of “13” is a long conversation about “The Man” – probably from Easy Rider (1969) – and there is an occasional mention of the song title on the album, as on “Spaceman” and “Woof Woof” on The Silencers (and “Return of the Son of Woof Woof” on their second album, Cyclerific Sounds).
The debut album by the Silencers, The Silencers came out on Total Energy Records at about the same time as several albums by their label-mates Davie Allan and the Arrows. For the most part, the songs are originals, with the one exception being “Journey to the Stars” that has five songwriters listed on Allmusic: Bob Bogle, Don Wilson, Nokie Edwards, and Mel Taylor of the Ventures, plus Sun Ra.
The back cover of The Silencers by the Silencers shows a flame-encircled dragster with the quote: “Link Wray & the Ventures rolled into one big ball and heaved through Dick Dale’s living room window!!!” Referring to that quote, Richie Unterberger in Allmusic says: “It’s not as mind-bending as that description would have you believe, but it’s a very respectable 1990’s surf revival effort, with excellent chops and a good sense of menace. Of their three cited influences, Dick Dale is definitely the biggest, as Eric Toth’s banzai guitar leads amply demonstrate.”
(December 2014)
