Heavy rock four-piece Silcrow have a discography that dating back to 2020, but have been noticeably quiet on the singles front since releasing their self-titled debut album in 2024. They put that down to international plans that didn’t quite pan out, and re-opened their account in 2026 with the powerful grunge statement of Unclean. The new single was included by NZ On Air Music on their May NewTracks compilation.
We have Lorenzo Hazelwood on vocal duties, Oscar Milleron guitar, Carl Stieller on drums and our newest member Louis Simpson on bass. Ages run from mid-20s to early 30s. We’re all from Auckland except for Carl, still trying to figure out exactly where he’s from…
We’re quite spread out actually. Carl is out in Pukekohe, Louis up in Dairy Flat, Lorenzo in Devonport and Oscar in Grey Lynn – the closest one to our main rehearsal space, Stage Music Centre. We were actually the first band to book a room there when they opened.
Lorenzo has his solo project under his name (Lorenzo Hazelwood) and his previous band Mullen. Louis has played in a few projects over the years, his old band Silvera and most recently guitar for Sorry Sorry. One of Carl’s old bands opened for Elemeno P back in the day!
Oscar and Lorenzo met at MAINZ. There was a band before Close To The Bone and Lorenzo came in on vocals, and we changed the name from there. We used to be a 5-piece band with a second guitarist, but now only Lorenzo and Oscar remain as original members.
We started out around 2018. After a few years of being Close To The Bone we had some line-up changes and sonic changes, so we took the opportunity to rebrand. Silcrow came from a brainstorming session and just seemed like a cool underutilised word. A silcrow is a typographic character that marks a section in a document, it has no deeper meaning to us though!
We started off a bit more metal for sure. Our sound has matured over the years, sonically and dynamically. You can definitely hear the change in our releases. Justice was the first song the band wrote and if you compare that to something like Stuck In a Lie, it’s quite different.
It was never a talked about thing, it just changed as we changed as people. Luckily the three long time members Lorenzo, Oscar and Carl were able to grow together in that way. Now we’re at a place where we can draw from the metal elements and mix them with a more melodic approach, we try not to overthink it.
For the first while we were gigging pretty often, once or twice a month, then Covid really set us (and everyone else) back. We try to keep it pretty consistent though, we loving playing live. Ding Dong Lounge is definitely the venue we have played most often, we also love Big Fan, Whammy, Totara Street at the Mount and Valhalla.
We love to throw in cover songs like Audioslave and Billy Idol, in terms of originals, the fans who have stuck around still love Sink In, and Stuck In a Lie has become a new favourite to play live.
We’ve had so many great gigs and opportunities over the years it’s hard to pick one. Our first single Sink In did really well on Spotify for us, having no idea what we were doing – it just hitting the algorithm right was cool. The keg party we hosted to film the music video for that song was epic as well. We used an industrial kitchen, hired a director and got a bunch of beer kegs. It was just a massive party with all our friends – our previous bass player Conor (Sutton) pulled some magic to make that all happen. Apart from that, we had some cool opening slots with local legends Skinny Hobos and Shepherds Reign. We’ve had some interest from American producer Jay Ruston as well.
Out of the three songs we have ready it was the obvious choice to release as a first single. It’s straight-up, punchy rock and roll.
The music came pretty quickly, Oscar wrote the riff while in London and brought it back to the band. We jammed it out and formed it into what it is now. Lyrically, it’s about realising you’re making some questionable decisions and straying from your morals.
The intro drum fill into the riff is such a fun way to start a song. We had almost nothing for the vocals in the bridge section and Lorenzo came up with the melody and the lyrics at the last minute when demoing the song just before entering the studio. Spontaneous moments like that are great.
We recorded this at Old North Studios, owned and operated by Troy McKubre and Boh Runga. They have a great spot out in Kumeu. We were looking for something fresh and saw them advertising online and thought it looked great. We’re pretty sure we were one of the first bands to record there. Since then, we’ve developed a good relationship with Troy and it’s lovely having Boh pop into the studio, she even played some tambourine for us!
Turn it up loud and enjoy. See if you can find a way to reflect and relate to the song in your own way.
Currently it’s just the four of us. We’ve expanded our team in the past and it’s had its pros and cons. There are some great people in the NZ music industry that help us out.
Yeah, that was great, we recorded that with Scott Seabright. It’s a great feeling having a proper collection of songs that represent where you were at a certain time. Stuck In a Lie stands out on that album but we love them all. The release was a bit fragmented as it was initially intended to mark the end of that version of the band. Lorenzo and Oscar were moving to London and we wanted to capture the best songs we had at the time and send them off on a high note. Things obviously changed, but overall it was a great experience!
It’s hard to say, but albums and EPs are probably the best way to do things artistically. You can go so much deeper and express more ideas. On the flip side it’s a massive undertaking to get an album done, not to mention the huge costs involved, so singles provide a way to get music out faster and the streaming age caters to singles.
So, after recording our album, Lorenzo and Oscar headed over to London to get a feel for things and see if Silcrow could find its way over there. During that transition we had an opportunity arise that could lead us to America, where our music would really fit. That required us to come back to NZ, unfortunately things didn’t pan out, and we were stuck in limbo for a while there. Add in a line-up change and Carl becoming a father, it took us a while to straighten things out again.
Animalhead – Rumours
The Boondocks – Bear With Me
Skitch Hiker – Blood Moon
Yeah, we’ve had a few tracks feature on NewTracks. Keep The Silence, Too Late To Forget and Ethereal were on there. Thanks NZ On Air!
We apply every time we release something, but haven’t had any luck yet. It took a few years to be able to check all the boxes. It’s quite a process completing the application so it’s always good to ask questions and ask for help from our peers who have been successful.
The Only Scott podcast is a good one. Lorenzo was on Don’t Give Up Your Day Job. Big fans of Music.NZ, Vox Rebelle is a new one too, and of course you guys at NZ Musician. There’s too much great local stuff to name!
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Yes! We have two more singles coming out this year and a music video will be out in a week or two for Unclean.
Thanks for having us guys! Make sure to follow us online, keep an eye out for new music and gig announcements coming soon!
