Anton Woods (Guitar, Vocals)

Desmond Vasco (Drums)

Manus King (Bass)

Aleister VonYates (Guitar)

Anton Woods (Guitar, Vocals)

Anton Woods was born in 1984 in the small town of Battle Ground, Washington. At a young age he quickly became fond of metal citing that his favourite bands in his younger years were Venom and Darkthrone. He took up learning guitar when he was 13 focusing most of his time on thrash metal. When he entered High School he met Desmond and they quickly became close friends. While schooling they competed together in a small Battle of the Bands competition hosted by their school covering the songs Too Old, Too Cold by Darkthrone and Witching Hour by Venom, they ultimately lost the competition to an already established band. When Desmond graduated Anton had a fall out with him and continued studying on his own. During his final year of high school he dropped out and focused solely on his music.

After leaving school Anton tracked down Desmond wishing to once again form a band. When Anton was unable to find a new bass player for the project he convinced Desmond that he knew enough from his guitar playing to adequately play bass for a demo release. Anton wrote the entire initial demo, which was more of a thrash album then any other release, and picked the name of the band Fenrir,. He pushed the demo at all shows he went to trying to recruit a new bass player so that the band could finally perform live, but after months of no response decided to go back and record another demo. In order to avoid confusion with another performer, he changed the name to Seire. Within weeks Manus contacted him and auditioned for the band, Anton didn’t initially care over the whelming thrash influence that he brought to the parts, but having no other potential bassists he gave him the part and the first real incarnation of the band was formed.

Back to top

Desmond Vasco (Drums)

Desmond was born in 1983 in Norway, however when he was 6 years old his family relocated to Battle Ground Washington. While young, Desmond did not show much interest in music, it was until his 12th birthday when his parents bought him a drum kit that he decided to learn. His family could not afford to enroll him in the lessons that he wanted so he learned by just listening to old hand me down record from his older brother who listened to Punk and Metal. When he entered High School he attempted to join the school’s band program in percussion but left the program early on to pursue more challenging drumming.

Upon meeting Anton, the two began to practice playing together, and Anton introduced him to a completely new style of metal. After losing in the Battle of the Bands at their High School the two stopped practicing almost entirely. When Desmond graduated he saved up his money to finally enroll in lessons that he had long wanted. At his music school he formed a short-lived Grindcore band called Fatalist. Desmond was the standout talent of the band and word quickly spread about his drumming talents. After Fatalist stopped writing music Desmond slowly left the music scene practicing by himself in his free time. It wasn’t until Anton approached him that Desmond would return to the music scene playing the backup for the Fenrir demo.

Back to top

Manus King (Bass)

Bassist Manus King is the youngest member of Siere, joining the band when he was just 17 years old. Born and raised in Battle Ground, Washington, Manus started learning bass at a young age, stemming from a family of musicians, his mother was an accomplished chorister and his father was a guitar player in a local hard rock back. Manus taught himself by watching videos of legendary bassist such as Cliff Burton, Steve Harris, and Cronos. Manus began playing music in bands when he was 14 in a local Thrash Metal cover band called Among The Living. He stayed with Among The Living until he was 16 when he left in order to form a band that would write their own songs, as a result Soul Slaughter was formed. Soul Slaughter recorded two demos with Manus but not liking the direction the band was heading despite the underground success they had received he left the project.

After his departure from Soul Slaughter, Manus started learning the styling of Black Metal and after acquiring the Seire demo; Manus had decided that was what he wanted. He started practicing the songs that were on the demo and tracked down the original Sounds of Ragnarok demo and learned those songs as well. Manus had only briefly met Anton before when they were in High School together, but tracked him down and contacted him for an audition and after several phone calls he was allowed to audition. Being the only one ready to take the part and playing the songs almost flawlessly with his own thrashy touch he was given the part of bassist.

Back to top

Aleister VonYates (Guitar)

Aleister VonYates was born in Everett, Washington in 1982. His family pushed being musical on him at young age and had him learning classical Violin. When Aliester reached 8 years old he decided on his own that he would rather play guitar and he started taking classical lessons. When he entered middle school he was introduced to metal by a classmate and he became determined to learn how to play. He began with neo-classical, incorporating some of the classical music he already knew into an overall heavier sound, citing Cacophony as the main influence during his younger years.

Entering High School, he had abandoned most of the classical influence in his playing, focusing on Speed and Death Metal. During his junior year of High School he formed the band Abrasion which became very successful in his home town. When Aleister graduated from high school he took Abrasion on a West Coast tour and got signed to Earache records. Aleister performed only on Abrasion’s first album, which was released in 2001. He remained with the band until 2004 when they played with Seire on their first show. Immediately after the show Aleister left Abrasion to play with Seire, he cited creative control as the main reason for leaving Abrasion. He relocated to Battle Ground to practice with the band immediately.

In late 2007 it was announced that following Seire’s 2008 tour Aleister would be sharing the stage once more with Abrasion for a small tour in the U.S. No word has been issued on whether or not he would be joining the band for future endeavors or if it is just a one time reunion.

Back to top