Silent Knights

Getting onto a movie soundtrack is a really big deal for loud and proud locals Silent Fury

Syracuse rockers Silent Fury are starting off 2012 with a bang by making their biggest push yet to gain more national attention—and it’s only March. The rock trio has built off the success of their 2010 album Girl in My Head (Real Rock Records) by landing one of their LP tracks on a movie soundtrack, while also snagging a Jagermeister sponsorship and shooting a new music video.

Just weeks before the Jan. 20 release of the horror flick Underworld: Awakening, the band got the call from one of the movie’s executive producers, Skip Williamson, that their song “Exit Wounds” was chosen for the Lakeshore Records soundtrack. “That’s definitely already helping us get other opportunities,” singer-guitarist Mick Fury says. “I would definitely assume it’s going to help us get on future soundtracks. Will we get on another No. 1 movie {at the weekend box office} in America? I don’t know, but it can’t hurt.” 

MICHAEL DAVIS PHOTO

Fury traced the origin of their soundtrack placement back to 2008 when he was logging time as a resident of Los Angeles, where he met Williamson, a movie and music producer who is also the Lakeshore label’s president. Williamson invited him into the exclusive Skybar lounge, where Fury stood little chance of gaining entry otherwise. Outside on the patio, they mingled poolside among the designer suits and dresses. When Williamson observed that no one ever swam in the bar’s pool, Fury sniffed out a challenge. He said that he’d dive in, clothes and all. 

“If you jump into that pool right now,” Williamson offered, “I will sign you to my record label tomorrow.” Fueled by some liquid courage, Fury cannon-balled into the pool, to the consternation of the splashed ritzy bystanders. Security quickly escorted him out of the lounge. 

Fury didn’t get signed, but he did leave an impression. Last year Fury used his in and sent some Girl in My Head tracks to Williamson, who also co-produces the Underworld movie franchise. Williamson told Fury that the film’s Swedish co-directors Mans Marlind and Bjorn Stein were working with remix artist Justin Lassen on the soundtrack, and they all thought their song was a good fit. In the hands of Lassen, “Exit Wounds” takes on a synth-heavy backbeat and tricked-out vocals that seem to add a new voice to the band. 

“It’s such a great fit for the vibe of that movie. Anybody that’s seen the Underworld movies knows it’s always a techno, industrial kind of sound,” Fury says. “I think it sounds phenomenal.”

Underworld: Awakening’s 17-track batch of remixed songs places Silent Fury’s “Exit Wounds” alongside band heavies like The Cure, Linkin Park and Evanescence. It’s also one of the few songs from the album available for individual downloads on iTunes and Amazon.com. 

Exposure from the soundtrack has already netted rewards: Jagermeister signed on as a tour sponsor, Fury says, and other deals are in the works. Since the soundtrack was released, the band did a quick tour of the Southeast, and has launched the video for their album’s title track, “Girl in My Head,” which has received airplay on stations across the country. 

For the new video, the band wanted to stay local and promote the Salt City. They reunited with Syracuse-bred director James Domroe, who shot their “Love Stands in the Way” video in 2011. Bassist Joe Grosvent provided a rough concept for the video, which included a list of local venues they wanted to showcase. Domroe worked with Fury on ways to enhance the band’s initial idea, including the addition of a female role because, according to Domroe’s Filmmaking 101, “If there’s any way to push it, a torture scene will push it.”

The music video depicts a more literal depiction of the torment inflicted by the girl stuck inside Fury’s head. To play the role of tormenter, they cast Genesis Cleveland, who won during last December’s “Sexiest Girl in Syracuse” contest at the Lost Horizon, which the band headlined. 

Domroe shot most of the video over one long day, starting with a series of scenes at a warehouse, which appears to be mostly open to the elements. With the temperature hovering around 10 degrees, Fury sat strapped to a chair in a T-shirt while Cleveland threw water in his face. It took her three takes to get the water to splash right and several takes of Cleveland slapping Fury hard in the face. Domroe says jokingly, “I think he might have enjoyed those.” 

With Fury tied up, so to speak, his band mates Grosvent and drummer Ryan Calabrese get to explore a checklist of local pubs, clubs and other landmarks during the video. Calabrese seems to be on a tour of Syracuse bars; hitting Al’s Wine and Whiskey Lounge in Armory Square, Coleman’s on Tipperary Hill, and the Ugly Duckling in Manlius. The narrative jumps to live footage of the band playing in the middle of the ice rink at the Onondaga County War Memorial.

As devoted as they are to Syracuse, they hunger for a larger national audience. For Fury, one highlight was opening at last summer’s K-Rockathon for Dropkick Murphys and Stone Temple Pilots at the New York State Fairgrounds, but his personal goal is to be invited back to play because of Silent Fury’s national reputation. With a jump-start from a movie soundtrack, this year is already headed in that direction.

Silent Fury’s next Syracuse show is on Sunday, March 15, 8 p.m., playing support for Burn Halo at Station 58, 3504 Brewerton Road. Tickets are $5 for ages 18 and up. For more information, call 455-1010.