Dead Sara

Dead Sara

Dead Sara is an alternative rock band from Los Angeles, United States. The group is active from 2003 and works in alternative rock, garage rock, hard rock, indie rock and rock.

Formation and line-up

The band forms around singer and guitarist Emily Armstrong and guitarist Siouxsie Medley, who meet through a mutual friend in 2002. They begin writing songs together in 2003 and complete their first studio recording, “Changes”, in 2004. Their first live performance takes place in March 2005 at The Mint nightclub in Los Angeles, with Armstrong playing bass. The band briefly uses the name Epiphany before changing to Dead Sara in mid-2005, a name taken from a misheard lyric in Fleetwood Mac’s “Sara”.

By 2009, the line-up includes Sean Friday on drums and Chris Null on bass, alongside Armstrong and Medley. The verified line-up includes Emily Armstrong, Siouxsie Medley, Chris Null and Sean Friday.

Releases and recordings

Dead Sara release the six-song EP The Airport Sessions on Viscount Records in 2008. Their self-titled debut album, Dead Sara, appears in 2012 on their own Pocket Kid Records label, with Noah Shain as producer. The album includes the track “Weatherman”, which becomes their best-known song and reaches No. 16 on Billboard’s Heatseekers Albums chart through the album’s success.

The band’s second album, Pleasure to Meet You, follows in 2015, again with Noah Shain producing. It is released on Pocket Kid Records after the group parts ways with Epic Records. In 2018, Dead Sara issues the six-song EP Temporary Things Taking Up Space on Atlantic Records.

Labels, touring and recognition

Dead Sara starts its own label, Pocket Kid Records, in 2010 as a subsidiary of Interact-TV, Inc., owned by Armstrong and Medley. The group signs with Atlantic Records in 2017.

The band begins its first tour in 2007 as the opening act for Endless Hallway. “Weatherman” is later used in Fiat’s “Fiat 500 Abarth Burning Up the Desert” advertisement and appears in a trailer for Infamous: Second Son. Dead Sara also records a cover of Nirvana’s “Heart-Shaped Box” for the same game, and this version wins “Best Song, Original or Adapted” at the NAVGTR awards in 2015.

Awards and nominations

Dead Sara receives the “Best New Rock Group” award at the Vegas Rocks! Magazine Music Awards in 2012. The band is also nominated for Radio Contraband Rock Radio Award’s Indie Artist of the Year, and is voted 98.7 FM’s Close to Home Artist of the Year in 2012. “Weatherman” tops Loudwire’s list of the 10 Best Rock Songs of 2012. Armstrong and Medley are both named as finalists in Loudwire’s 2012 vocalist and guitarist awards respectively, and Armstrong is also nominated for Rock Goddess of the Year.

Notable members and influences

Armstrong and Medley both cite Stevie Nicks as a major influence, linking the band’s name to Fleetwood Mac’s “Sara”. Around the time the band adopts the Dead Sara name, Medley begins spelling her first name as “Siouxsie” as a reference to the Sioux tribe and her Native American family heritage, not to the musician Siouxsie Sioux.