DoubleView of Siren at Rocklahoma 2014

DoubleView of Siren
at Rocklahoma 2014

**This band has now changed their name to Mycah**

Devon Mycah giving the "Evil Eye"

Siren, a small band from Santa Clarita and Huntington Beach, is comprised of seventeen year olds still completing high school. Devon Mycah (lead vocals) was energetic on stage; her intense charisma compensated--but didn't hide--her nervousness. However, she performed like she was born with a microphone in hand. Clear and upper-ranged, her voice soared over the Retrospect Stage and touched the hearts of even the drunkest audience members.

Siren performed at about one thirty in the morning and somehow still managed to wake up the crowd with their hardcore rock and incredible stage presence. Clearly a financially backed band, the youngsters had matching guitars and merchandise to sell. 

Michael Gavrizescu singing backup vocals

Being around all these professionals at a festival like Rocklahoma can be a nerve-wracking experience. “It is really overwhelming dealing with people that are twice your age…because they’ve been doing this much longer than my band has.” says Mycah. “I guess it’s a lot of pressure because people expect you to act like you are twice your age when you’re playing out there.”

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So how did these Los Angeles high school juniors turn up at Rocklahoma? Turns out they played hooky and drove out there during the week. For shame (even though I played hooky to come, also)!

Harley DeWinter

Their performance was phenomenal, energy filled, and just plain, good old fun. The music is extremely well written and catchy; Siren impressed me and I wanted to buy their music. Although Siren has yet to release an album, Mycah did have some excellent news to reveal. “We just finished recording our debut album and it should be coming out in the fall and we’re still talking with a couple of different record labels…which we’re super excited about.”

Siren has quite a mixed sound, experimenting with different styles and obviously still trying to settle on one that works. The album, Mycah says, “will be pretty diverse. I think that Siren has a very unique sound, like we have the ’80s thing going on; we have the post hardcore sound. It’s just a mixture of all these influences because of the band members in Siren. It gives it a nice, unique flair.”

Okay, so they are releasing a new album soon! How the heck did they have time to record an album during the school year? I mean, all I do is write a blog and I can hardly keep up (and I’m a freshman, which means school is easier)!

“Gosh, oh gosh, it’s crazy at times,” Mycah exclaims when asked about balancing school and the band. “It’s really time consuming because you just want to be in the studio all the time and it’s hard to be like, ‘Okay, we have to cut it here tonight because we have school in the morning.’ That’s really dumb! I feel like I’m being cut off, I’m being held back, because education is important, but I do feel like there’s this cut-off point there.”

Devon Mycah crowd surfing during her set

Of course, another struggle is what will happen to Siren after high school. There’s obviously the college factor, and working. Mycah states, “I think it’s different for everyone. I know our parents want us to have a really good education and they want us to have a back-up plan because being a rock star is really iffy. You just don’t know if you’re going to make it. But, I definitely want to have a degree; I wanna have a degree in music business because it’s still music related. It will help me out in the long run.”

She brought up parents, and that can definitely be a major problem in young bands. Thankfully, Mycah says, “Our parents are very supportive of what we want to do and you need that to be successful at a young age.” When a band with talent like Siren receives support from their parents, the band can go far. Siren is taking those first few steps toward stardom in the music world and their parents definitely help the talent move along.

Siren is SO talented, yet so young. How long can bands that good have been together? Usually, a band would need quite a few years to become so cohesive and solid, but these kids are seventeen, so they can’t have been together that long. “We’ve been together for about two years,” Mycah begins, “but together with this unit, maybe about six months. It’s pretty fresh…but it sounds so amazing.” Woah. SIX MONTHS?! Continuing, she says, “I think that’s why I like this group of people so much. It’s because it just came together so well and so fast. I couldn’t ask for anything better.”

Denise Gavrizescu

A band that starts so quickly can easily end just as quickly. However, Mycah believes in Siren’s longevity. “I think every band has friction. It’s like you and your best friend, you know? You wanna spend every waking moment together; then, you get in a fight and it’s like you come back and you’re like, ‘Oh, I love you, I miss you,’ and that’s how I feels it’s like with the band. It’s a marriage. You have to be committed to each other. Otherwise, it’s not gonna work.”    

Devon Mycah and Harley DeWinter

So far, Siren is maintaining their marriage well, and they are an amazing band live. I know I keep saying they’re good for seventeen year olds, but they’re good for twenty-seven year olds or thirty-seven year olds. They’re just awesome musicians!

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Zoe Adler is a music journalist from Long Beach, California. Besides her website, which is her pride and joy, she works with the GRAMMY Foundation and the Long Beach Independent. Additionally, Ms. Adler is a musician, spending half of her time playing the flute, piccolo, trombone, and marching baritone. She has been with TeenView Music since the very start and hopes to make something of it in the future.