Recording

2010 has treated us rather well. We have all tried our hardest to be a prolific band, considering the number of members and the different schedules. The positive response we get after every performance never ceases to amaze us and the opportunities presented to us are nothing less than a blessing. With the two-year mark (of S&S as a band) approaching in June, we have set some goals for 2010--the completion of our album and a CD release party.

This is truly a band that was initiated by music lovers trying to share their love for music, a group who never planned out or expected anything beyond that. In fact, the idea of recording an album never occurred to us. Sure, we had GarageBand on our iMacs, and didn't mind tinkering with it in order to provide online access to our tunes, but even that was taken lightly. A shift slowly happened upon our second recording (Suburban Ring-a-Ling) and in my opinion it was primarily due to the contribution of Matt Gajewski. Once Matt joined the band and we mentioned recording a 2nd song, he presented to us his version of minimalism, incorporating quality software and actual mics. I recall Matt apologizing for not being able to provide more but we all just laughed because we knew the recording process would be different from that point on. For our next 3 singles Matt brought in local composer and fellow Van*Gloria bandmate, Luke Moellman. The recordings got better and better. Luke believed in the sound so much so that he offered to be a major part of the final product. Slowly but surely the tracks are being laid down and Sirens & Sealions is focusing on larger paying gigs in order to get this album completed. I hope you guys enjoy this video blurb of one of the long drum sessions with drummer and engineer Jorge Balbi.

Breaking the language barrier with ALTOPARLANTE!

After the Borscht Film Festival, you guys had no problem showing some love via Facebook and MySpace! AHHHHHH loved it! Out of all the ladies and gents that gave shoutouts and expressed their positive comments, I met Maria Fernanda, a gal delved in local media production. She is currently involved in a couple of independent production companies and when she heard us perform at the Borscht, she recommended us for an online show, Altoparlante. The name of the show is a translation of "loudspeaker." Anyway, the program will only be available online and is based around the exposure of local bands. Live performances are recorded, followed by a short silly interview and a lot of unexpected surprises.

Here is another vlog of our experience on the set and we will most definitely keep you guys updated when the Altoparlante video premieres in about a month. Much love!

An Apple a day, lets the music play!

February has been an insane month for us sea creatures. We started off the year by making our single, Tumbleweed, available on iTunes. I wanted to promote the single the right way and made sure to schedule an Apple store performance in what I believe is one of the most crowded of the Apple shops in Miami, the Lincoln Rd Mall location. Unlike other performances, we decided to keep this one low key and were very curious to play to an audience that has never heard our sound before! The result was, at one point, a completely silent Apple store hanging on every word of one of our newest songs, Hopeful Heart. The silence was broken only by a concluding applause and we couldn't have been happier with the overall response.

Here is a video of the evening's events and we will be coming back to the location once we have more songs available on iTunes! A big thanks to the Apple team @ the Lincoln Rd location, you guys were amazing!

Tickles & Tunes

Tickles and Tunes was a great local success. We had a great turnout and the evening was filled with tunes by local artists like Anita Bertollini, Bridget + Luke, and Jesse Jackson. We also heard the comedic styling of local comedians Jessica Gross and Daniel Reskin. We would like to thank the residence of Coral Gables, South Miami, and West Kendall for driving out despite the holiday season and joining us in our last show of 2009! It was a blast!

2009 Borscht Film Festival

I actually decided to banter in this video blog, so that's why it's longer. I hope you enjoy us being ridiculous 'cause that word pretty much describes how we felt all night. We had an amazing time at the 2009 Borscht Film Festival and would like to thank Lucus Leyva and Andrew Hevia for thinking of us to perform. Quite the experience guys, and it's something really special that you guys are doing in this city! The blog will say it all!! Oh, and P.S. in the blog I uttered the number 600, but when I found out, we actually played for about 1,000+ or so people before the theater reached its max 1,600 capacity..Crazy!!! Biggest crowd ever for a lot of us local bands! If you missed it, we expect to see ya December 12th. The audience was amazing and we were completely foreign to a great amount of them. It was amazing to receive such an honest, unbiased response. It let us know we are doing something right, so thank you guys for enjoying the music and searching for us online. Your comments are much appreciated and super heartwarming! DECEMBER 12TH GUYS. IT'S NOT THE GUSMAN, BUT ITS A KILLER LINE-UP FOR 5 BUCKS, UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL, AND WE CAN ACTUALLY HANG!

(Recap/Commentary by Jo at the end of the video)

WE ARE IN LABOR!

Today was an interesting rehearsal; we are finally getting together a song written by our drummer and also trying to untangle the possibilities of another ballad. The new song sounds nothing like our old stuff but this is why we are so stoked about it, you guys won't know what hit ya. We just have faith in the loyal listeners to expect the quirky and unexpected from us frivolous sea creatures and enjoy the tunes.

This rehearsal I gained pride in being tambourine girl. These roles are sometimes underestimated but I kid you not, when you play with Daniel Higuera, a wrong tambourine hit could mean your life. Hahaha. He knows how to remind you that every percussive sound counts and better be tight--love that! Nick, the leading man whose voice makes the gals go giddy up, is still in the search of his inner heart-throbness. Haha we were assisted by Yannick Calleiro on bass today and we will have him the day of the show, so please--nothing but warmth for the foreign bearded fellow, guys. He's definitely stepping it up in Gerry's temporary absence.

Overall it was 4 hours of me in a room with lots of testosterone, but you gotta love these guys cause they love you! Check out the video blog to make more sense of banter!

LAST ACOUSTIC SET!

We sea creatures never really indulge in live performances, primarily because of our hectic schedules and these past two months (without our drummer Daniel Higuera) have not been any different. We took things at our own suburban pace and only played 2 shows in West Kendall. We also had the pleasure of working with RevMiami and their Big City Breakdown series, which was suitable for our acoustic sound at the time. I am happy to announce that Daniel Higuera will be returning to us in December and we will be performing a couple of new songs at The American Legion building inside of Harvey's By the Bay. I (Jo) took it upon myself to welcome back Daniel with a show I'm putting together. The night will consist of some of Miami's finest DJs, stand-up comedians (Daniel Reskin and Jessica Gross) and of course musical acts (featuring: Jesse Jackson and band, Sirens and Sealions, Bridget + Luke, and a possible surprise guest!).

In this video blog we say farewell to Kendall acoustic sets for a while and give a big thanks to the epitome of local supporters. You guys are amazing and not only come out to shows that are a block away from the familiar suburban settings, but you also drive your butts 20 miles away for Downtown, North Miami and South Beach shows. The support and feedback is indescribable and here is some footage of our Starbucks performance. Keep a look out for your own face 'cause Danny is a camera fiend and has no mercy! Hahaha. He is the man for putting these video blogs together so efficiently, so please comment on his work and on the blog in general!