When and how did The Siren Sisters come together?

I, Sarah, set up The Siren Sisters after I moved back from London in 2008.

I trained in musical theatre at MountviewAcademy of Theatre Arts in London and had been living in London for four years. I missed my family and friends a lot when I was away and I missed living in Wales so decided to come home and set upmyown performance projects.

What are your names and where do you come from?

Sarah Perryman andmy real life sister Jo Perryman are both fromCardiff and Helena-May Harrison is from Carmarthen. Helena was born in Oxford but then found herself in a Welsh language school by the age of six in Carmarthen. Ironically, she is English but is the best Welsh speaker out of the three of us.We also have a band, Mark Green on Drums, Dave Guy on Double Bass and David Winterbottom on Keys.

How would you describe your style of music?

1940s close harmony singing. We try to be as authentic as possible so we re-create the harmonies that The Andrews Sisters, Dinning Sisters and King Sisters sang to name just a fewvintage girls groups that we emulate.

Wedo sing some modern songs in a 1940s style that are covers of Puppini Sisters songs, but we really prefer the authentic material. It cannot be beaten in our eyes. The live band really adds to the authenticity especially as Mark Green the drummer has an original 1940s drum kit with our name on the front of the bass drum.

We also wear vintage reproduction costumes from Vivien of Holloway in London who sponsors us vivienofholloway.com What can people expect from your shows?

Weaim to take people back in time on a nostalgic journey. Wesing stirring songs like We’ll Meet Again and The White Cliffs of Dover, which usually get a tear or two frompeople who remember World War II or remember their older family members singing those songs to them.

There are also dance numbers like Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy and In The Mood and if we are lucky we get local swing dancers (swingdancecardiff.co.uk) come along to our gigs.

Our theatre shows are packed full of musical numbers and feature musical, dance and comedy routines as well as guest performers. This Christmas we are thrilled to have Craig Yates from Only Men Aloud joining us on tour.

Wemet him when we supported OMA on their tour in the summer and thought he would make a great Bing Crosby-type character in our show. He is used to working in an all-male choir so we hope he will cope with us girls.

What are you working on at the moment?

Our Christmas show, which is co-produced and supported by RCT Theatres and has funding fromthe Arts Council of Wales, is our main project at the moment. Please come along everyone!

Wewill be meeting people after the show too and have some Christmas CDs for sale.Wehave lots of other Christmas events too and you can find out all about them on our brand newwebsite.

Where can we catch you live?

Wewill be on Noson Lawen (S4C) in the newyear singing one of our songs in Welsh so keep an eye on our website for that.We also feature in a BBC documentary called Summer In Wales being aired soon.

Live gigs are always listed on our website www.thesirensisters.co.uk Weare really looking forward to performing alongside Sophie Evans,Amy Wadge and Chris Corcoran at The Park and Dare Centenary 1913-2013 Gala fundraising concert on November 17, especially as Rhondda Cynon Taff Theatres have been so supportive of us over the years.Wealso like to travel over the bridge into England fromtime to time and are looking forward to singing at Colston Hall and at a Christmas event for Horseworld, an amazing horse and donkey charity in Bristol.

●The Siren Sisters will perform two shows at Blackwood Miners Institute on November 27 at 2.30pm and again at 7.30pm. Contact 01495 227206 for ticket details.

Siren Sisters Online:

  • thesirensisters.co.uk
  • facebook.com/thesirensisters
  • twitter.com/sirensisters40s
  • youtube.com/user/thesirensisters1940s
  • thesirensistersblog.blogspot.co.uk/