Sirface
Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States
Music
Press
Sirface
A New Life
Sirface have been rocking Fort Wayne and the region for a number of years now, honing their craft and shaping themselves into one of the more established rock acts in the region. They tend to play the bigger shows in the area and often open for national headliners, but one thing they haven’t done in a while is release a CD. That’s changed now.
A New Life is Sirface’s first CD in five years and finds the band as you might expect them: more polished, more mature and, overall, better at everything they do. A few lineup changes, a lot of shows and some failed attempts at major-label “success” seem to have left the band hungrier than ever. The 16-track opus kicks off with “My Pain,” an angry but melodic rock song that would fit alongside just about anything you would hear on rock radio these days. You might say it is the perfect opening song. It represents a microcosm of the album as a whole – melodic rock with a cutting edge.
The musicianship of vocalist Jared Pagan, guitarist Denny Getrost, bassist Matt Hopkins and drummer Jason Hatzell is above average, and the band has obviously perfected the art of writing hooks. Sirface offer melody and variety amongst their big riffs and thunderous playing, allowing listeners to enjoy songs over and over again.
Stand-chugging “Broken” and the super radio-friendly “One More Day.” The band also successfully displays a mellower side to their music with the ballad “The Feeling.”
A New Life is jam-packed with melodic rock anthems and will surely stay in my CD rotation for quite some time. Repeated listening seems to always uncover something new in each song. The band has written and recorded some great songs here while still managing to capture the energy of their great live shows. Let’s hope it won’t be another five years before we get another CD from these local stars. (Chris Hupe)
Copyright 2009 Ad Media Inc.
- Whatz up magazine
Best Metal Rock Performer
30.83% Sirface*
18.93% Lollygaggers*
11.65% Second Sun*
11.17% Tested on Animals*
10.44% Interfold*
4.13% Tri State Killing Spree
1.94% Graves of the Endless Fall
1.21% Shunned
0.73% Fog
Others with Votes (more than one):
Dash Rip Rock, Dep Chamber, Downbreed, Naked Banshees, Sealing Pandora, Shroud, Sonorous
By the time I got to Jared Pagan, vocalist for the metal band, Sirface, to congratualte him on winning the Best Metal Rock Band Whammy, more than a few minutes had passed. Sirface had already won the Best Local CD Release by a rock band (For Reasons Unknown) and the total effect of the two was still making its way into his brain.
“I’m still in shock,” he said.
But by the time Pagan, guitarist Denny Getrost, bassist Matt Hopkins and drummer D.W. Harris took the stage for their set, Pagan had settled down enough to put on a blistering performance.
A metal rock band is a tough sell in many markets, and Fort Wayne is no exception. But for Sirface, the challenge of getting a fan base is part of what drives them.
“There could be more fans, but you need more of a metal scene and a venue to play in,” he said. “You’d be hard pressed to put a metal band in a hip hop oriented club. Fort Wayne has a good rock scene and a good hip hop scene, but there’s not a lot of heavy metal.”
For that, Sirface have had to look elsewhere. And to a good extent, they’ve found the scene they needed. On the strength of their single “Try,” Sirface got invited to the Mid West Mid Winter Meltdown with Seether, Ra, Socialburn and Noise Therapy. They’ve played on other national metal tours as well.
Pagan said they’re still looking for a label, but added that winning some Whammys should go a long way toward helping their credibility. “It’s like getting an official invite to the Fort Wayne music scene.”
- whatzup magazine
Best Metal Rock Performer
27.63% Sirface*
18.98% Second Sun*
15.98% Creep*
12.03% Graves of the Endless Fall*
8.08% Shunned*
3.57% Plow
2.07% Saints Never Surrender
1.50% Tri-State Killing Spree
0.94% Brother, Shroud
0.75% Cryptic, Descended, Sealing Pandora
0.56% Industrial Strength, Interfold, The Lurking Corpses, Severence
Others with Votes (more than one):
Cutthered Wire, Take Sides, Throwdown Inc.
2003 Winner: Sirface
2002 Winner: n/a
2001 Winner: n/a
2000 Winner: n/a
1999 Winner: n/a
1998 Winner: n/a
1997 Winner: n/a
* On the ballot Some bands manage to catch a break early on and get noticed by the right people almost immediately. For most artists, however, any “breaks” that come their way are the result of years of hard work and tenacity, mixed with resiliency to bounce back from the bad times.
Sirface, this year’s repeat winner of the Whammy for Best Hard Rock/Metal Peformer, is such a band. The members of Sirface are Jared “Paco” Pagan, vocals; Denny Getrost, guitar; Matt Hopkins, bass; Dave “DW” Harris, drums; and DJ Image, tables, samples. “We’ve been a band for seven years,” Pagan said. “There have been a few changes, but the new lineup has been solid for two and a half years.”
During that time, Sirface have not only made a name for themselves in Fort Wayne, but have also gained a lot of road experience. They’ve played in Los Angeles at the Ivar and The Viper Room and in New York at CBGBs.
“We’ve traveled coast to coast, hoping to play the right spot at the right time,” Pagan says of the road experience. Some of this “right place, right time” thinking has paid off. After their CBGB gig, Avenue Management of New York picked them up. They’ve played the Budweiser True Music Battle Of The Bands and, after two very solid shows, won.
Locally, Sirface have made a huge dent in the collective consciousness of the city’s music scene. Their debut CD, For Reasons Unknown, released in 2003, won the Whammy for CD Release of the Year that year. Altogether, the band found themselves nominated in five Whammy categories last year. They also took home awards for Best Metal Rock Performer and Best DJ/Turntablist. They have had music included on “X102’s Essentials volumes 3, 4, 6 and 7, performed at the last year’s Essentials CD release party and were chosen to open for Saliva at last year’s Three Rivers Festival.
“We’re ready to take our music on the road for our full-time job,” Pagan said, “but it’s awesome to win a Whammy again, ‘cause for two years in a row, it shows our hard work. Anything that shows appreciation for what we do and why we do it - it means we’re still noticed, and it’s good to be picked for these events. We’ve worked hard and it’s starting to pay off.
“Thank you very much for all your support, and we hope to make next year as exciting as the years in the past. We’re going back into the studio to do one tune, and we now have a management company. Hopefully, we’ll be back in New York doing some more stuff.” (John DeGroff)
- whatzup magazine
Sirface
A New Life
Sirface have been rocking Fort Wayne and the region for a number of years now, honing their craft and shaping themselves into one of the more established rock acts in the region. They tend to play the bigger shows in the area and often open for national headliners, but one thing they haven’t done in a while is release a CD. That’s changed now.
A New Life is Sirface’s first CD in five years and finds the band as you might expect them: more polished, more mature and, overall, better at everything they do. A few lineup changes, a lot of shows and some failed attempts at major-label “success” seem to have left the band hungrier than ever. The 16-track opus kicks off with “My Pain,” an angry but melodic rock song that would fit alongside just about anything you would hear on rock radio these days. You might say it is the perfect opening song. It represents a microcosm of the album as a whole – melodic rock with a cutting edge.
The musicianship of vocalist Jared Pagan, guitarist Denny Getrost, bassist Matt Hopkins and drummer Jason Hatzell is above average, and the band has obviously perfected the art of writing hooks. Sirface offer melody and variety amongst their big riffs and thunderous playing, allowing listeners to enjoy songs over and over again.
Stand-chugging “Broken” and the super radio-friendly “One More Day.” The band also successfully displays a mellower side to their music with the ballad “The Feeling.”
A New Life is jam-packed with melodic rock anthems and will surely stay in my CD rotation for quite some time. Repeated listening seems to always uncover something new in each song. The band has written and recorded some great songs here while still managing to capture the energy of their great live shows. Let’s hope it won’t be another five years before we get another CD from these local stars. (Chris Hupe)
Copyright 2009 Ad Media Inc.
- Whatzup magazine
Discography
2004 - Full length album "For Reasons Unknown"
2009 - Full length album "A New Life"
Photos
Bio
Sirface: Loud, fast, honest, broke Emma Downs The Journal... The members of local hard rock band Sirface are learning to collaborate. And it’s like “pulling teeth” – in a good way – they say. The proof, naturally, is in the music, a layered and aggressive brand of rock that is both emotional and fast enough to rattle your teeth. “We fight,” vocalist Jared Pagan says. “Horribly. But collaborating makes everything more musical, more accessible. And at the end of the day, what sounds best makes it onto the album.” “And just because you don’t dig something doesn’t mean it’s not good,” bassist Matt Hopkins adds. “You can’t be right all the time. … Well, I can.” Let the tooth-pulling begin. Next month, Sirface will release its first album in five years, an as-yet-untitled opus (currently boasting 16 tracks) that balances nicely between stomp and swagger and lyrical balladry. “This is the first band I’ve ever been in where everyone criticizes each other and nobody ends up mad,” drummer Jason Hatzell says. “And that comes across in the music. It’s honest music.” The band members – Pagan, Hopkins, Hatzell and guitarist Denny Getrost – hope the album brings them success, of course. More shows. More fans. But a little money wouldn’t hurt, either, especially for a band that describes itself as the “broke-est band in Fort Wayne.” “We’re musicians, not businessmen,” Hopkins says. “We’re in debt. We owe on top of the owing.” A handful of years ago, Sirface was the darling of the local heavy-rock scene, opening for national touring bands such as Saliva, Taproot and Static X. Since then, they’ve derailed slightly, preoccupied with lineup changes, bad financial decisions and failed attempts to break into major-label success. The majority of the money derived from their earlier success was funneled into touring – gas and hotel bills. “We’ll play anywhere,” Getrost says. “We’ll play a Laundromat. It’s true. Sudsy Malone’s in Cincinnati.” When gas hit $4 a gallon this summer, the band began to re-evaluate its commitment to touring. “We were traveling to South Bend to play a show for $30,” Hopkins says. “When gas cost us $80.” Recently, the band decided to stop performing in Fort Wayne temporarily. The band members live in Warsaw, Garrett and Antwerp, Ohio, so playing small regional clubs made more sense, Pagan says. “It’s hard to get out in Fort Wayne and generate a following,” he says. “When it comes to hard rock, there’s no place for it in Fort Wayne. We focused for years on trying to make a name for ourselves in Fort Wayne. But the bars aren’t paying and the people aren’t showing up.” “The market is too saturated,” Getrost says. “There will be 50 shows in one evening, with four or five bands playing at some of them. People don’t have to drive across town to see a band, when they can just go to their neighborhood bar or club.” Sirface is as devoted to their music as they ever were, continuing to kick out live sets without ever losing their energy. “Bartenders say they always know when we’re playing our set,” Hopkins says. “Because no one is buying drinks.” “Our live shows are where we shine,” Pagan says. “And it doesn’t matter if we’re playing for five people or 150. We want the crowd to feel what we’re playing. We’re not there to play a few songs and go home. “We want to pull the audience forward. We want to be able to watch the crowd and see all eyes focused on the music.”
Band Members
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