The band formed in 1999 and has since been voted “Best Local Alternative Band” and “Best Local Rock Band” in Metroland’s reader’s poll for the past six years not to mention being a previous winner of CBGB’s “Battle of the Bands” in New York City.

The group is fronted by Krahmer, who is also the band’s drummer, playing a full drum kit while standing up, bass parts with her drum stick and the occasional flute solo. The band’s guitarist Rich Libutti plays bass parts with his feet as well as the occasional snare part with his feet (during Krahmer’s flute solos).

Today the band has sold more than 26,000 records and performs more than 250 shows a year along the East Coast and throughout the Midwest. They have shared the stage with such national acts as Maroon 5, Collective Soul and Cheap Trick among others. I recently sat down with the duo to discuss where they got their name, what they love about performing music live and how they go about writing a song.

Where does the name Sirsy originate from?

Melanie Krahmer (MK): It’s a nickname of mine. When I was little, my sister could not pronounce the word sister, so she used to call me sirsy and that became my nickname. So when we were trying to think of a band name I wrote it down and I said what do you think of this and we didn’t think it was really a word, and we thought nobody else would have it, so we went with it.

How would you describe a Sirsy show?

MK: I think it depends a lot on the audience. I am pretty co-dependent and I feed off of what the audience has given me and I am always giving everything I have at a show every time as does Rich, but the energy of the audience and the vibe that the audience creates really determines how a show is going to be and I think that every show is different because of that.

What do you love about performing music live?

MK: For me, it’s the exchange with the audience. I love to play music and I love to sing just for the sake of art, but I wouldn’t play out live if it wasn’t for the sake of the energy exchange with the audience. I mean if that wasn’t the case I would just play in my practice space for the joy of playing music…For me playing out live is all about connecting with someone in the crowd who you invoke some sort of feeling from through the music you are creating. It’s a great feeling when someone comes up to you and describes how a song of yours affected or inspired them in a certain way.

Rich Libutti (RL): For me, it’s playing with Melanie because it’s great to play with someone that you enjoy playing with and that’s a big part of it for me. And like Melanie said the whole crowd interaction aspect is what makes it great because it’s one thing to record an album and have people tell you that they like it or their inspired by it, but you don’t actually see that…When you’re at a show and you see someone you have never seen before signing along with one of your songs you’re like wow we are a real band and that never gets old.

Where do you draw your influences from?

MK: Songwriting wise the Beatles are probably our biggest influence because they are the ultimate songwriters to us. When we write a song we will often times ask ourselves what the Beatles would do and then we do it. We ask ourselves that a lot. Singing wise I grew up listening to everything from Frank Sinatra to Led Zeppelin and then I also love jazz singers like Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holliday. I find myself drawing to the older stuff a lot.

RL: It's a cliché to say you draw your influences from everywhere, but it's true. For example even if you hear a song you hate there sometimes is an idea that you might like in terms of song elements.

How do you go about writing a song?

MK: Often times it starts in rehearsal - we will be rehearsing and Rich will inevitably start noodling on the guitar and I’ll go Ooh Ooh, what’s that and I’ll start playing drums along with him and we will start noodling around and then usually the vocal melody comes after the noodling. Then I’ll hear something that I like and I’ll write a vocal melody over the top it and the lyrics generally come last. I’m constantly writing lyrics and saving them, so when I hear a mood or melody that I think goes with other lyrics I’ll make them rhythmically go with the song and I usually obsess a little too much over the lyrics - sometimes I’m changing them right before we go to record

What is your favorite original song?

MK: I have favorites based on different reasons, but song-writing wise, my three favorites are “Still,” “Leftover Girl” and “Sorry Me.”

RL: I have songs that are my favorites from a writing standpoint and songs that are my favorites from a live performance standpoint. Song writing wise I would say “Still” and “Leftover Girl.” They are cool for different reasons: “Still” actually was the only song we wrote on the record where Melanie had a the whole melody previously written, so we kind of wrote that one in reverse from what we normally do and “Leftover Girl” we wrote in one day and it ended up being one of my favorite songs on our new record.

Sirsy has been voted the Capital Region’s “Best Band” for the past six years in Metroland’s reader’s poll. What do you feel that says about your act?

MK: I feel that says we have the best fans ever. That’s 100 percent our fans, some of those polls are pretty lengthy and our fans take the time to fill those things out every year and that has nothing to do with us. I think that says something about our fans more than it says something about us.

RL: I feel we have more of a rapport with our fans than most bands. Some bands have a little bit of that rock star attitude at an inappropriate stage in their development where they’re maybe not the nicest to their fans, but we are very appreciative of everything our fans do for us. I mean our fans have enabled us to record our CDs for years and we are very appreciative of that.

What is the difference between playing in the Capital Region as opposed to somewhere in another part of the country?

MK: I think there is a safety feeling - not that I ever feel safe because I always feel that nobody is going to come to the show or everyone is going to think the show sucks. But locally I feel a little safer because I know we have fans here and they are going to come out and see us, but it’s always surprising to see people from other parts of the country showing up to see us play and singing along to our songs.

You can learn more about Sirsy by visiting: www.sirsy.com or www.myspace.com/sirsy