Silos frontman Ray Garrison, a singer, producer, beat-maker and former DJ, says the epic rock band came together so effortlessly, they wrote an album’s worth of songs in three months. Mainly self-produced, with vocal production by Howard Benson (My Chemical Romance, Motörhead, Three Days Grace), the strength of Silos’ first single, “If I Fall,” — and other potential chart-climbers like “Mind Eraser,” “November,” “Lighthouse” and “All My Life” — is the mercurial multi-layers of rock, EDM, pop and industrial music, reinforced by Ray’s intense emotive vocals. Each lyric matters, painstakingly selected to reflect his life from being two years sober to falling in love. “What I loved about the electronic world was the amount of power and sound that was able to come through a speaker and how much you could feel it in your body,” Ray says. “I want to make music with a band that is as huge as these big festival DJ songs, that have big bass and a massive sound.” Signed to Judge & Jury Records, co-owned by Howard and Three Days Grace drummer Neil Sanderson, Silos is recording its debut album at Howard’s West Valley Recording Studios in Woodland Hills, Calif., with in-house engineer/mixer Mike Plotnikoff. “I don’t want to get all spiritual, but I’ll just put it this way — I stopped being in a band when I was 21 because it was too difficult to keep a group of guys together or even get a group of guys together that are dope. That’s why I became a DJ and solo artist,” Ray says. “The way this band came together, I didn’t even try. All these guys just showed up on my doorstep in different ways. And everyone was on the same page. We all like each other as people. Everyone is super professional and has been in successful touring bands. It just happened. There was no way we couldn’t do it.” The caliber and pedigree of the players made creating inventive, catchy, big big songs easy. The members of Silos hail from all over the world — bassist Philip Strange Nielsen from Denmark, guitarist Nick Dromin from Ukraine, drummer David Rehmann from Germany but grew up in Spain, and guitarist Ramón Blanco Ariza from Spain too; Ray is the only American, from Atlanta, Georgia — but all of them ended up in Los Angeles. David and Ramón both played in Grandson’s touring band for seven years. Philip was a touring member of Crazy Town, for which Ray collaborated on 2022’s “Leeches,” and joined the“Butterfly” band on stage a couple of times. Before that, Ray, the main lyricist and beat-maker, went by the DJ moniker Phynx for eight years, under which his biggest success was with a remix for Katy Perry’s “Dark Horse,” which racked up more than 30 million streams. Towards the end of that phase of his music career, he was working on a hybrid rock-electronic project under his own name and released some singles. “When I stopped doing drugs, I wanted a more hands-on musical experience again, singing and playing an instrument,” Ray explains of the switch. Ray was already “in talks” with Judge & Jury for his solo project after a musician friend played Mike Plotnikoff some songs, who sent them on to Howard and Neil. But in December, Ray met up with David, who wanted to start another project from the ground up, like he had with Grandson. “I thought about it and was like, ‘Let’s just do a band because it would be cooler for the kind of music I’m doing, than me as a solo guy,’” says Ray. Nick and Philip were already in Ray’s solo band and David brought in Ramón. When Nick moved in with Ray, they created Silos headquarters, complete with a recording studio in the house and practice space in the garage. The first song they created together was “Mind Eraser,” which Ray reveals uses “a little trick” he considers Silos’ signature sound, “taking one of the chorus chords that should be minor and making it major. We do it now in almost every song.” For a non-musician, he says, “I can’t really explain it, but your ears will naturally perk up.” Lyrically, every word counts for Ray. While he can make beats and create tracks “all day,” writing lyrics that mean something requires more thought and time. “It can’t be forced,” he says. “It has to reflect part of my life.” “If I Fall” is about being in a negative headspace and having the courage to reach out to somebody for help; “Gaslight” is about someone spinning your reality into theirs and messing with your head; and “Lighthouse” is about someone’s love pulling you out of darkness. He writes the lyrics and melodies, usually starts the beat, and then Nick will collaborate and the rest of the band helps build the track. Ramón was so inspired the first day he joined Silos that he created a riff that became the song “Goodbye Letter.” A few other songs were co-written with outside writers. One in particular really resonates with Ray. Grandson producer Kevin Hissink, who co-produced Silos songs “Insatiable” and “Gaslight, sent the entire track for “All My Life” for Ray to write the topline. At first he really struggled with getting it right but the end results tell his story. “As soon as I heard it, I had that first line, ‘all my life’ but then the second line can’t be cheesy. I drove three hours total over two days and kept playing it for a week or two. I was trying all these different lines. I had to fit something epic in six syllables that felt as powerful as the feeling I had,” Ray explains. “Then, when I stepped away from it and stopped trying, the line ‘left a trail behind me’ came and I just had goosebumps. I’ve done a lot of self-work. I’ve gotten off drugs and heavy alcohol consumption in the last two years. The chorus feels like it’s my life anthem.” Now, with the upcoming album and the chance to take their music to the world, Silos are all on the same page. “We want to be a world-class band. We want to develop a cult following live,” says Ray. How will they do that? By letting people into their world, witnessing the musicianship and the magic of creation. The five-piece often live stream sessions for hours to let the audience feel like they’re in the studio too, right there next to them. “That’s one of our main goals — to take people on the journey with the band,” says Ray. “I think that creates deeper connections to the music and strong bonds between the band and the fans.” Live shows are the priority, though. No small screen barriers. “Being on stage and connecting with the fans in real life is invaluable, especially with our actively growing international community,” Ray says. “We want to make an impact and make music that people will listen to for decades to come.”