Siskin (band)
Encyclopedia
Siskin are a British pop music duo. The ensemble consists of Galen Ayers, daughter of musician Kevin Ayers
, and Kirsty Newton. Galen Ayers lists her contributions as “vocals, guitars, lyrics
, elegance
” and credits her friend and fellow singer-songwriter Kirsty Newton with “keys
, bass, vocals, lunacy
”. They have been described as “beautiful, talented but unimpressed by the get-rich-quick blandishments of the mainstream”. They describe themselves as “two very different girls from very different backgrounds who were lucky to discover that they could make beautiful music together.”
commune in France and was later transported to Majorca for the remainder of her upbringing. From the shores of her Spanish home town, Deia
, Ayers claims to have been deeply influenced by her father: "my father’s music influenced me but I think an even greater influence from him was reading. He read everything from Japanese haiku poems to cookbooks.” Her diaries
have featured rhyming couplets
from early in her life, demonstrating a latent flair for songwriting. At the age of 13, she has said, “I grabbed a guitar and realised that the writing sounded even better when chords
were put behind it. Music's an amazing vehicle to convey feelings.” Because of the pronunciation of her unusual name (“Gallon”), she has sometimes been nicknamed Eight Pints
.
Kirsty Newton grew up in Hebden Bridge
, West Yorkshire
. The northerner has absolute pitch
and began banging the glockenspiel
at two years old. She is classically trained on the piano and oboe
, but taught herself bass guitar once she moved to London. She was a full-time music teacher at Fulham Preparatory School
but still gives piano, recorder and oboe lessons to pupils one day a week.
, Ayers embarked on a music career and made a series of recordings in 2001 produced by Tina Weymouth
and Chris Frantz
of Talking Heads
. The tracks were never afforded a commercial release. Weymouth said of Ayers: “I mean she's twice my age [sic], but I'm learning from her and she's learning from me.”
After finding little success with the London-based bands Languish and The People's Friend, Kirsty Newton spent much of her time playing music with various artists down at The Kashmir Klub
where she was originally to meet Ayers. She was asked to join musical comedian Mitch Benn
as half of his band The Distractions and she still tours with him today.
Galen Ayers next formed the band Galen. When Kirsty Newton auditioned as bass player for Galen in 2004, the two struck up a lasting musical affinity that was to blossom into a prolific songwriting partnership, among other things. Galen were never granted a commercial release and disbanded in 2005. Ayers and Newton then formed the group KG (an abbreviation
of their Christian names) and performed on the London club scene. KG again failed to secure a record deal.
inspired band names – such as The Byrds
, Penguin Cafe Orchestra
and Cock Sparrer
. They are named after the Yellow-bellied Siskin
, which is a small, lively finch
. They have said that the siskin is the only bird with a polyphonic call, which ornithologists attribute to simultaneous syringeal
warbling and cloaca
l methane
expulsion. "There's a yellow one and a red one – Kirsty is a redhead
and I'm blonde," Ayers has explained. But she adds that there is another, hidden significance in the band’s sibilant name: "Phonetically I love the combination of sisterhood
and skin in the name.”
When Siskin failed to secure a recording contract for their songs, they had to distribute their material themselves and started their own label Siskin Music. According to the Daily Mirror they caused a “minor stir” by recording Joe Jackson’s
1979 hit record "It's Different for Girls
", putting feminine
voices in a context that was previously limited to Jackson’s masculine voice. Jackson is said to have given their treatment “the thumbs up”. The single failed to chart.
On 31 July 2009, Siskin released a single, "Find A Better Life
", and on 10 August 2009 an album, Siskin. The album was a limited edition pressing of 2000 copies. Neither single nor album charted.
Ayers has stated that she and Newton “haven’t been chasing big deals”, because they want to make music their way, without corporate interference. “If that means continuing to eat baked beans
for some time”, she has said, “so be it”.
and is quoted as saying: "When I studied psychology I discovered what an amazing tool music can be."
It was recently reported that Galen Ayers has worked with war victims and that this experience had inspired her music.
Kevin Ayers
Kevin Ayers is an English singer-songwriter and was a major influential force in the English psychedelic movement...
, and Kirsty Newton. Galen Ayers lists her contributions as “vocals, guitars, lyrics
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
, elegance
Elegance
Elegance is a synonym for beauty that has come to acquire the additional connotations of unusual effectiveness and simplicity. It is frequently used as a standard of tastefulness particularly in the areas of visual design, decoration, the sciences, and the esthetics of mathematics...
” and credits her friend and fellow singer-songwriter Kirsty Newton with “keys
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
, bass, vocals, lunacy
Lunatic
"Lunatic" is a commonly used term for a person who is mentally ill, dangerous, foolish, unpredictable; a condition once called lunacy. The word derives from lunaticus meaning "of the moon" or "moonstruck".-Lunar hypothesis:...
”. They have been described as “beautiful, talented but unimpressed by the get-rich-quick blandishments of the mainstream”. They describe themselves as “two very different girls from very different backgrounds who were lucky to discover that they could make beautiful music together.”
Early history
Galen Ayers was raised in a 1970s hippieHippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
commune in France and was later transported to Majorca for the remainder of her upbringing. From the shores of her Spanish home town, Deia
Deià
Deià is a small coastal village on the northern ridge of the Spanish island of Majorca. It is located about ten miles north of Valldemossa, and it is known for its literary and musical residents...
, Ayers claims to have been deeply influenced by her father: "my father’s music influenced me but I think an even greater influence from him was reading. He read everything from Japanese haiku poems to cookbooks.” Her diaries
Diary
A diary is a record with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. A personal diary may include a person's experiences, and/or thoughts or feelings, including comment on current events outside the writer's direct experience. Someone...
have featured rhyming couplets
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
from early in her life, demonstrating a latent flair for songwriting. At the age of 13, she has said, “I grabbed a guitar and realised that the writing sounded even better when chords
Chord (music)
A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...
were put behind it. Music's an amazing vehicle to convey feelings.” Because of the pronunciation of her unusual name (“Gallon”), she has sometimes been nicknamed Eight Pints
Beer
Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
.
Kirsty Newton grew up in Hebden Bridge
Hebden Bridge
Hebden Bridge is a market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale, in West Yorkshire, England. It forms part of the Upper Calder Valley and lies 8 miles west of Halifax and 14 miles north east of Rochdale, at the confluence of the River Calder and the River Hebden .A 2004 profile of...
, West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
. The northerner has absolute pitch
Absolute pitch
Absolute pitch , widely referred to as perfect pitch, is the ability of a person to identify or re-create a given musical note without the benefit of an external reference.-Definition:...
and began banging the glockenspiel
Glockenspiel
A glockenspiel is a percussion instrument composed of a set of tuned keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano. In this way, it is similar to the xylophone; however, the xylophone's bars are made of wood, while the glockenspiel's are metal plates or tubes, and making it a metallophone...
at two years old. She is classically trained on the piano and oboe
Oboe
The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
, but taught herself bass guitar once she moved to London. She was a full-time music teacher at Fulham Preparatory School
Preparatory school (UK)
In English language usage in the former British Empire, the present-day Commonwealth, a preparatory school is an independent school preparing children up to the age of eleven or thirteen for entry into fee-paying, secondary independent schools, some of which are known as public schools...
but still gives piano, recorder and oboe lessons to pupils one day a week.
2000–2007
Following a challenging period of education at a private boarding schoolBoarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
, Ayers embarked on a music career and made a series of recordings in 2001 produced by Tina Weymouth
Tina Weymouth
Martina Michèle "Tina" Weymouth is an American musician, best known as a founding member and bassist of the New Wave group Talking Heads and its side project Tom Tom Club .-Profile:Weymouth is of French heritage on her mother's side. Weymouth was a cheerleader in high school...
and Chris Frantz
Chris Frantz
Chris Frantz is an American musician and record producer. He was the drummer for both Talking Heads and the Tom Tom Club.-Career:...
of Talking Heads
Talking Heads
Talking Heads were an American New Wave and avant-garde band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991. The band comprised David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison...
. The tracks were never afforded a commercial release. Weymouth said of Ayers: “I mean she's twice my age [sic], but I'm learning from her and she's learning from me.”
After finding little success with the London-based bands Languish and The People's Friend, Kirsty Newton spent much of her time playing music with various artists down at The Kashmir Klub
The Kashmir Klub
The Kashmir Klub was a unique, non profit making, live music club housed in the basement of a Restaurant and Bar called "Fabrizio" at the "Baker and Oven" at No 6 Nottingham Place, central London, England...
where she was originally to meet Ayers. She was asked to join musical comedian Mitch Benn
Mitch Benn
Mitch Benn is a British musician and stand-up comedian known for his humorous songs performed on BBC radio. He is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4's satirical programme The Now Show, and has hosted other radio shows.Benn has performed at several music festivals, and at the Edinburgh Festival...
as half of his band The Distractions and she still tours with him today.
Galen Ayers next formed the band Galen. When Kirsty Newton auditioned as bass player for Galen in 2004, the two struck up a lasting musical affinity that was to blossom into a prolific songwriting partnership, among other things. Galen were never granted a commercial release and disbanded in 2005. Ayers and Newton then formed the group KG (an abbreviation
Abbreviation
An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or phrase. Usually, but not always, it consists of a letter or group of letters taken from the word or phrase...
of their Christian names) and performed on the London club scene. KG again failed to secure a record deal.
2008 – present
In 2008 the duo decided to start again with a new name and christened themselves Siskin, following in a long tradition of ornithologicallyOrnithology
Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and the aesthetic appeal of birds...
inspired band names – such as The Byrds
The Byrds
The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...
, Penguin Cafe Orchestra
Penguin Cafe Orchestra
The Penguin Cafe Orchestra was a collective of performing musicians created by classically trained British guitarist, composer and arranger Simon Jeffes...
and Cock Sparrer
Cock Sparrer
Cock Sparrer are a punk rock band formed in 1972 in the East End of London, England. Although they never enjoyed much commercial success, they are considered one of the most influential streetpunk bands, helping pave the way for the late-1970s punk scene and the Oi! subgenre...
. They are named after the Yellow-bellied Siskin
Yellow-bellied Siskin
The Yellow-bellied Siskin, Carduelis xanthogastra, is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It breeds from Costa Rica south to southern Ecuador, central Bolivia and the highlands of northwestern Venezuela....
, which is a small, lively finch
Finch
The true finches are passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. They are predominantly seed-eating songbirds. Most are native to the Northern Hemisphere, but one subfamily is endemic to the Neotropics, one to the Hawaiian Islands, and one subfamily – monotypic at genus level – is found...
. They have said that the siskin is the only bird with a polyphonic call, which ornithologists attribute to simultaneous syringeal
Syrinx (biology)
Syrinx is the name for the vocal organ of birds. Located at the base of a bird's trachea, it produces sounds without the vocal cords of mammals. The sound is produced by vibrations of some or all of the membrana tympaniformis and the pessulus caused by air flowing through the syrinx...
warbling and cloaca
Cloaca
In zoological anatomy, a cloaca is the posterior opening that serves as the only such opening for the intestinal, reproductive, and urinary tracts of certain animal species...
l methane
Methane
Methane is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is the simplest alkane, the principal component of natural gas, and probably the most abundant organic compound on earth. The relative abundance of methane makes it an attractive fuel...
expulsion. "There's a yellow one and a red one – Kirsty is a redhead
Red hair
Red hair occurs on approximately 1–2% of the human population. It occurs more frequently in people of northern or western European ancestry, and less frequently in other populations...
and I'm blonde," Ayers has explained. But she adds that there is another, hidden significance in the band’s sibilant name: "Phonetically I love the combination of sisterhood
Sisterhood
Sisterhood may refer to:* Sibling, sisters and brothers* Sorority, a social organization for undergraduate students* Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, a novel by Rebecca Wells* The Sisterhood, a short-lived English goth band...
and skin in the name.”
When Siskin failed to secure a recording contract for their songs, they had to distribute their material themselves and started their own label Siskin Music. According to the Daily Mirror they caused a “minor stir” by recording Joe Jackson’s
Joe Jackson (musician)
Joe Jackson is an English musician and singer-songwriter now living in Berlin, whose five Grammy Award nominations span from 1979 to 2001...
1979 hit record "It's Different for Girls
I'm the Man (Joe Jackson album)
I'm the Man is Joe Jackson's second album, released in October 1979. Critically, the album was considered a continuation of Look Sharp!, an opinion shared by Jackson himself...
", putting feminine
Feminine
Feminine, or femininity, normally refers to qualities positively associated with women.Feminine may also refer to:*Feminine , a grammatical gender*Feminine cadence, a final chord falling in a metrically weak position...
voices in a context that was previously limited to Jackson’s masculine voice. Jackson is said to have given their treatment “the thumbs up”. The single failed to chart.
On 31 July 2009, Siskin released a single, "Find A Better Life
Find A Better Life
"Find A Better Life" is a Siskin single release taken from their album, Siskin....
", and on 10 August 2009 an album, Siskin. The album was a limited edition pressing of 2000 copies. Neither single nor album charted.
Ayers has stated that she and Newton “haven’t been chasing big deals”, because they want to make music their way, without corporate interference. “If that means continuing to eat baked beans
Baked beans
Baked beans is a dish containing beans, sometimes baked but, despite the name, usually stewed, in a sauce. Most commercial canned baked beans are made from haricot beans, also known as navy beans – a variety of Phaseolus vulgaris – in a sauce. In Ireland and the United Kingdom, a tomato...
for some time”, she has said, “so be it”.
Psychology & Charity
Galen Ayers has studied psychologyPsychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
and is quoted as saying: "When I studied psychology I discovered what an amazing tool music can be."
It was recently reported that Galen Ayers has worked with war victims and that this experience had inspired her music.
Singles
- "It’s Different For GirlsIt’s Different For Girls"It’s Different for Girls" is a song by Joe Jackson. Versions have been recorded and released by several different artists.Typically for Joe Jackson, the lyrics contain a twist in that, while originally sounding as if the song would suggest that the male protagonist was looking for sex and his...
" (Siskin Music, 2008) - "Find A Better LifeFind A Better Life"Find A Better Life" is a Siskin single release taken from their album, Siskin....
" (Siskin Music, 2009)