Dallas band Siren City celebrates CD launch in Denton Friday night

by Morgan Walker of North Texas Daily

After working on their self-titled album for a year and a half, members of Siren City are relieved it is finished.

The band claims many influences and musical elements, which deliver melodies in this album not found in other groups just starting out.

Fans of Siren City have compared the band’s sound to early Incubus, and there are a few similarities between Incubus’ vocalist Brandon Boyd and Siren City vocalist Randy Stephens.

Though the members all have differing tastes in music, one place where they find common ground is jazz.

Guitarist Rick Greenwood is also a classically trained violinist and said he was able to incorporate that into the record, while drummer Brian Bixler said he came from Minnesota to study jazz at UNT.

However, the album has a straight-up rock feel, mostly pertaining to rocky relationships with others and one’s own self.

The CD kicks off with “Secrets,” which portrays a couple’s dispute with one questioning his role in the relationship and if what they have is worth fighting for.

The following track, “Firefly,” is more personal, explaining how we all crave to be mischievous, so much that it burns inside us, and how we are able to get that fix.

The first two tracks give off a more sinister vibe, both showing frustration in the lyrics in how to deal with these thoughts we have inside.

The beginning of the next song, “Beside You,” starts out calm with soft vocals, all of which reminded me of 311’s version of “Love Song.”

As the song develops, it takes a twist, diving hard into the chorus describing how this person wants so badly to be anywhere else, but he can’t seem to escape the ugly relationship.

Overall, I think I’d have to hear a little more than six songs to decide how I really feel about this new band.

Because it’s had the same members since day one and all of them have their own distinct contributions to the album, they do have potential to become something great.

RATINGS: Overall – 4/5

Siren City discusses group’s beginnings, new album

The “new rock” Dallas-based Siren City will promote the release of its self-titled first album at the Boiler Room tonight.

Members of the band, including Randy Stephens on vocals and Brian Bixler on drums, revealed some history of the group and their new record.

Question: How did you come up with the name “Siren City”?

Stephens: Well, we had been practicing that November [2005], and we went through a bunch of stupid names. Then, Bixler came to practice one day, and he said, “How about Siren City?” And everyone was like, “Yeah, that’s it, that’s the one.” We liked it because it suggested several approaches of imagery. You could have sirens you hear from either cops or emergency vehicles, or it could mean sirens from Homer’s “Odyssey,” which were the female singers that distracted men from what they were trying to do.

Q: What do you guys like best about the album?

All: That it’s done!

Stephens: It took us a year and a half for the whole recording process. I like the idea that we stood back as a band and were like, “Look, do we want to record the songs as we know them, or do we want to incorporate a producer and kind of slow down the process but increase the quality?” And that’s what we did. We got a producer, Matt Slider, the former lead singer of The Feds.

Bixler: This album is a really good representation of what we sound like live.

Q: You all said the band has never changed members. Do you feel that has made a difference in the quality of your music?

Stephens: We think that’s probably one of the biggest accomplishments, just the idea of staying together.

Bixler: We’ve had so many friends from other bands, and they just break apart because they don’t get along or something. So it’s a massive accomplishment to keep a band together that long.

Q: If you could categorize your music with a certain genre, what would you call it?

Stephens: I would say it’s a new rock. It’s eclectic in a sense that we take from our influences and it’s not in one category of “Oh, this is always heavy.” We write collectively, taking from all influences combining all those genres.

Bixler: What’s cool is that all of us have very different tastes in music, so we kind of bring those together and fuse it. It’s straight-up rock, and it’s usually friendly. We’re not going to creep you out or anything.

Q: What do you want listeners to get out of this album?

Stephens: I want the record to be extremely listenable. I want someone to be able to listen to it from beginning to end and I want there to be a “wow” factor where they’re like, “Oh, I love this part.”