Interview with Day Of The Sirens

Backstage at Kick Out The Jams, melodic rock band Day Of The Sirens had just finished their energetic set when frontman Jack Fox and bassist Tommy Hall caught up with me for a chat about music and life.

It all started with Tommy telling me about a folk festival they were once booked for...

JW:Tommy was just telling me you got to a show once and it turned out to be a folk festival! Today's clearly a better scene for you - how was it out there
JF: It wasn't quite on par with the folk festival, but it; well it wasn't a tough crowd we kinda got people going, obviously we're alternative rock, we do have our screaming and our riffs but we're more about the bigger choruses and stuff - the gig is kind of a more metal audience today - but I think we did well, I think people were here more for their metal stuff, but we did what we could.

JW: From the crowd view point, the set did go down quite well!
TH: Hopefully people caught some, maybe just half a track, and then they thought 'well I'll go and check them out'. We put a lot in to our music and put a lot in to the live show - that's why we're sitting here hot and sweaty right now!
JW: Yes that's right, I'm here with two very sweaty boys!

TH: We do all our own recordings and we take a lot of time and effort over that, let people know about tracks on Facebook and so on
JF: I love shows like this, recently we supported Taking Dawn [who are a similar style to Day Of The Sirens], where we're not the ideal support act; but I like gigs where you know you've got to make an impact. I think ultimately it makes you play better as well, you have to work for the crowds attention. I sometimes prefer that to gigs where there are hundreds of screaming kids who are just going to love every band they see.
TH: Obviously we're not saying we don't like those gigs!
JF: Oh yeah we DO love them too!

T: I don't know about Jack, but for me, when we're not touring I try to go see as many shows as I can and when I go to gigs I like to see a bill where there is something a bit different in the mix, we've discovered some really good bands just by chance
JF: We played with Attack! Attack! a few nights ago and with Glamour Of The Kill and people are there that love that sort of music, so it's a lot easier [to impress the crowd] but today we had to work for it, it was good!

JW: It's interesting you say you fit in with bands like Attack! Attack!, based on today I would have said you were quite a bit heavier.
JF: Yeah, we are a lot heavier than them, but I think people draw similarities. You know, having a four piece, two guitarists...
JW: Rock music by four good looking boys...
TH: You can't see it but I'm blushing right now!
JF: now with a big grin! Yeah; I'll tell you what, another great band that played that show were Max Raptor - very good band, I think they're more similar to us. People here today can definitely draw on sections of our songs, we've got riffs and screaming and stuff, I think that's probably why we went down ok today

JW: Day Of The Sirens has been together for a couple of years now, right?
JF: We have, we started in 2009, we've done a couple of tours and stuff but haven't been gigging regularly we've had most of our exposure through press really, we've been in a lot of good magazines and I'd have to say we've got our exposure through the press right now rather than extensive touring. Which is the opposite to how a lot of bands do it, you know, we've only been around since 2009 and a lot of bands work really hard to get to where we have, and having some really good magazines behind us has definitely helped that.

JW: So how did you come together?
JF: We're all from Colchester and we were all playing in other bands, I really wanted to make the sort of music we're playing now and you can't really do that in a three piece; luckily, these guys [points at Tommy] and all our other bands split up at the same time.
TH: I actually stalked Jack pretty intensely for about a six month period... going through his rubbish, checking his mail stuff like that!! Of course heard his band was breaking up and it happened that Xavi and myself were coming out of our projects and yeah, just seemed like everyone was in the right place.
Funnily enough Chris [Morley guitar/vocals] was recording our record and wasn't a band member at all and...
JF: He played one some of the tracks
TH: Yeah he played on some tracks and; well he's this annoying guy he can pick up any of the parts
JF: Everybody hates Chris. No no they love him, but he's the guy that, I suppose other than me who's the lead singer, if any of us in the band got ill he'd be able to just step in to their place. He can play drums well, he's a good bassist and an amazing guitarist.
TH: But yeah, we were a guitarist light so he was playing on the record, and it was one of those moments, we been going into the studio with him for about three months and then eventually, we were struggling to find a guitarist and then just said - well why don't you join; and he said 'oh I hadn't really thought of that!'
JF: It was so weird, we just saw him as a producer.. and then the bulb goes off
TH: And he's good looking - we call him the housewife's choice
JF: We do, we've got different members for different target audiences
TH: Don't go down that path, don't do it!!
JF: It's like if a boy band was formed they'd put in different people for different audiences - I don't think we quite achieved that!!

JW: So you do everything in house?
JF: Yeah, well for our first record we went to Chris to produce it and then he ended up joining the band, it's not that we started out saying it has to be a DIY job, but we luckily have the skills in our band
TH: We recently shot a video and we all helped with the storyboards and everything within the band. We're more interested in working with the right people, people can drop a lot of names and there's a lot of hearsay and conjection in our realm; but we like the people we work with. The thing is, in a band you've got to be so careful, especially for young lads coming in to it, not that we're old or anything, but I've had my fingers burned at least twice, there are just so many people out there trying to rip you off
JF: It's better to just take the bull by the horns and work a little bit harder
TH: Fortunately [for us] we've had a couple of people show interest that have opened doors for us and we're really greatful for that

JF: It's so easy these days to get your music out and on iTunes and things like that, a lot of bands pay a record label a lot of money just to do that, but if you make an effort and find and talk to the right people, you can get it out there yourself.
TH: You work so hard on that product, and this isn't just us I know every band works so hard, and when someone says they want you to pay to release your record; you just think are you joking! Wait, this sounds bitter - and we're not, we're not bitter at all!!
JF: It's new times for bands
TH: I'm sure there's something just around the corner, a new medium for bands to support themselves and make enough money to live!

JF: It's such a common misconception that bands have a lot of money, it's not true - on tour you do a gig to put enough diesel in your van to make it to the next one
TH: People sometimes say you're selling t-shirts you must make a lot of money but we don't
JF: We make about 1p a t-shirt! I think the age of the big band is gone, because the big labels are disappearing. Bands like us, there's no misconception, if you're going to do this for a living you need to be aware that you're going to lose money or at best break even, there's no big mansions
TH: Xavi our drummer lives with me and I can tell you we don't live like Kings
JW: Have you met any kings, do you actually know how they live?
TH: Well, in fact, I'm a few generations away from
JF: Royalty?
TH: No, my ancestors moved from Sicily a few hundred years ago and I'll let you join the dots!
JF: I did some research and it turns out my surname - Fox - was Norman and I had very rich ancestors. It seems that everyone who lived a hundred years ago were all rich and now...
TH: But we digress

JW: Yes, we should be talking about your music! I want to talk a bit about your EP, it came out last month?
JF: Yes it came out on Valentines Day, iTunes Amazon all that jazz
JW: And what's the response been like?
JF: Really good
TH: Yeah very good
JF: We've not had a review for it that's less than 8 out of 10 or whatever the equivalent has been
TH: We had one 7
JF: Well, yeah, but that was still a really good review though! You've got to be happy with that! But yeah, like we said before we want to just carry on increasing our exposure, we've only been around about 5 minutes, we're not taking any of it for granted we'll keep touring and buiding up our fan base and just working hard
JW:I suppose it's not just how long you've been around, it's how much you care about what you're doing
JF: Oh exactly, and that's probably why we're where we are at the moment, the expousre we're getting in the press is because we've worked hard to get it - we're not just sitting around waiting for something to happen
TH: We were taken aback, you know we live one week to the next, when we get emails from press and bookers and what have you, we're so greatful
JF: It feels good, it feels like there's a buzz around the band. And we love the EP "A Kiss From Nyx" it's probably the thing we're most proud of, we loved our first EP but we've really stepped it up with "A Kiss From Nyx"; the first EP was, well like a warm up if you want. We recorded this one all with Chris, "A Kiss From Nyx" is Day Of The Sirens.

Without a doubt this is a band that is filled with passion for music and one that works hard at what they love. And yes, Jack did manage to drop the name of their EP 3 times in the last sentence - it's worth remembering! "A Kiss From Nyx" is out now and well worth a listen.

Day Of The Sirens has a video out towards the end of April and are planning a full UK tour in the summer. After that, another single, an album and more touring - 2011 is a busy year for the boys.