City Sirens

By Adam Grant

Musical youngens are usually painted with an unfair brush when
you consider that most teen acts are either Disney affiliated ones
like the Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus, or candy coated crap like
an early Britney Spears. All have huge marketing teams, a
money–driven game plan, and a taste for tween blood.
If you allow yourself to get beyond that garbage though,
you’ll realize that the notion of starting a rock band in your teens
with genuine intentions and passion is alive and well — just ask
Hamilton’s City Sirens.

Primarily developed through the band’s high school years,
this quintet — Mike Dias (vocals), Fraser Reilly (guitar), Eric
Ruscinski (bass), Ryan Pellicciotta (guitar), and Jake Nicolle
(drums) — have different expectations than the aforementioned
pop–teen crowd.

While the group has enough hooks within their rock/ska/hip
hop influenced tracks, goals here don’t include major labels or
big time stadium shows just yet. Sure, one could argue that a
band this young shouldn’t worry about such things so early, but
when it comes to discussing age with City Sirens, it’s as if such a
band footnote isn’t something that the guys are all too concerned
about.

“The band’s majority is 18–years–old with the exception of
Jake, who’s 17. "

If anything, we think that our age is a great thing;
one could judge solely based on our current age but could also
realize that we are just starting out and have tons to learn and
huge, huge dreams,” says Ruscinski.

“Hopefully our music is viewed as good for our age group in the industry but again we
don’t mind if it isn’t — this is us at this stage in our lives."

“It comes down to priorities. So many musicians expect to
make things happen without making music their number one
priority. There are too many artists these days that have to
balance music with a day job. It’s important for younger kids to realize that you can’t rush things and things happen for a
reason,”

he continues when discussing the advantages of starting
a band while young.

“It’s important for younger musicians to
have it in their head that it is not always necessary to spend a ton
of money on a recording or on equipment, do what you love to do
and don’t let people tell you what is important.”

Available on January 9 is City Sirens’ debut LP In A Trance.
The end result of an eight–month writing and recording process,
this initial effort for the band had its share of challenges along
the way. Even though the less than a year time frame for making
an album sounds short, it really only took this long because the
studio in which the band first started the process in was in the
midst of shutting down, thus leading to many delays.

As Ruscinski recalls, “To put it in perspective, we recorded drum
tracks in May of ‘08 and mastered the album on December 16.”
In spite of the challenges that got in the way, Ruscinski and
company appear to be confident in the fact that they made an
album that is true to their hearts, that they hope audiences can
embrace however they wish. Overall, City Sirens just hope that
this album allows people to understand what the band stands for.
“It was a great challenge for us meeting Mike our singer and
Jake only a few months before starting the process, taking them
into the band and growing a ton closer as friends as we recorded
the album,” notes Ruscinski. “I think we really feel that we have
learned a lot as people and musicians in this process as we
encountered tons of bumps in the road, and I mean tons. I once
heard from a friend that there is a reason it is called a record and
that is because it is a record of the feel towards life and the feel
towards music that you are in when writing and recording it. We
really think In A Trance fits the statement perfectly.

“The initial vision was to record the songs and see where
they take us,” he adds. “We were young when we started the CD
and have learned a huge amount since. We definitely grew as
musicians throughout the process and were constantly finding
ways to improve things. The end result surpassed our
expectations going in.” - The View Magazine (Hamilton ON)

Teen band set to release first CD
January 08, 2009
Graham Rockingham
The Hamilton Spectator
(Jan 8, 2009)

The Hamilton teen music scene is filled with talented, bright-eyed kids hoping to hit the big time.

They rehearse in suburban basements, write some angst-dripping songs and get together with three or four like-minded bands a few times a year to play the early shows at all-ages venues such as the Casbah.

The shows tend to draw well, mostly from loyal high-school friends. Close relatives come, too. There are always a few parents lurking in the corners, sipping beer and trying not to be too conspicuous or judgmental.

The really ambitious bands scrape together enough money to cut an album to sell at their shows.

City Sirens is one of those bands. Releasing its debut CD tomorrow at the Casbah, City Sirens is made up of five recent graduates from St. Jean de Brebeuf and Saltfleet high schools (OK, Jake the drummer is still in Grade 12). But they don't fit the typical emo suburban mould. City Sirens's self produced album, In A Trance, is strong on melody, drawing on influences such as Incubus, Sublime, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, as well as the Beatles and The Who.

But there's something more that sets this band apart from the rest.

City Sirens has a business plan. And it's not something they paid some management company to prepare. They put it together themselves.

A business plan isn't something usually included in a press kit. If a band is savvy enough to put a press kit together, it will usually contain an advance copy of the CD, a glossy photo and some bio notes filled with more mystery than facts. Usually a band will just send an e-mail directing you to a myspace site ... or forget to contact you at all.

It would be easy to write City Siren's business plan off as charming, or worse, cute. What makes it real, however, is its down-to-earth aspirations.

For example. Under the category "Goals set for our Grand Opening," the plan lists the following objectives -- "effectively promote the CD release and draw 300 people to the event. Sell 500 copies of our product by the two-month mark of the opening. Successfully put together a merchandise line that can be sold privately as well as online."

The plan further maps out future goals in terms of out-of-town gigs and promotions (Toronto, Brantford, Peterborough and Montreal), as well as disbursement of funds in case of band "termination."

The author of the business plan is Eric Ruscinski, an 18-year-old Saltfleet grad who plays guitar and keyboards for City Sirens when he's not working in the kitchen of an east mountain eatery.

Ruscinski's been studying the music business for the past couple of years, attending industry conferences and reading everything he can find on the subject.

"Because we're young, I think it's important," Ruscinski says about his band's business plan. "I just want to make sure people know that we're taking it very seriously. I don't want to be categorized because of my age."

They may seem like baby steps, but the band has set up achievable goals and is on track for reaching them. The merchandise is on hand. The final mastering of the CD was done just in time. The free pizza has been ordered for tomorrow's show. Ruscinski even convinced an Argentinian artist (Julian Cardozo) he met online to provide the CD's cover art. It's not bad. Neither is the album.




Showtime

What: City Sirens CD Release party for In A Trance, with Gin Rummy, Left From Right and Life Ever Since

When: Tomorrow, 4:30 p.m.

Where: Casbah, 306 King St. W. at Queen

Cost: $8 at the door, CDs and T-shirts for $10. Pizza included

Web: myspace.com/citysirens


- The Hamilton Spectator