The Witzard

View Original

Film & Television Composer, Multi-instrumentalist & Illustrator Silas Hite of Satin Cowboy & The Seven Deadly Sins Unleashes Jarring Cover of Metric's "Other Side" (The Witzard Premier)



"I've always been big fan of Metric. Their lyrics are always so impactful and their music delivers so much genuine emotion, from sadness to elation and all the complications in between. What struck me the most about "Other Side" was the beauty of the lyrics and the vocal melody. Those were the two elements I tried to be faithful to in my cover; although, I ended up giving the melody a bit of my own flavor when I sang it," film and television composer, multi-instrumentalist, artist, and illustrator Silas Hite wrote within a recent email. He's of course, referring to his recent cover of Metric's "Other Side" from their 2015 album, Pagans In Vegas—founding members Emily Haines and Jason Shaw recently re-joined forces with with their long-standing Toronto-based musical collective, Broken Social Scene, to prep their first proper album in some seven years, Hug of Thunder. Silas Hite did the vocals, guitar, bass, drums, and keys himself on "Other Side" and additionally recorded, mixed, and produced his Metric cover. He then recruited cellist Timothy Loo and violinist Nancy Kuo to help put a few finishing flourishes on the tracks, which was mastered by Hans DeKline at Sound Bites Dog. Silas Hite's complex, yet fittingly simplistic "Other Side" single artwork was designed by Los Angeles-based graphic artist Derek "D-WREX" Zimmerman.


Silas Hite has had a rather long-standing musical career himself and over the course of the last 14 years, has amassed quite a staggering resume of credits: co-scoring Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist with his uncle Mark Mothersbaugh (DEVO), scoring episodes of Chef's Table, contributing music to Catfish: The TV Show, The Simpsons Game, American Pickers, Pawn Stars, and Keeping Up with The Kardashians, as well as popular commercials for Apple, Blue Moon, Chevy, Dunkin' Donuts, Microsoft, and most recently, Chipotle. Hite has additionally performed with a variety of genre-blending bands including, but not limited to, Satin Cowboy & The Seven Deadly Sins, Alma Sangre, Hellbeast of The Night, Happiness Realization Party, and Project Parallel. "Other Side" is currently available for streaming on Silas Hite's personal Bandcamp and Soundcloud pages, as well as both Apple Music and iTunes for an extremely reasonable $0.99 price tag. Silas Hite tells me he's currently scoring two video games that are scheduled to come out this upcoming Fall (although, he can't mention any names yet) and just finished a commercial campaign for Chipotle that's playing on TV right now. Hite additionally mentioned he's hard at work on the third full-length from his American Rock "N" Roll band, Satin Cowboy & The Seven Deadly Sins.