Interview with Pete Devine of Pete’s Rock News and Views (http://petesrocknewsandviews.com)
PD: How would you describe yourself or your band as an artist?
SIREN: We are probably best described as a melodic, traditional heavy metal band. Our music is very much in the style of our original influences like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Accept, Saxon, Ozzy, etc.
PD: Can you tell us briefly about your background – i.e. where you’re from, how you came to make music, etc.
SIREN: The band was formed in 1981 in Brandon, Florida. At the time, the Tampa Bay area was a real hotbed of heavy metal. Several bands from the area are still active today such as Savatage (now TSO), Obituary, Iced Earth, Nasty Savage and several others. Like most bands of the day, we founded the group to enjoy the energy of making music together and, hopefully, find success like the bands that influenced us. Of course, having fun and meeting girls was a plus!
PD: Who and what inspires you to make music, both in terms of musical and other influences? What do you like to write about in your songs?
SIREN: As mentioned previously, most of our early influences were bands like Priest, Maiden, Accept, etc. Individually, some of our earlier influences were UFO with Michael Schenker, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Rainbow, Led Zeppelin and others.
Our lyrics cover a wide variety of subjects. We have several songs that are based on historical themes such as “Terrible Swift Sword” about the American Civil War and “Iron Coffins” about the German U-boats of WWII. On our newest album some of the themes include AI-based military drones “Slaughterbots”, personal empowerment “One Man’s Fight”, and the continuation of the story of our band mascot, the Metro Mercenary, with the title track, “A Mercenary’s Fate”. This is a story that began 40 years ago with the release of our debut 7” vinyl.
PD: What are your aspirations as an artist?
SIREN: At this point in our musical journey, we are just enjoying making music together again. Writing and recording songs is its own reward. When other people listen and enjoy it, it’s the icing on the cake. We never expected to be together again after 40 years. Everything that has happened since our unexpected reunion in 2018 to perform at the Keep It True festival in Germany has been simply incredible. This whole story was captured as it happened in the documentary film “I’m Too Old for This Sh*t! A Heavy Metal Fairy Tale” produced by multi-talented entertainer Chris Jericho. You can find out more at TooOldForThisMovie.com.
PD: What is the proudest moment in your music career so far?
SIREN: I would have to say that our new album, “A Mercenary’s Fate” is the best one we have ever produced. It is the most collaborative of our works and was mixed and mastered by our close friend, the legendary Jim Morris of Morrisound Recording in Tampa, FL. Being able to create an album of songs that we are very proud of after not being together for three decades, is absolutely something we are proud of.
PD: Promoting one’s music is such a challenge these days, especially with so many new artists
emerging from bedrooms in the day of the home studio. How is that going?
SIREN: You’re absolutely correct about that. On one hand, it’s great that the technology has advanced to make recording music affordable, and the ability to publish your music to the world is a click of a button away. However, this also means there is a sea of other artists out there and it is difficult to stand out. For us, we just try to make our music and info available as widely as possible and really focus on engaging directly with virtually everyone who comments or reaches out to us. We appreciate everyone who takes the time to listen to our music or watch the documentary film.
Overall, things are going well. There are many bands named Siren or with “Siren” in their names. We were absolutely one of the very first having began in 1981. We are proud of the fact that, if you Google “siren band” you will see us at the top of the results! That’s an amazing accomplishment considering that there are many more popular bands out there.
PD: And how do you book and promote your live shows and tours? Any performances coming up?
SIREN: Like everything else – recording, promotion, packaging design, etc. – we do it all ourselves. We have been focused over the past year on writing and recording the new album mainly, and haven’t done many live performances. We are hoping to be able to return to Europe in 2024 with a festival appearance or two.
PD: What do you think about downloading music online? What about streaming sites like Spotify?
SIREN: At our level, it’s not about money or fame at all. We just want people to be able to listen to our work if they desire. So we are completely in support of online music, streaming services, etc.
PD: What song do you wish you’d written and why?
SIREN: Hmmm… There are so many great songs out there to choose from. It’s hard to narrow things down because they are all so unique. If I have to choose, I’ll go with Ozzy’s “Diary of a Madman.” That is such a great song and it was definitely one that inspired me when it first came out. As a drummer, “Breaker” and “Fast as a Shark” also inspired me to develop my double bass skills.
PD: Is there anything you don’t like about the music industry, which you would change if you could?
SIREN: Thankfully, we don’t have a lot of direct interaction with the industry, but we have several friends in bands that do. From what we know about the industry, it is virtually never about music or the artists. It’s amazing how many famous bands have been screwed out of millions of dollars by labels that use legal loopholes to keep virtually all of the earnings to themselves. So I would say that I would first make it more equitable to the artists where they are guaranteed at least 30% of all gross earnings regardless of expenses and chargebacks.
PD: So, what are you working on at the moment?
SIREN: At the moment, we are focusing on promoting our new album, “A Mercenary’s Fate”, and the documentary film about our unexpected adventure to reunite and perform in Europe. Hopefully, we will also be able to line up some festival dates later this year or in 2024.
PD: Where can we learn more about you and buy your music/merch online?
SIREN: For those who want to find out more about Siren, listen to our music, support us with merch, just go to http://SirenBand.us. There you can find all of the links to our music, social media, merch, etc. To find out more about the documentary film, people can visit https://TooOldForThisMovie.com.
Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read this and thank you, very much, for the interview. We genuinely appreciate it and look forward to hearing from some of you. Have a great week!
Siren links:
Band/Artist location – Brandon, Florida
Facebook – You Tube – Bandcamp – Merch –
Twitter – Instagram – Apple – Spotify – Amazon – Deezer – LinkTree – Last Fm
Check our page for Siren
