A family affair

There must be something in the water over at the Sires farm. First, Waterloo-born Dylan Sires and his act, Dylan Sires & Neighbors, won last year’s 80/35 play-in and kicked off the Saturday main-stage festivities. Meanwhile, cousins Luke, Harper and Joel Sires were diligently working on their second full-length release, “Tomboys on Parade,” which was released last month on Maximum Ames Records.

Twins perform at Vaudeville Mews on Thursday, May 15.

Formed in 2011, Twins began as a power trio, consisting entirely of the Sires boys.

“While in my old band, I had some hand issues and had physical therapy for a year,” said drummer Luke Sires. “Then Devin and Harper’s old band, Teddy Boys, broke up. Then in 2011, we all tried jamming together to see what it was like.”

Soon after, the trio started working on material for its first album and, in October of 2012, the self-released “Funny Faces.” The album is a rough look at a new band, a quickly-assembled affair from an act still trying to find its stride.

Shortly after the album’s release, the trio added bassist Devin Ferguson, and Twins began developing its poppy, throwback sound.

The new album has benefited greatly from the band’s new approach toward songwriting. While Harper and Luke are the primary writers in the group, Twins came at “Tomboys” with a much more unified front.

“Before ‘Tomboys on Parade,’ Harper would show up with a song that was fully finished,” Luke explained. “We’d work on it for a while (then) show it to the other guys. Same thing with Joel. He’d show up with a song, and we’d work on it before showing it to Harper. But for ‘Tomboys,’ we all got together in the basement and just jammed. It was a lot of fun having everyone together working on stuff.”

“We didn’t know what we were doing on (Funny Faces). So, when Devin came into the group, it just clicked so well. A lot of the thinking about harmonies and where to place them fell to Devin, so Harper and Joel could focus on the lyrics. The duties in the band got a lot more compartmentalized.

“Tomboys” is a tightly constructed album that showcases Twins’ strengths. Namely, clean guitars, snappy vocals and a light, retro-poppy sound. The Waterloo four-piece is a semi-regular sight throughout Des Moines, and its sound draws in more fans at every gig. CV