Sleeping with Sirens – (3/25/11)

Sleeping with Sirens – March 25th, 2011 – Rocketown in Pompano Beach

For a band that formed a mere three years ago, Florida natives Sleeping with Sirens surely have come a long way. With over five member changes over the past two years, a relocation to Michigan, and a debut album that was number seven on the Billboard Heatseekers chart the band has most certainly gone through several changes since their 2009 conception. With their upcoming sophomore album release “Let’s Cheers To This” (May 10th) and the previous success of their debut “With Eyes To Hear and Ears To See” I was every eager to see what exactly sky rocketed Sleeping with Sirens from Orlando obscurity to a top 10 album debut.

From the reaction of the crowd from guitarist Jesse Lawson’s initial entrance on stage to the intense fan girling and boying that accompanied lead vocalist Kellin Quinn’s entrance I could tell the band’s die hard fans got them exactly where they are today.  A comment to the likeness of “I really want to hold Kellin’s hand while he’s singing” to the multiple “I LOVE YOU KELLIN!”s shouted from both male and female voices each overly eager look on each member of the audience set the tone for their performance.

The band opened with “Eyes to Hear and Ears to See” and within the first 10 seconds of the song the first six rows of the audience were already moving. As the band’s lead singer Kellin Quinn sang “True friends lie underneath, these witty words I don’t believe. I can’t believe a damn thing they say, anymore” his voice was nearly drowned out by the voices of the audience singing along in unison. He then effortlessly switched from singing to throaty screams that seemed out of character for his small stature. “Lie! Liar you’ll pay for your sins! Now! Liar I know all the places you’ve been!” he belted out while the song intensified and the crowd began to push back and forth profusely. Quinn quickly impressed with what he was able to do next, he returned to singing with out a second thought.  While most bands will just have two different people for the parts, it was impressive to see a single vocalist effectively fill both vocal roles in a live setting,

Then right before the band’s third song “In Case Of Emergency Dial 411” the band took the time to thank their fans for coming out to the show and supporting them while also announcing the name and release date of their new album and concluded by dedicating the song to each and every member of the audience. As “I can save you if you ask me, just ask me to. There’s hope for you tonight.” was sung by Quinn with enough unrivaled fervor and passion to set the room a blaze looks of intense satisfaction were on the panned across the front four rows. At this point in the band’s set the amount of movement and energy in the room wasn’t quite cutting it for the band. “With this next song I want to see everybody moving it’s called ‘Captain Tyin’ Knots’!” with the song being one of the heaviest tracks on “With Eyes to Hear and Ears to See”  the audience knew that was their queue to go absolutely ballistic. During the course of Quinn belting out “In this place I’m so afraid of, bring me back to life, I swear I wont let you down, Just one more chance I swear its all that I need” an space opened up in the middle of the room as nearly every audience member jumped up and down. While this appeared to be the pivotal moment of the song it came no were close to its ending. Shortly after Quinn’s voice filled the room with the words “I fall apart and it figures, It’s just the way I’ve always been” the song did a 180 as he wailed out a long and throaty “YEAH!” and threw himself into the crowd and was abruptly swallowed by a sea of hands while backing up guitarist Lawson yelling “These things I’m so afraid of they don’t mean a thing!”

This pace was kept up through the course of the song “The Bom Dot Com” from bassist Justin Hills’ stage antics of splits and head stands and flinging his bass around (all while still playing) to the amount of times Quinn would lean into the audience and grab a hold of a few hands. Looking out into the crowd it was obvious that the song was reverberating through out the entire venue filling the entire audience with the desire to move. As Quinn said “We’ve got one more song left and it’s called ‘If I’m James Dean Then You’re Audrey Hepburn’” the vast majority of the audience began to look towards their friends or significant other with an excited look on their faces. While looking into the crowd Quinn held the mic out towards the crowd and began to mouth the words and gesture to sing along which caused the crowd to immediately take on a choir like sound while singing “Stay for tonight. If you want to, I can show you what my dreams are made of…” acapella right before the band kicked in and Quinn began to belt out the verse again. As the song reached its pivotal chorus “They say that love is forever, your forever is all that I need, please stay as long as you need” it was apparent that many were screaming the words at the top of their lungs in unison with Quinn. The song ended with an unexpected bang as Lawson abandoned his guitar, joined Quinn to sing “I couldn’t love just anyone, I was created to love just one baby”, and finally jump into the crowd at the song’s end.

After seeing Sleeping with Sirens live and giving their debut album a few good listens I now understand how they sky rocketed from the local Orlando scene to being on a consecutively sold out tour supporting Of Mice & Men. For one their lead vocalist Kellin Quinn has a great vocal range which meshes well with the melodic post-hardcore song structure of the band. But more importantly their undying love and appreciation for their fans is the number one thing that stood out to me as their wow factor. While many bands may thank their fans on stage repeatedly and meet them after shows not many did what Sleeping with Sirens did. Shortly after the tour’s headliner Of Mice & Men’s set ended the band gathered their fans together in front of the venue and played their songs acoustic for them. They even went the extra mile and made up a song on the spot for them called “The Slong Song” This most certainly made the band stand out for me and also help me understand their short success.

Overall, Sleeping with Sirens put on an excellent live show as well as went the extra mile for their fans which all got them where they are today. I genuinely look forward to their next release and future tour plans as well as hope they come back to Florida on their next tour. If you live in Florida or in any of the cites listed here you can catch them on the remaining dates of the Artery Foundation Tour with Of Mice & Men, I Set My Friends on Fire, Woe, Is Me, and The Amity Affliction.

Recommended for fans of: A Skylit Drive, Closer 2 Closure, Pierce the Veil
Rating: 5/5
Would I pay to see them again?: With out a doubt
Set list: (In order)

• With Eyes To Hear and Ears To See
• You Kill Me (In A Good Way)
• In Case Of Emergency Dial 411 + the chorus of Big Gulps Huh?… Well, See You Later added to the end
• Captain Tyin’ Knots vs. Mr. Walkway (No Way)
• The Bomb Dot Com V2.0
• If I’m James Dean, You’re Audrey Hepburn