Interview with Siren

Band members:

Sam Yung – 18 years old – Drummer/ keys/ songwriter

Alex Fowkes-Smith – 18 years old – Bassist

Scarlet Billham – 18 years old – Singer/ songwriter

Alfie Jefferies- 17 years old – Guitar/ electronics

Sam Ayling – 18 years old – Lead guitar

So how long have you known each other and how did you meet?

Sam Yung: “We’ve known each other going on two years now – seems like ages ago! We met at college. At the Brit school you can join at GCSE which is what I did or you can join for A-level which is what the other band members did. This is how we met”

And how long has your band been formed/ who came up with the idea?

Sam Yung: “It was me and Scarlet who first decided we could form a band – purely from mutual musical taste. We liked the same genres. We used to just jam cover songs, and then we realised we could write our own material.

How was the band name ‘Siren’ decided? And was this your first band name or did you have another one before?

Scarlet Billham: “Siren was our original name for the band. Basically, Sam [Yung] and I are both English A-Level students and we had been racking our brains for weeks trying to think of a name for our band and we decided our name should be based on something to do with Greek myths. The siren women lured the sailors with her unique and beautiful voice – and then she eventually killed them – but ha I won’t do that! The name suited us as I am the only girl in the band and a lot of signs pointed to us naming ourselves ‘Siren’.”

Sam Yung:  “modest! Haha!”

So I’m assuming Scarlet and Sam Yung are the main song writers – how do you get your inspiration and what do you find that the main topics of your songs are?

Sam Yung: “It’s weird because me being the drummer, I write a lot of our songs. It’s mainly me and Scarlet who do the bulk of the writing but Sam Ayling will also do his bit of writing too. Usually we collectively decide what we like and what we don’t. Inspiration comes from all sorts of places and at any time. Song writing for me is just something that happens – you just necessarily plan it or decide ‘I’m inspired now so I’m going to write a song’ – it just happens. Whether the song is good or not really depends”

Scarlet Billham: “yeah I agree completely. I find inspiration from lyrics, when I’m listening to music or just something that seems a relevant topic to discuss. Usually though, the music directs to what the song should say”

So what genre of music would you consider your band to be and who are your major influences?

Sam Yung: “I’d say alternative rock. My personal inspirations come from all over the place like ‘Now Now’, ‘VersaEmerge’, ‘Paper Route’, ‘Utada Hikaru’, ‘Copeland’, ‘Lydia’ – those kinds of bands. Also, a ’, ‘Copeland’, ‘Lydia’ – those kinds of bands. Also, a ’, ‘Copeland’, ‘Lydia’ – those kinds of bands. Also, a lot of orchestral stuff from ‘Hans Zimmer’, ‘Nobuo Uematsu’. I’d be surprised if anyone heard of most of those guys!”

Scarlet: “I would say we are alternative rock with an electronic/orchestral side. Depending on the song. Erm, yeah, we have a lot of influences. ‘Paramore’ started us off because we because we all realized we liked them so they did influence us to begin with and to a certain extent still do now. But, more alternative bands like ‘Now Now’ and ‘VersaEmerge’ who incorporate synths and string ensembles in their music inspire us to be more creative with instrumentation and sounds. For me, bands like ‘Radiohead’ and ‘Muse’ inspire my lyrics and the way in which they structure songs.

I can definitely see how you get inspiration for those bands- I love VersaEmerge! Do you think the genre/sound of your music has evolved since you first began playing together as a band?

Sam Yung: “Sweet! Yeah recently saw them live! Well at first when we first started out, we didn’t really experiment with much instrumentation. It was very much just guitar, bass, drums and vocals. Now out taste has expanded, we use keyboards, piano’s, strings, weird synth sounds and all. Out music is still the same at its core but it’s definitely developed since we first started playing. Some have said it’s become more mature over time and the song writing has improved because of it.”

Scarlet Billham: “i definatley think we have evolved since we started playing together. Now, we have no boundaries and are completely open to new ideas and suggestions. Were not scared of one another and have fun experimenting with new sounds.”

Alfie Jefferies: “It’s pretty difficult for me to give insight on Sirens influences and how we’ve changed our sound because I’ve only recently joined. I suppose the sound is going to change slightly in a band if a new member steps into the scene. When sirens previous guitarist left, they were gigging as a four piece, and it was only upon my arrival to the Brit school that I’d heard of their music and I really like it! I’d never want to change the sound of Siren because it’s what we all love playing and that is our sound – but id definitely love to incorporate more electronics combining software and hardware to do so. Even if that means stepping away from the guitar for some new songs. The reason that I’m so keen to incorporate electronics into sirens set is because we can do it, and it sounds amazing when it is done right, it’s all just about experimenting ad manipulating different things. Personally, I take a huge influence from bands like ‘Enter Shikari’, ‘Crystal Castles’, ‘Radiohead’, muse and probably a lot more, it’s taken from a vast variety.”

How comes your previous guitarist left?

Sam Yung: “Our previous guitarist left through no hard feelings between any of us, it was purely because he was so uncertain with that he wanted to do in the future, he didn’t want to commit to something that may stop him from doing other things, which is completely understandable. O it was a completely understandable. So it was a completely mutual thing, and we are still very good friends with him now!

So when you guys were younger, what was your upbringing like with music?

Sam Ayling: “I used to listen to a lot of older rock and then more stuff like ‘Nickelback’ and then – i moved to listening to more alternative stuff.”

Sam Yung: “When I was younger I listened to completely different bands that I do now. My favourite band used to be ‘The Corrs’ – the Irish band haha. I used to really like their melodies and I suppose some of that has transferred over to our writing now. I used to like anything with a strong sense of melody. My parents listen to bands like ‘Pink Floyd’, ‘Fleetwood Mac’, ‘The Eagles’ and ‘Tears for Fears’, so I was kind of brought up with all that kind of music – they’re all melodic bands.

Thank you for talking to us we look forward to hearing your upcoming album.