by Andy Odom of My Denton Music

The members of Seryn expound upon how they met, what their sound is like, and what their plans for their new album are.

Seryn has had quite an exciting past few months. Formed less than a year ago, they've played extensively, obtained boatloads of praise, and secured a record deal. They sat down with My Denton Music to discuss how they came together and where they're going.

My Denton Music: It's been quite a roller coaster year for you all. Let's start at the beginning: How did you meet?

Chelsea (Violin, Vocals): It's a pretty complicated story, but none of us could have made it up.

Nathan (Guitar, Vocals): Trenton and I were living together over on Ponder, and I'd always say "I'll play guitar, and you sing," because Trenton couldn't play guitar that well, and I couldn't sing. But, I was playing in other bands, and still trying to do that stuff. So, three years pass, and Spring Break came along, and that's where everything happened, really. I had some ideas, and Trenton had just bought a Pro Tools set up, and we were both broke so we weren't doing anything for Spring Break, so we thought "Let's just hang out all week and record a bunch of stuff." My brother came over one of those days to play on some of it, and we later played a one-off show at a house. Just making stuff up. And, Chelsea was there.

Chelsea: I was the only one there that really appreciated the music. Everyone else were Denton scenesters watching, chilling, judging, and I was getting so into it and rocking back and forth. It was amazing. I told Nathan afterwards it was so moving and amazing, like right below Explosions in the Sky. And I told him that I'd moved to Denton but I hadn't found anyone to jam with. So, I got his number through a friend because I had to play with this guy! (laughs)

Nathan: That Thursday or Friday, Trenton was going down to SXSW, and she came over to hang out, and she said, "You know, I play viola." And I said, "Go get it!" So we jammed for an hour or so, and I told her "You're in the band!" I wanted to jam the next day, but she said she was going to Austin to the Explosions in the Sky show. Well, Trenton was going to be there too, so I called him and told him that we had found a string player, and that she would be at the Explosions show and to look for a girl with long blonde dreads.

Trenton (Vocals, Guitar): So, I'm at the show, and I talk to Nathan, and turns out she is 10 feet from me. So I go to talk to her and tell her my name and that I'm Nathan's roommate. Then, after the show we had this weird connection from the experience of the show.

Chelsea: I'm hugging him, "That was so awesome! I love you!" I didn't know him! (laughs)

Trenton: The very next day we had our first rehearsal as a three-piece.

Aaron (Bass): And I met Nathan … I was playing an upright bass on my front porch, and Nathan was driving by and saw me. He turned around and came by, and said, "Hey, I'm Nathan, I just drove by and saw a guy playing upright bass…" I told him to go inside and grab something and jam. He got my number when he left, and asked if I'd be interested in recording for beer and pizza. I said, "Yeah!" (laughs) I saw them play at their second show, and I was with Chris, and I told him, "I'm gonna be in that band!"

Chris (Drums): Yeah, and I didn't know he had talked to them. I just thought he had this mindset: "I'm gonna be in that band." I just said, "You got it man, whatever you say."

Trenton: And it turns out Chris is ridiculous. Drums, keys, banjo…

Chelsea: Yeah, you give him five days, and he'll learn any instrument and write a song on it.

My Denton Music: How long did it take for you guys to start sounding like Seryn?

Nathan: I feel like we've always sounded the way we sound now. I think Aaron and Chris really filled out the dynamic range…

Chelsea: And I think we all have a feel for the harmonies. We just start messing around with our vocal harmonies, and when we get serious we'll write it down. It really just naturally falls into place.

Trenton: The very first show that we played … everything just seemed to meld so well…with only two or three weeks of rehearsals …

Nathan: Well, two or three rehearsals! I think it's just staring with one thing and moving in that direction. Finding what people do, "Oh, here, you can do this." I guess there are only two ways to approach it, really. One is "I want to start _____ kind of band." The other thing, that I've always enjoyed more, is "Let's just see what happens when we all start playing together."

My Denton Music: Is there any particular sound that you had in mind?

Trenton: Well, we had watched that Sigur Ros DVD, "Heima," where they do their set full on, then they do some stuff really subdued, just the acoustic set. They could play it in a field by themselves, and it sounds just as beautiful. Just to write songs that sound as good off any given stage, whether it's someone's living room or a 20,000-seat stadium. We like the idea that we could play either way and have it be just as moving. We've all done our time in the post-rock thing, so the idea of going from smaller dynamics to something grandeur or epic definitely played a role in our sound.

Nathan: I wasn't a fan of Sigur Ros until Joel North (Sleep Whale) played me some of their acoustic stuff. I said, "Yeah, I really like this." There was nothing to cover up the song, it's just what it is. And you can do a lot of cool stuff with delay pedals, just look at The Edge. But after being in a post-rock band for a few years, I was pretty tired of delay pedals. But, Steve Reich is a big influence on me as far as rhythm. Another guy Bob Rossman (SP?), his music and philosophies…

My Denton Music: Spune Productions recently signed you guys. How did that come about?

Nathan: We played a backyard show with Hand Combine and some other bands, and Angel from Hand Combine really liked us. Glen Farris is her roommate and she mentioned us to him to get us on a Spune back-to-school show at Hailey's. Then we played the show, and Glen called Lance and told him about it. Then Chris Johnson (Telegraph Canyon) e-mailed him about the same time. So, it just kinda happened.

Trenton: For Lance, it was uncommon to get multiple calls in one night for one band, so those guys paid us an incredible compliment.

Nathan: So we met and visited the studio in Austin where Doug Burr and Telegraph Canyon recorded, and we'll be there in Feburary.

My Denton Music: With Britton (Beisenherz, of Monahans)?

Nathan: Yeah … Oh, The Shawl! That's another record we all love. We talked to Britton about that when we were down there, and he went on and on, "This was perfect about it, and this was perfect about it..." Everything about recording that was perfect. And that's the aesthetic we want. One take with the band in the room, and you get what you get.

My Denton Music: It's as important to capture a moment as much as an idea...

Nathan: Exactly, and Britton is all about that.

My Denton Music: You've been selling a demo CD for a few months, which sounds fantastic. Will you be adding to that for the new album, or re-recording everything?

Nathan: It will be all new recordings. Those demos were out of necessity, really…

Trenton: Those songs will be on the album, but different recordings.

Nathan: And it's a good thing, because "We Will All Be Changed" sounds pretty much the same live, but the other songs on the demo are performed differently now. And most of our set is songs that haven't been recorded yet. We're working on a lot of new stuff, and we're really excited about it.