4 to Watch: Silver Lakes

Hometown: Atlanta, Ga.
Members [l-r]: Jim Prible (bass), Eric Taylor (drums), Steven Satterfield (guitar, vocals), Todd Lindell (keyboards), Marc Tompkins (lead guitar)
Fun Fact: Though the band’s songs have already been featured on Room Raiders, Degrassi and a handful of other teen-friendly TV shows, none of its members have bothered tuning in.
Why They’re Worth Watching: Silver Lakes’ nostalgic brand of pop has ample room for crossover. Play it loud and proud, and neither your elders nor your offspring will object.
For Fans Of: Belle & Sebastian, Teenage Fanclub, Ambulance LTD

Atlanta’s fastest-rising pop collective may find both its name and its inspiration in the fantastical image of Silver Lakes, but the band owes its beginnings to real sandy beaches and good-old-fashioned male bonding. During February 2001, a dozen veterans of Atlanta’s music scene took a weeklong trip to the remote Mayan ruins of Tulum, Mexico. With nothing but great food, delicious margaritas and each other for miles around, friendships were rekindled, worries were forgotten and, unsurprisingly, a band was born.

“I told [Jim Prible] I had written basically a whole record’s worth of songs and had been sitting around on my living-room sofa playing them for myself,” says frontman Steven Satterfield.

Prible insisted he hear the material immediately upon the group’s return to civilization. “I loved the songs right away,” he recalls. “I convinced [Steven] that it needed to happen, and shortly after that we started recording.”

With Prible onboard, Satterfield had only to convince former Seely bandmate Eric Taylor to take up the drums again, and the group’s lineup was set (at least temporarily; membership is now five and counting). Thanks to producer Tim Delaney, The Great Pretenders, Silver Lakes’ self-released debut, is a tasty collection of impeccably produced ear candy recorded in the unlikeliest of settings—the spooky basement of Atlanta’s historic Biltmore Hotel.

“We were in the bowels of this really old building, and it had this cool, cool feeling to it,” Satterfield explains. “It definitely felt like we were away from everything.”

Fancy that.