Interviews

The Receiving End Of Sirens

Interview with Andrew Cook, Alex Bars, and Brendan Brown on Feb 11, 2008 by

By: Wade Rice 

I took a drive up to Baltimore from the D.C. suburb that I call home to catch the first date on The Receiving End of Sirens' headlining tour for their second album at the Ottobar and spend a little time talking to the guys. As I walked through a hidden door and up the stairs of an old Baltimore house that felt like a bomb shelter, the guys were waiting for me at the top of the stairs in a room that felt like it housed members of the Civil War.

To start off can you guys just say your name and what you do in the band?

Andrew Cook: My name is Andrew; I play drums in the Receiving End of Sirens

Alex Bars: I'm Alex; I play guitar and sing.

Brendan Brown: I'm Brendan; I play bass and sing.

You guys released your second album recently; what would you guys say that you can expect from this album? A second album is an important album for bands and I've heard some of the record and it sounds more experimental, you could say, then the first album. Would you agree?

AC: I don't think it's experimental in a Dream Theater since, but more in an ambient sense. It's more prog-rock and less noodlie and stuff. I think people's idea of an experimental band is like Coheed and Cambria or like Rush, and that isn't what we are. I definitely think that it is more experimental because we experimented. We definitely combined like a lot more elements, way more ambience, and more keyboards, and all sorts of stuff.

BB: Yeah when we're starting to make this record there was a competition among us to find more weird gear (laughs). That idea sort of just snow-balled and if you look at the stage tonight, there is stuff everywhere.

Is the new stuff harder to play?

AB: These songs are harder, but much more enjoyable to play.

BB: It's technically harder and more stuff and parts to play. But once you've done it, it's so much more rewarding. Definitely...just look at our stuff when we go up there, it's just way to much stuff.

AC: We can never have to much stuff though.

Especially with how small of a stage you guys are playing on tonight, it's going to be a challenge.

BB: Yeah, definitely.

AC: It's interesting, on this tour we're playing on many different stages, some are really big and some are really small.

BB: Did you see the secret door?

You mean the door to take the steps up here?

BB: No, the back door.

No, I guess I came in the front way.

BB: Along the side of the stage there is a wall and then there is like a door like that looks like the wall.

Oh yeah, that door. I just figured that was like a sound wall or something. Maybe it was like a bomb shelter or something.

BB: Yeah.

I went to the website for the new record and I was like "What is this?" It was like four planets, and two said "Misery" and the other two had "Famine" on them. What exactly is that?

AC: Misery Famine Misery is what Johann Kepler said Mi Fa Mi stood for. It's where the title for the record came from, The Earth Sings Mi Fa Mi, because of where he grew up in the 1600s that he came up with this theoretical discovery and he was looking for something that we all listen too. He heard this sound in his head and he came up with this theory to describe it.

I saw something on your MySpace about this kid Casey Bokhaven, who was killed by a drunk driver. I was thinking if there was anything that you guys were planning on doing to support this story like a charity or something?

AC: We don't have anything planned right now, but obviously it's a good idea to get involved in something like that. I'm sure somewhere down the road we will try to plan something like that, but recently we've just been trying to focus on getting the new record released and tour in support of it. That story was just so sad when we had heard it from his brother when we were in the studio, just how he and his brothers were such big fans of our band and they had seen us a couple times. It's crazy when as a band you reach people and you become a part of their life. Just to clarify, because this has happened quite a few times, Casey who used to be in our band did not die. People have come up to us saying how sorry they were about us losing Casey Crescenzo [former guitar, vocals, keyboard, and ssequencing).

Yeah I thought it was someone in the band before I read further into the blog entry.

AC: Yeah, I guess some people didn't read further into it, they just saw Casey, drunk driver and dead.

This is the first stop on this headlining tour for you guys in support of the record. What do you guys have as far as goals, hopes and aspirations for this tour?

BB: I hope that people like to see us live. (laughs)

AB: I hope we don't slaughter the new songs. (laughs) No. I think that with the record coming out so close to this tour, I hope to see the kids getting into the new record and enjoy it. I think it would be cool if they could see the progress that all of us in the band can see. I really just think that it's a big test across the country because the record hasn't been out to give the fans a significant understanding. Obviously we love the new songs and are completely stoked, we just hope that we can play those songs for people who feel the same way, and I think that would be the greatest gift of all for me.

BB: Yeah and also this is the first time that we are going to have the chance to play the songs from the new record live. Like when kids come to a show to see a band they are coming to hear the songs from the record and gain an experience to add on to the record. In this case the kids haven't heard the songs before so hopefully these shows will be able to give them an experience that they can have so that when they go to listen to the new album they will have some anticipation and feelings about the songs.

What are your plans for after this tour? More touring, Warped Tour?

AC: We're going to stay on tour for sure; we haven't announced the tour we're going to do after this but once all the dates are confirmed and what not, we will announce it. It's going to be a full U.S. tour, and it will be really cool I think. Next year we'll be going to Australia for the first time, which we are pretty excited about, and eventually we'll make it back to the U.K. Then we'll probably do a lot more U.S. touring and hopefully this new record will catch on and hopefully it will take us into fall of next year and then we will begin writing a new record.

AB: Hopefully we'll pull a Maroon 5 and still be touring after 4 and half years.

BB: I think it was like 2 or 3 years for them.

Yeah, like the Metallica Black Album tour, I mean I think they toured for like 2 and half years straight.

AC: I actually looked up the routing of Black Tour on the plaque that they had the place that we got our record mastered. Yeah, we use George's right hand man to master our records and George has mastered Metallica, Guns N Roses, the Zepplin, Hendrix and AC/DC remasters. It's crazy, the waiting room between their two studios, there's a giant plaque with the 12 or 13 platinum records from the Black Album, and they have all the Black Album World Tour dates. You're looking at the dates and the time they had in between the dates and you wonder how they traveled like that. Like their in New York, then in Los Angeles, Denmark, Japan. It was just insane.

AB: I don't even what to think about how they did that.

Well they struck while the iron was hot, that's for sure. (laughs) 12 or 13 times platinum is pretty hot.

AC: Yeah I think that was in the 1 or 2 years too.

As a band what is the most accomplishing moment you guys have ever had?

AC: The first and only time we played Outlaw in Boston, for me was a big moment. It was at the end of the Circa Survive tour and it was a co-headlining show with them and it was the biggest show we've played in Boston, where we drew some of the people. I don't know; the vibe was just great and it was one of the best shows we've played to date. Also, finishing this record was a huge accomplishment because we had been through so much. People were assuming things about us, and that we were maybe going to break up and what not. It was just a big monumental step for us to finish this record and it being something we want it to be.

AB: Not to be too modest, but I remember driving home from Maryland after we did the first record and we had the demos and we listened to them completely through. You know when you've been in a band since 6^th grade and that's all you've done and that's all you've ever wanted to do. I think when we did the first record for me that hearing a full record that just you and your band mates did, it's like really hard to describe. It was just like a euphoric feeling that I'll never forget, and I'm not saying that finishing this record was any less of that.

AC: Yeah when you're used to going into the studio to record 3 songs or an EP or something like that, once you do your first album front to back, it was just a very conceptual moment. It was just like "Wow, here it is." It is like putting your first painting on your wall, and you stare at it and you're just like "Wow, I did that."

You guys mentioned who mixed your album; I just wanted to know who produced it and how was the recording process and how long was it? Just all that kind of stuff.

AC: Matt Squire.

BB: Yeah we used Matt for both records. He's been doing demos with us forever and when we did the first record with him he produced, recorded and engineered it and Yewie mastered it. Working with Squire is just a no brainer for us because we've being working with him for so long that if its not broken, then don't fix it. We've been working with him for so long that we sort of compliment each other. He's really into the music that we are into so he looks forward to working with us as we look forward to working with him. He comes up with great ideas for us and if we didn't use him we would want our records to sound like the ones that he produces. We just compliment each other so much that it's just brainless.

So just a personal relationship?

BB: Yeah, we're such great friends with him outside the music industry.

AC: He's definitely the sixth member of the band if we ever had one. When we have problems he's the first one we call and the first person we ask for advice.

AB: I think also that just working with him for so long we know the changes and the effects he's going to have on the songs. Even in the writing process, the never-ending process of polishing and changing parts of the songs, he is there helping us with it. I think we were revisiting parts until the last day of the record, and I think that was the best thing about this record.

What exactly does the name of the band mean, if it has a meaning?

AC: Well, right before we even met each other I was working at a pizza shop in my hometown and I heard sirens go by and the phrase itself popped into my head. I was just wandering where they were going and growing up in a small town you think what is the possibility of me knowing the person that the sirens are going to and usually I end up knowing the person in some way. I just thought about the idea of the phrase and how people don't really think about who is on the other end of the sirens when they go driving by and it's just out of sight out of mind. Like a lot of people don't step outside themselves and think about someone else and the fact that if it doesn't directly effect them then they don't care is just sad. People ask if it has to do with Greek mythology or the Odyssey or whatever, about the end of sirens and what not. It is similar to that but that isn't where the idea came from.

Due to the fact that you guys had a successful first album and you guys are now doing your own headlining tours to support your second album, do you feel pressured at all to deliver or just become better?

BB: I don't think that when we were writing the record we felt pressured at all.

AB: I don't know, I think we didn't feel pressure from other people to deliver a good album, but instead we felt pressure within ourselves if we thought this was a good enough album for ourselves and as a band. I think we've always been like that, maybe more so for this record then last. I think as far as feeling pressure from outside sources, it comes as an after-thought, once we've finished the record. Writing songs we like and playing songs every night that we enjoy playing is more important.

AC: When we went through our changes in our band we felt relieved and with the four of us and then five when we got Brian, we were just having so much fun that we weren't thinking about whether the kids are going to like this. We were just like "Let's write good songs," and the kids should like them and if they don't, something is wrong.

BB: I think this time around a lot of it was perspective, like what was really important and what wasn't so important. The most important thing is having happiness, love and friendship and if the band broke up tomorrow I would still have all of that, as cheesy as that sounds (laughs). There wasn't any pressure to get over the sophomore album tradition, we were just happy to be able to write music.

AC: If we sold a million records and we were pressured by our major label to make hits, then we would feel pressure, but we didn't have that. Of course we thought about our fans and what they thought, but at the end of the day we're making a record for ourselves and that is most important.

My last question I actually made up on the way here, and I was driving on 295 and I passed Camden Yards and the Orioles are playing.

AB: Go sox!

Exactly, yeah I was like "I'm sure their Red Sox fans." I was thinking, "What if they stop the show to watch the game?"

BB: Seriously we actually considered that.

AB: I said today "Virginia Beach, eh let's just cancel and go the next day." Our guitar tech and his whole family actually got a whole box at the game, so we could technically go.

I want to thank the guys in the band for talking to me and for being some cool dudes from Boston.

http://www.myspace.com/thereceivingendofsirens

http://www.theearthsingsmifami.com

http://www.triplecrownrecords.com/