Ellie Everywhere: Seven Questions with Sirsy

Hey, folks! Sorry for being so late on this! I really hope that everybody is doing okay out there. I’m doing great, thanks.

So, can you guys guess what I have planned for you today?! A MINI-STORY!! I was at a fantastic gig called Nipperfest – sound familiar??! – Anyway, at Nipperfest, I saw a fantastic band called Sirsy play. I wanted to interview them, because they are great! The drummer and singer, Melanie, can play drums while standing up and singing!!!!!! The guitar player, Rich, is awesome too, but I don’t want to spoil the surprise!  Welcome to the stage, ( drumroll, please,) SIRSY!!!!!!!! 

Rich:

Hello!  How are you?

EE: Great! Thanks. I have seven questions. Seven very short questions. And they all have something to do with music.

Melanie:

Okay, sounds perfect.

EE: The first question is what is your favorite place to play a gig?

Melanie:

That’s a tough question. Well, I don’t know that I can name just one place. I would say playing shows at home is always fun. We love playing shows at home. I would say one of my other favorite places is the Bitter End in New York City. And I would say one of my other favorite places is the Mile of Music Festival in Appleton, Wisconsin.

Rich:

We also play a really fun room in Roanoke, Virginia, called Marins which is very, very cool.

EE: What are your music specialties?

Rich:

I wish I had one. I don’t I don’t feel like I know what I’m doing out there!  I play guitar and we do something a little tricky with the bass. So in a lot of the songs, I’m playing the bass part in the verse or the chorus; I’m playing it with what is basically a keyboard that I play with my feet. Kind of like when an organist would play the bass pedals with their feet.

Melanie:

My specialties are singing and drumming and playing the flute. And then we both play just a little bit of piano; I’ve been practicing piano a lot to try to get better at it. And I write a lot of songs on the piano but I don’t play it a lot live.  I have a little sample pad that is set up on my drums, set up like a piano.  I play really simple bass parts on that with my drumstick. And so then Rich and I kind of trade – we go back and forth. So half the time I’m doing it there and the other half he’s doing it with his feet on the pedals. So that’s how we play the bass parts.

EE: Okay! Question number three. What is your favorite place that you’ve traveled?

Melanie:

California

Rich:

Yeah, we love a lot of places we play in California. It’s just beautiful out there. Currently, we’re in the Seattle area, which is also very, very beautiful. Although I feel like whenever we’re here it’s a little cooler. 

Melanie: 

It’s freezing out today, and it’s really beautiful outside but we did not bring enough warm clothes.  There’s a place in central California, it’s called Los Osos. Which means ‘the bears’, although we’ve never seen a bear there. But there is a park there called Montana de Oro and it’s totally free to go to; you can go hiking which is one of the things we love to do in our free time.  So it’s one of our favorite places to visit because it has the ocean and it has all these big rocks along the edge of the coast of the ocean. And then the mountain is called Montana de Oro because there’s often these little yellow flowers along the mountain. So it makes the mountain look gold. You can hike up the mountain, and then you can see everything from the top and it’s beautiful, really beautiful. So that’s one of our favorite places.

EE: Great! Question number four. What made you decide to play music?

Melanie: 

Well, like you. I had musical parents. My dad was a piano player when I was growing up, and he played in a couple bands. And I used to sing with his band on stage when I was four or five years old. So I kind of always loved singing and I always loved music and I was a very, very shy kid when I was in school. I didn’t really come out of my shell unless I was in music class. Then I kind of had this alter ego or something where I felt more free and less afraid of things when I was making music. And so I tried to do all the music programs in the school. I was in all the school plays, things like that. And it was the place that I found myself to be happiest. So that’s what made me first start loving music.

Rich:

For me, it’s just always been a constant in my life. Music can make you laugh, it can make you cry, can give you goosebumps, and I’ve always had a lot of interest in a lot of different things but nothing that made me experience as much emotion as playing music. So I always loved that feeling and always kind of chased that, and feel lucky enough that we’re able to do it. 

EE: Okay, next questions. Where is your next show going to be, and what genre is it going to be?

Melanie: 

Our next show is tomorrow. And it’s in a town called Everett, Washington. In our genre, we call ourselves indie pop rock, with lots of soul and sass. That’s what we call ourselves. That’s a mouthful, right? Yeah. So our next show is tomorrow, which is Tuesday. But our next local show will be with your mom and dad (Super 400). We’re playing together at Putnam Place in Saratoga on December 17 to celebrate Jim Gilbert’s birthday. So it’s going to be a very fun night and it’s a free show, and everyone can come.

EE: Yeah!  Question number seven: What is your favorite thing to wear to a show and why?

Melanie:

Typically I wear a dress instead of pants. Not sure why, I never thought about it.

Rich:  Makes you feel like a rockstar? 

Melanie: Yeah, it makes me feel confident, I guess, and makes me feel like me. And then I wear usually a scarf around my neck instead of a necklace partly because I like scarves but also because I’m allergic to jewelry. So I can’t really wear necklaces because they give me an allergic reaction. And my favorite shoes to wear are my red cowboy boots because I just think they’re really fun, and they’re comfortable. 

Rich:

My favorite thing to wear is whatever Melanie tells me I’m wearing that day (laughs). We like to try to match our color schemes when we play so we look like we belong together. So generally whatever Melanie is wearing, I then have a choice of things that I own that match Melanie’s color scheme.

Melanie: 

I’m the boss of the outfits.

Rich:

Not just because we’re in a band but also because we’re married. So happy wife, happy life.

EE: Ok!  So that was all of my questions.

Melanie: That was all your questions?  That was pretty easy. So I have a question for you.  How was school today?

Ellie:

It was the usual but it was the end-of-the-month homework party.

Melanie: I never had a homework party. So what makes it a homework party?

EE:

Well, the people that do their homework get a party.  This time we ordered from Subway. Our teacher bought us stuff from Subway and we watched a movie during lunch. 

Rich:

So it’s a reward for you all doing your homework.

EE:

Yeah. 

Melanie: That’s pretty cool.  And what made you want to start playing music?

EE:

Really,  I just saw my parents always playing music and I thought it was cool. And then I realized that I wanted to do it too. 

Melanie: It’s fun, right? 

EE: Yeah. 

Melanie: Makes people happy. That’s one of the main reasons that I like to write songs; I like to see the look on people’s faces when we play a song that makes them happy. It’s a cool feeling, right?  To think you can make somebody’s day better. Are you excited for Christmas? 

EE: Yes. 

Melanie: Yeah, and what’s your favorite thing about Christmas?

EE:

My favorite thing about Christmas is probably how excited I get that I get to go to my family’s houses to open presents. And it just makes me feel happy.

Melanie: Yeah, we’re gonna be home for Christmas. So I’m excited because I miss my mom.  So I’m excited to see her for Christmas.  So what do you have planned for the rest of your day today?

EE:

For the rest of my day, I’m gonna do my homework. The rest of the things I’m going to do are basketball practice, eat dinner.  And if I’m lucky, I get my chores done early and then I get to do something fun

Melanie: That sounds like a good day. Yeah. Well, thank you for interviewing us.

Rich:

It was nice talking with you. Tell your mom and dad we said hi. Do your homework!

EE:

Okay!