Talking Dreams and Success with Echosmith Lead Singer Sydney Sierota

Echosmith rocked the HUB on the first night of their Trendsetters tour, playing 11 songs from their debut album, “Talking Dreams.” After loud chants of “one more song!” from the crowd, the band of siblings returned to the stage in an unplanned encore to play a cover of The Talking Heads’ song, “This Must Be The Place.”

At the mere age of 16, lead singer Sydney Sierota has a commanding stage presence. Her live vocals rival that of Hayley Williams, and there’s no question that Sierota has the ability to really make it big in the industry.

The siblings occasionally spoke between tracks, with guitarist Jamie Sierota saying the gig was like the first day of college for the band. They played a range of songs, from the popular fast-paced tracks “Cool Kids” and “Come Together” to the slower “Bright” and “Tell Her You Love Her.”

Following their encore, Echosmith took photos with fans and signed posters and copies of their CD. Most of the crowd lingered to meet the band, despite many of them not having heard much of their music before. People seemed to enjoy the makeshift photo booth, an iPad on a stand and a cool Echosmith ‘Talking Dreams’ backdrop, where the band took photos with fans (which will be posted on their website).

Valley had the amazing opportunity to chat with lead singer, Sydney Sierota, before the show. Check out what she had to say: 

Valley: You were recently named one of MTV’s Artists to Watch for this year, a title previously held by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, and Lorde, who are absolutely huge in the music business right now. How does it feel to be awarded such a title?

Sydney: It was such an honor to be named one of the artists to watch, especially because, like you said, people like Macklemore and Lorde are so huge. Last night we played the Artists to Watch show in Los Angeles and it was such a cool experience. Yeah, we were really excited when we found out because it was such a great honor.

V: If you had to describe your music to someone who hadn’t heard of Echosmith before, how would you describe it?

S: If you go by genre, then I would describe it as alternative pop. We’re influenced by a lot of 80’s music though, so that affects it too. We love bands like The Killers, Coldplay, Joy Division and The Smiths. We really take it and make it our own.

V: I know you’re all siblings. How did you all start playing music together, and then end up signing to Warner Brothers Records?

S: We grew up in a musical family in general. We didn’t think about making a band; we had no intention of doing that. People are surprised that we didn’t think of it a long time ago. We’ve been playing together for six years now, and originally started doing cover songs. Then we started writing our own songs. We signed with Warner Brothers two years ago. They fell in love with our music. They understood where we wanted to go, and they understood us. They let us explore. They’ve been really great.

V: You released your debut album, Talking Dreams, last year. What was the process of writing and recording that album like?

S: It was really cool. We definitely took our time, for sure. We were working on it for a few months. We truly took our time, which is important because we wanted to put out a record we really loved. We wanted to perfect everything and make it a record we were proud of.

V: Your song, Bright, was featured on an episode of “Teen Wolf” recently. What was it like hearing your song on TV, especially on “Teen Wolf” considering it’s such a huge show right now?

S: Yeah, I know so many people that are obsessed with it! It was really cool. When I found out I was like, “what the heck? Seriously?” It was a cool little surprise. We actually met Tyler Posey yesterday at the MTV Artists to Watch concert. He was super sweet, really nice, and knew our song was on his show, so that was really cool.

V: Being in a band and touring sounds like it’d be pretty demanding work. What’s it like to be performing and touring at such a young age?

S: Yeah, it’s definitely a different way of growing up. Sometimes the weather sucks – it’s freezing outside right now; it’s like 10 degrees! I’m from California so I’m not used to the cold. I mean, yeah, it is hard work sometimes but it’s totally worth it. Meeting fans makes it super worth it. So yeah, sometimes it’s hard, but overall it’s the best experience.

V: You played Van’s Warped Tour last year. What was it like playing such a huge tour?

S: I’d heard of Van’s ages ago and never would’ve thought we’d be on it. We actually originally got offered the first half, but then they asked us if we would do the rest. It was such a cool experience, and a great way to make new fans. The cool thing is that fans are excited and proud to be your fan – whether they knew you before or not.

V: You guys have a lot of dedicated fans. How do you keep up with them?

S: We always do a meet and greet at every show. They’re really fun. Every show we find some way to do it and some place to do it. Sometimes I’m like, “after the show let’s all hang out and meet each other!” and we’ll meet them at the merch table and take photos and things like that. It’s really cool and really fun to meet each other. Sometimes we go out and eat with our fans too. It’s really cool because we’re mostly the same age as them, so it’s like making hundreds of new friends a night; that’s great because we’re not home very often. It’s a really fun experience. We also try to use social media a lot – we favorite every tweet, and try to reply, but it’s harder to keep up as the fan base grows!

V: Since your “rise to fame,” what has been your most surreal moment?

S: In general, some of my favorite moments every have to be talking to fans about how they connect with our songs. It’s so cool and crazy to think they can connect with our music; hearing that it helped save their life, or help them out with problems… having a part in that is so huge. Like, [our music] is more than they listen to when they’re bored… it’s an honor to hear those stories. Every time I hear a story like that it hits home. It’s my favorite thing in the world. It reminds me of why we’re doing this. The fact that I’m 16 years old and can help someone like that is amazing… it’s definitely my favorite thing, and the most surreal.

Photos by Jessica Korch