Helping you rock out

Sylver McMahan considers herself a super music fan.

By Jamie Forsythe on February 14, 2008

It all started innocently enough with a show at Club Adrian in Tacoma. It was a hardcore metal show featuring On The Last Day (OTLD) and Falls From Grace. Sylver McMahon was just 15 years old when she got the bug. 



By the summer of 2006, she was doing it every weekend. “It was amazing,” she recalled while sitting in Tully’s on Broadway in downtown Tacoma. Her hair black with perhaps a hint of brown, her lip pierced and a multi-colored scarf around her neck.



She just couldn’t get enough of the Puget Sound’s plethora of kickass local bands. Like any teenager, though, McMahon was short on cash and couldn’t afford to go to every show her heart desired.



What’s a girl to do? She began volunteering every Saturday at Club Impact, which allowed her to see the bands playing there free of charge.



Doing it once a weekend wasn’t enough for McMahon, though. She wanted more. She started going to two or three shows every weekend, and now goes to two or three shows during the week as well.



McMahon admits her addiction to the local music scene. She even considers herself a super music fan. “I go to shows because I like the music and have a passion for it,” she said.



She likes meeting new people, discovering unknown bands, letting loose and having fun. 

Since going to so many shows, McMahon notes her mind “has become more open, not just to music, but everything in general.”



Her most memorable night of music featured one of her favorite bands OTLD before they signed to Victory Records in April 2007. OTLD played at El Corazon in Seattle, and then McMahon and her friends headed to K-tub, a Kirkland teen center, where they saw And A Chance Without, Sirens Sister and Dating Delilah. “It was an amazing night in general,” she said. “The crowd was insane.”



The energy projected by the band on stage is essential for a great show, McMahon says. She’s disappointed when the “music is good but the performance lacks.”



“I love seeing bands get passionate about their music,” McMahon explained. “I don’t like people just standing on stage.” The crowd needs to get into the music as well, she added.

McMahon is looking for a paid job so she can afford to go to all the awesome shows coming up this spring and summer. She’s looking forward to seeing Maylene and Sons of Disaster, Silverstein, A Day to Remember and The Devil Wears Prada in March.



The Lakewood resident would rather see local shows than national acts. McMahon estimates at least 60 percent of the music on her computer is from Northwest bands.



The 18-year-old is looking to venture out on her own soon and wouldn’t dream of living anywhere else but Tacoma. “I just love the feeling of being in the city,” she said. “It makes me feel closer to myself and you can’t get bored in Tacoma.”



Local peeps who haven’t dived into the music scene yet, McMahon said, should “go out and have some fun” and not be intimidated. “You have to have an open mind to different bands,” she says, and different genres of music. McMahon likes everything from hardcore metal to indie to punk.