With a proliferation of idol-pop groups in the music scene these days, getting a start in the industry isn't always easy — even for a band made up of former models.

"We started out in 2010 playing in front of five or six people, 10 if we were lucky," says Sumire "Suu" Yoshida, the lead singer of Silent Siren. "We were terrible early on and it was disheartening. It was our hobby so we weren't going to quit, but something had to change."

The group had formed a few months prior to its debut show following a conversation between Suu and drummer Hinako "Hinanchu" Umemura about Japanese pop-punk band 10-Feet at a photo shoot for a fashion magazine.