Our upstate NY pals SIRS first full-length drops on July 2nd via the crucial Topshelf Records. Check out the  new track "Crossbows and Arrows" below while we hotly anticipating this S/T effort and additional tracks to preview.

It's been 11 months since SIRS graced Ithaca with their presence and we're ultra ready for another dose. Since then, they've put some more miles under their belts, made their Topshelf Records debut - another split, this time in collaboration with the UK's run, WALK! and their mates, Holy Roar Records - and have even more new material in the works.  They guys are in good spirits and amped for Big Day In. Below, Ithaca Underground's Bubba Crumrine catches up with Justin, Kyle, Mike and Hart - who is no stranger to this day-fest, having performed last December in Zona Mexicana.



IU: How has the band been since we saw you guys back in January?

Justin: Pretty great actually. January was when we really started to figure out how we wanted to sound.  When our first guitarist left to form another band, Mike joined pretty much the next day, and as soon as that happened we started to write songs that we really liked and we haven't stopped since.  Mike's a team player and an all around swell guy.

IU: Have you been hitting the road a lot?

Justin: We try to tour whenever we get the chance. This past summer we did a 20 something day tour around the eastern half of the U.S. but, our unreliable van (RIP Gladys) made the trip pretty nerve wracking.  Before that we did a couple shorter tours last summer and winter.  We've got some ideas for this winter and hopefully the summer, but we really have our sights set on next fall when we can hit up some other colleges besides our own.

IU: How did SIRS come to be?

There's a new (and awesome) new band in town and they go by the name of Rival Tribes! Founded by Pete McHugh (aka Pete McAwesome) and Jesse Lafian and mostly instrumental in nature, it's nothing quite like anything else going on in Ithaca right now. Ithaca Underground's Bubba Crumrine catches up with Pete to see where they're coming from and where they're going.

IU: How would you describe your sound to someone who is looking to come out to your show on Feb 11th?

Pete: Battle surf/knightly psych. Come ready to shake thy hips, stomp thy feet and ponder thy existence. I would encourage everyone to check out our EP on bandcamp. The whole thing is streaming for freeeeee!!!

IU: What tour plans do you have for 2011?

Pete: We're starting our tour with Porches (Aaron Maine of Space Ghost Cowboys) in Westchester, NY at the end of January. Then we'll swing back up to Ithaca on the 11th. We had planned to stay down south until it warms up, but Jesse is going to be filling in on drums for Summer People while they tour down to SXSW. We'll be getting back into town at the beginning of march. Anyone who has never been to Austin, go. It's magic.

Aaron will also be playing bass for us, so our sets are really one awesome party of a set.

IU: Any goals or purposes behind the band that we should know about?

Pete: We wanted to be in a fun band instead of a hard band. We've both done a lot of heavy music in the last few years and this was our foray into something a little more accessible. It came out a little twisted, but we think it works.

IU: What gear set up do you each use?

Band Name: Zona Mexicana

Location: Purchase, NY

Formed: Late 2008

Members:
hart seely - guitar + vocals
cameron wisch - drums + vocals
zephyr prusinski - bass + vocals

Releases:
3 song CDEP demo thing from January 2009
2 songs on a split 7" with Elemeno for summer 2010
both were self-released 

Tell us about yourselves!
Zona Mexicana was "come forth"-ed in october of 2008 by Cameron and I when we met at SUNY purchase. we started writing songs pretty quickly, and when we got a few "down pat" i asked Zephyr to come play bass with us sometime. he did, and then he joined the band. Don't tell anyone but we're named after a shitty mexican fast-food chain. We went on a short tour that winter after we'd recorded 3 songs and put together our first release. we toured that summer as well from NY to Minnesota and back with our friends in Monster Machismo. I believe we toured for a bit the winter after that, not sure about that though...but we
definitely toured this past summer for 40 days and 40 nights after releasing a split 7" with our friends in Elemeno - we worked our way over to the west coast and played a show in Mexico and went back up
through the south. as for what's next...we've been recording some new stuff, our best material thus far i think, and pretty characteristic of how we actually sound live. Some of it's a lot darker, slightly more vocally oriented, a little heavier. we're hoping to be able to release this new stuff ASAP, and we'll be looking around in the next few weeks for a small DIY label who'd be into helping us do so. If we can get that squared away then we'll be booking a long tour for next fall. anyways...that's basically it, I also play bass in Sirs, Cameron's got some of solo stuff that he's working on, and Zephyr's a l33t h4x0r. We're down for show trades at our school, talk to us! zonamexicana@gmail.com


Catch Zona Mexicana at Big Day In this Saturday with Young Widows, Bridge & Tunnel, Soul Control, Beach Parade, Like Wolves, Cattle Drums, Why The Wires, Ailments, Speak Daggers, and more! 12 bands, 10 hours, $5 all ages. Starts up at noon at The Haunt, 702 Willow Ave, Ithaca, NY 14850.