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WEHM All Access - Sirena-Lee Carey Interview · WEHM All Access

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's W E H M All Access as we uh get to know the performers of this year's uh Stand Harbor American Music Festival.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I can't wait for Sirena Lee Carey, who will uh be performing part of this uh festival lineup for this year, and uh want to welcome in uh Sirena, how are you?
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: I'm doing so good.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_01: How are you?
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Very good.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for doing this.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate uh some time to to get to know you as we uh get ready for the performance.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I guess I want to start because you're you're from Sack Harbor, born and raised.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: I was.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: That's uh that's great, and then you've seen this festival grow.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Have you performed at the uh Sac Harbor American Music Festival before?
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: Or no, I haven't.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: Oh well, this is your first chance to do that, and it's happening at Cape Pasta.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: And uh good opportunity to get to know you, a bit uh you were born and raised in St.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: Harbor, but I guess when did you start I guess falling in love with music as an artist?
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, from a really young age.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: So I I think I was around like 12 years old when I wrote my first like song.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but uh ever since then, it's honestly just writing in general that has been like one of my the loves of my life.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: What was kind of the experience that made you feel like music was gonna be a part of your life?
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Do you remember that moment when you were like, I need to do this or need needs to be a part of it?
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, singing has always been something that's that's super important to me.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like I would I would camp out in the bathroom as a child and just like because the acoustics in the bathroom, as every singer knows, are just somehow the best acoustics you can possibly get.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: So I would camp out in the bathroom and just like sing my head off.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: And my parents would be like, Sirena, it's nine in the at night, go to bed.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um but I've always loved singing, I've always really loved writing, and it felt very natural to combine the two.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: What were you listing as it we as you were growing up?
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: Were you surrounded by music in your family, in your house?
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: Or what what was kind of the influences that when you were?
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: Well, my mom really loves anything 80s, I know.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, 80s, 70s, and then my dad is like super big into country.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so uh it's kind of like kind of came at from a happy medium between the two, I feel like my sound.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I growing up really loved uh Taylor Swift, as everyone who knows me knows.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um not as much anymore.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, like I I do I like her still, but uh my influences have been more towards like jam band type of music recently.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um so like things like Goose and like Grapeful Dead.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Nice.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Well, what was it like when you first, because you mentioned you really like to write.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um what were do you remember your first song that she wrote?
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: Or the kind of in the beginning?
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: Oh man.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um it was about a boy that I really liked at the time who had was on my bus in the morning, and I it was like an unrequited love song um because he did not like me.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: But you know.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: Now, when did you did you study uh I guess some singing lessons or how how did you um kind of start to develop your craft?
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I mean, singing was always just something that I just did all the time anyway.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: Like I would walk through the hallway at school and just like with my earbuds in, and and I would literally just sing to myself walking around.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I think people thought I was a little crazy.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but uh in terms of like singing lessons and things like that, I'm I'm I never really had much of a formal education in terms of music.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's always just been something that has been a creative outlet for me.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, how do you find yourself recently?
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: Do you find yourself writing songs, I'd imagine, and kind of starting to uh put together your music?
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I um it's kind of been a godsend for me recently.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: This summer I I've gotten much back into um performing live again, um, which has been really, really fun.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: I haven't really I took like an extended hiatus from from music for a little while there.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: I just like got a little burnt out.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: There's like, I don't know, it's like a rocky relationship with it because I I always really loved it, but there was a lot of pressure from my um like my parents growing up towards it.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: So I just ended up taking a step back from it and just recalibrating.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I came back to it because it's just something that I can't stop doing.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um but yeah.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'm glad you did.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh during that time off, did you still write?
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: So were you so over the time that I I took like five years of just focusing on other things, of working, um, drawing.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um and in that time, I it it was always something that every time that I had something in my life that I needed to process, uh it would always come out in a song.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: And over the five years, I think I wrote like like 50 songs or so.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: So I've I've got a lot of stuff to record right now.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it yeah.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: When did you uh how long ago did you come back to music?
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um honestly, like I want to say a year ago.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: Oh wow, two years ago.
• 5:03
  unknown: What was it?
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: So relatively recent.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: But what was it like to get back to performing after some time off?
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: It was a little nerve-wracking at first, but um it's just something that I I really love to do.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: So it's it's been exhilarating coming back to it.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: That's great.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what do you have planned for uh for Capasa, part of the Sag Harbor American Music Festival?
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, do you kind of have a plan for the set?
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: I do.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: So it's it's gonna be all originals.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's an hour set, so I'm I'm super excited.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's a whole bunch of different songs that uh range from being about heartbreak to uh being about like new love to being about growing up um and like finding yourself again.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: So it's it's it's gonna be a good set.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: I'm really excited.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: I'm performing with um uh Silas Jones and Julian Link Morris, who are both gonna be on guitar with me.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I'm super excited.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: They're both super talented.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: No, that'll that'll be great.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: Now, do you want to get I guess get more you said you have like 50 songs that you want to now get down and in and during the time off uh any plans to kind of put together an album or just start releasing songs?
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: So I have plans to release a new song um over the winter.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's called Circling the Drain.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I've I have it posted, like the the raw version of it, I have it posted on TikTok and Instagram.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I'm super excited.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's mixed and mastered and ready to go.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: I just need to uh record a couple things to go along with it visually.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: Do you enjoy the whole uh social media and marketing aspect of it?
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_01: Or honestly, I do.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: I I really like video editing.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's such a fun um like craft.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's uh it's really and it's such an important aspect of an artist uh that didn't exist.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah, especially in modern day, 100%.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's the the landscape of music as a career is just it's so immensely different than it was um even 10 years ago.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: What I find interesting is uh getting a chance to speak with a lot of different artists that are performing at the festival.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's great to talk to all the different generations, and you're kind of part of that younger set of this.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: Where what artists uh did you grow up listening to or did you kind of run into along your your path um that have been here for a while, kind of the elder statesman, so to speak, or the elder stateswoman of of of the East End music scene.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: Who kind of inspired you along the way?
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, well, my mentor growing up was Paul Mahas, um, who had a band called New Life Crisis.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I when I was 17 or 18, I would go and perform with him.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: I was like opening for him um during all of his shows, which was such a fun experience.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: He's an incredible, like kind-hearted individual and like such a genuine person.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's really he's amazing.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: But I was tagging along with him for a while.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_01: He helped me record my first single, It's All True, um, which is out on Spotify and Apple Music and everywhere that you can listen to music.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but uh a lot did a lot with him.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: I love Nancy Atlas a lot.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: I think she's incredible.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, obviously Silas and Julian have been incredible.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: That that's more recent.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like I met them at an open mic, actually, at uh MJ Dowling's in Sag Harbor, um, and over the winter, and I kind of walked up to them and I was like, hey, you guys, my goal for the end of the year is Sag Harbor Music Festival.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: How would you like to to help me with that?
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: And they were amazing and they agreed, and it's happening, which is really exciting.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: How does the how does that work?
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: Did you do you have to apply or how does Kelly so there's an application process, um, which I went through and I was I was a little bummed because I didn't hear back for a little while and I was like, oh man, I I didn't get it, but it's it is what it is.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: And then I I got a message and they were like, hey, so we we would love to have you.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: And and I was so I jumped around my bedroom and like and just screamed.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: How did you how did you meet Paul Mahause?
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so Paul has been a family friend for a while.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, my dad was like super big into the music scene uh when I was growing up, and um he knew that I loved music, so he kind of uh introduced me to him and um Paul like took me under his wing and just sort of showed me the ropes a little bit, which was really, really awesome of him.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's interesting to watch the uh the music scene out here grow and evolve over the years, and there's there's a lot of talent, and it's great to see you uh becoming a part of it again.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back after uh after five years in the the past year.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: I'm excited to be here.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: Do you have uh do you have certain goals you want to achieve as you continue?
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: I obviously want to be putting out the song next winter, but uh what do you kind of want to focus on in the in the future?
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think recording is is a big uh goal for me.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: I I want to release more music um and focus on building up like kind of a group, a community online.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um I would really love to write more about uh world events that are happening right now.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like it's it's really important for us as artists to like speak out about what we believe is right.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I've been wanting to write more about um things that we can all kind of um understand and come to uh an agreement on.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: I find it interesting.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: You were away for five years not performing, and obviously we're writing stuff still, but how is it how did it change for you when you came back?
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: Because you had such a different perspective, I'd imagine.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, I kind of grew up over like the last five years.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: So it's um it's it's really interesting to come back to it with fresh eyes, um, and be able to like share my work with people.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I feel like over the past five years I've I've done a lot of grinding in terms of improving my skill set.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: So like my guitar skills and my just writers in general, like finding new ways to say things in um it's it's been it's been a really necessary period of growth, I think.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: No, that that's great because you are you're a different person now from five years ago or or six years ago as you're doing this for the past year.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: 100%.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: What would you say to someone who's uh kind of when you were starting out and and working with Paul Mahas, I'd imagine, and in when you first started the ego, what would you say to those those people as far as advice goes?
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: The younger set that's just starting to think about doing what you're doing right now?
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um honestly, just focus on the music.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's it's such the the landscape online, especially for musicians right now, feels very overwhelming and bleak because there it's such an oversaturated market.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um so doing it and having the end goal of a career in mind is is can be disheartening and it can like burn you out.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_01: But I think that it's important to focus on what music means to you as a musician, as an individual, as an artist, uh, rather than you know, clicks rather than views.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's that part is secondary and it comes naturally if you are really putting out things that you yourself are proud of and things that you feel like you put your heart and soul into.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Sirena Lee Carey at K Pasa attack.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, come get a margarita.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be fun.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: That part of the Sack Harbor American Music Festival this year.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: Congrats, first year doing it.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: And we can't wait to uh to follow your career as you get this going.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: And uh thank you for coming on.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: Really nice to get to know you.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for having me.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: It was nice to meet you.