PUMP Sessions Interview Series Presents: SIIINES
SIIINES is a dynamic electro-rock trio making waves in Los Angeles and on the verge of packing dance floors across the country. I recently stumbled onto their video for "Oh Yeah!" and could not stop listening. I must have replayed the clip a dozen times. I immediately reached out to their management and requested an interview. These guys are not only rad, they're absolute pros. So turn up your speakers, click play on the accompanying videos, and kick back for a minute. Hell, it's Friday. You deserve it. x
P: First off, welcome
and thank you the interview.
Where did
you come up with the name SIIINES? Please explain, because it’s what caught my
eye while trolling the industry blogs…
S: A “sine wave” is a
mathematical representation of a continuous frequency - the basis of sound. We
thought SIIINES looked and sounded cool.
How did the three of
you end up in Los Angeles? What part of LA do you live in? And where is
everyone from originally?
Morgan and I are
Canadian but we moved to Hollywood
last year to work on music. A friend of ours was dancing at Crazy Girls one
night and suggested we meet her friend Gina (DJ GENE (born in Vegas)). It’s
been true love ever since!
And how long have you
been playing music together? From your tight hooks, strong vocals, and hot
beats, I’m assuming this isn’t your first rodeo…
Morgan and I have
been working as songwriters/producers and in bands for about 7 years, haha and
yeah we’ve rodeo-ed a few times.
SIIINES - "Oh Yeah!"
I recently heard your
song on one of the many industry A&R sites that have sprouted up over the
past few years. What sort of attention has come your way thus far?
We’re doing our best
to stay out of the industry bullshit. It can really get in the way of what
matters. That’s a job best suited for management. We’ve been in the studio
writing music and creating our stage show.
The reason I ask a
pointed question like that is not to put you on the spot, but out of genuine
curiosity because your sound – while fucking raunchy and sexy – is definitely
commercially appealing. Whatever the fuck that means. But I’m fascinated to
hear about the creatures that crawl out of the darkness once a spotlight shines
through the haze of mediocrity.
Yeah, we have some
tour options coming our way – too early to say anything about them yet though.
Stay tuned.
Your manager seems
like a cool guy. Who else have you brought on to your team to help build the
SIIINES machine? PR? Agent?
We’re basically all
in-house right now. Aside from Stevie D doing the photos and video we do
everything ourselves. I’m sure once we’ve completed our record we’ll look into
putting a bigger team together.
It must be a raging
dance party during your set. Where rooms have you played so far? And have you
done any touring outside of Los Angeles?
Morgan and I have
years of touring under our belts and Gina has been killing it DJing. Come see a
show I guarantee a drunken night of Soul Train.
Any crazy show
stories? Outrageous fan requests? Sex in the green room?
Yes
I’m dying to hear who
produced “Oh Yeah!”, “Sex on the Dance Floor”, and “Sex Drugs & Rock n
Roll” because the sound is so clean. Very professional, which is a rarity for
most party rock bands starting out.
We co-produced the
songs with Matt Skopyk of Mass Choir. The guy is truly a mad scientist! He’s
currently building a leather jacket with intergraded LED and USB/MIDI
controllers on it. The guy is nuts!
What is your writing
process like? Who is the beat master? The lyricist?
We like writing in
different ways. Sometimes someone will come in with a song written on acoustic
guitar. Sometimes Morgan and I will write one together. Other times he’ll come
up with a beat and Ill top line some ideas on it.
We love collaborating with
people too. We’ll be writing some songs with Stevie D from Buckcherry and the
plan is to work with our friend Jay from the band USS out of Toronto. We like to mix it up as much as
possible.
SIINES - "Sex On The Dance Floor"
Who is the first
person to hear new material outside of the SIIINES core? And how do you like to
play music once it’s ready to be taken out of the studio? I know I like a good
car ride, blasting the CD or MP3 through the stereo to hear what it will
actually sound like to the general population.
Uuuhhh… I think it
was Stevie actually. We were on a photo shoot with him and showed him the first
couple songs we had. We had his car stereo going pretty good!
I read that your video
for “Oh Yeah!” was filmed over a few days around LA with your friend Stevie D. I fucking love Buckcherry, by the way. And he fucking rocks.
I’m familiar with his photography. Did he direct? And what was the concept?
Besides vintage sexy awesome, that is…
Morgan and I had a
plan to shoot the video ourselves at an old motel in Boron CA. but a day or two
before, we bumped into Stevie at Guitar
Center and asked him if
he wanted to be involved. He was stoked about it and next day we sat for hours
at a Starbucks downtown and came up with a treatment.
The only thing we
knew for sure was that we didn’t want another boring rock video where everyone
in the band were trying there best to look awesome while playing their
instruments in some abandoned warehouse. BRUTAL!! The plan was to create snap
shots of our life that would look cool on camera. Keep your eyes peeled for more
videos to come. We’re going to be releasing one for every song we release.
I love that you use
the term House and Roll to describe your sound. Who came up with that line?
That’s some Jerry Wexler shit right there.
I came up with it...
I can’t even remember where we put it. Twitter? I don’t know.
A lot of old school
critics complain of the lack of original music in pop today, but I think that
is complete bullshit. I don’t honestly think any music has been completely
original since the pre-war American Blues. Ever since, each generation has
borrowed from its predecessors. What are your thoughts on that?
It's impossible to
find something completely original… so it's a bit of a moot point… the real
problem is the lack of creativity from lazy artists/writers...
It seems like bands
are more focused on making money rather than music.
Bands should make money for the work they put out and the shows they put on but not at the expense of writing a shitty song cause you think that radio will play it or some major label will buy it.
Bands should make money for the work they put out and the shows they put on but not at the expense of writing a shitty song cause you think that radio will play it or some major label will buy it.
Agreed. I dig your style. Very rock n roll. A bit rough and tumble, which I think is missing from most of our current scene, for lack of a better word. What fashion labels are you loyal to? And favorite vintage shops in LA?
No vintage here. Not apposed to it just prefer new. You can’t go wrong with a pair or Nudies or Ksubis. We spend a lot of time at All Saints…. Chuck Taylors always work for shoes. Our rule of thumb is – Spend the money on the jeans and jackets, everything else you can cheap out on.
How about stage attire? Same as every-day attire, just cleaner?
There’s no real difference as of yet - we try to look good all the time. Haha maybe we should get into costumes!
Where’s the after party at? Up in the hills or a basement speakeasy off the strip? And what about the day-after-the-gig hangover brunch?
We’ll go out anywhere! We’ll start at The Edison and end up at Jumbos Clown Room. Bring it on! In the morning we’ll hit up Urth Café or do a Whole Foods run.
Well thank you so much for your time and energy. Can’t wait to hear more music. In the meantime, what can our readers expect from SIIINES in the near future? Any label interest so far? Upcoming gigs? Tour? Records?
The plan is to finish our album and then TOUR TOUR TOUR! Keep checking in for details
So rad. Please let your new fans know where they can find your music, Facebook, Twitter, etc etc etc. And please check back in with us again real soon. Much love and peace.
You can get us WWW.SIIINES.COM