Back in Summer 2014, Andy Howells chatted with Sarah Perryman of 1940s homage vocal trio The Siren Sisters as the group released their debut album, Now and Then.
The Siren Sisters were formed in 2010 and have appealed to audiences young and old. The trio have based their success on a true representation of the 1940s era and made numerous performances on television, radio and their successful theatre show Christmas With The Siren Sisters. Such has been their popularity the trio recently went into the recording studio to put together their first album.
"Its been a long time in the making really." says founder member Sarah Perryman, " we kind of dilly dallied with a few EP's to sell at Christmas time for our theatre tours, but then we decided we wanted to do an album. People kept asking me for it and in the end We've been doing it for long enough we felt we really do need to have one."
Anyone who has seen The Siren Sisters live on stage will know of their attention to detail with their 1940s inspired hair, dresses and shoes. Their attention to detail is followed through on their debut album featuring songs originally popularised by Al Bowlly, Bing Crosby and The Dinning Sisters. The album entitled Now and Then features ten songs from the classic era recorded in the first instance using modern recording techniques and then repeated and remixed again with a more vintage feel (complete with record crackles and mono overtones).
"Basically people love those songs. We have a really wide audience base of older people that love what we do and a really big younger following as well," says Sarah, " I couldn't decide whether to use all the modern technology available or go for the more vintage sound but then risk compromising on the quality so i had the idea of having two versions of each song so the audience can decide to listen to the songs as they would sound now or listen to them as our interpretation as what they would have sounded like then."
Sarah maintains that although The Siren Sisters may be inspired by the wonderful music of the bygone era they are still rooted firmly in the present,"All the way along I've always wanted to honour the songs. I haven't really messed with the songs too much in terms of modernising them because they're well loved. Its always about bringing it up to date and looking forwards so that younger people can join with older people and celebrate the same music together. Its a bit of artistic licence as well, our costumes aren't actually from the 40s, I wouldn't want to wear them because they'd probably rip in two minutes!"
Sarah hopes some of the songs featured on the album will also enlighten audiences to some long lost hits of a golden era, "We wanted some songs that were well known songs like Run Rabbit Run and a mixture of British and American as well. I didn't want it to be all well-known songs that you'd find on someone else's swing style album. I wanted it to be some of the more obscure songs from girl groups like the Dinning Sisters who perhaps weren't commercial in the way that The Andrew Sisters were. A lot of their music hadn't had the same exposure I almost love their stuff more."
- The Siren Sisters new album Now and Then is available from their official website.
- A version of this interview appeared in The South Wales Argus entertainment supplement The Guide during July, 2014
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