Do we have any big stellastarr* fans in the house?
Stellastarr*
I don't know stellastarr* – there's buzz, but they haven't been recommended to me by anyone I know. Alas, the Black Cat is ANOTHER Monday show, so barring some cool VIP tix, I'm skipping it.
Got their album for 53 cents at CD Game Exchange, and it's pretty mediocre. Sounds like Interpol with half the talent. And Interpol aint that good for starters.
I like stellastarr* alot. I saw them open for Placebo and liked them right away. I'm not planning on going to the Black Cat show but I'll be at the Richmond show the Friday before, and probably the in-store appearence they're doing too.
They're supposed to be pretty good live, but I haven't seen them. The album is derivative of a lot of that "80s sound" (with a heavy dose of the Pixies female/male vocal interplay thrown in for good measure) but they have some catchy songs and are a lot more upbeat than Interpol.
I remmber seeing them at the 9:30 when they opened for Sahara Hotnights and Mooney Suzuki in 2002 (god, was it that long ago?!?) and liking their sound. It was before the album was released…haven't had a chance to see them perform since, unfortunately.
Originally posted by redsock:Yup! Not sure I can make the BC show or not..unfortunately.
Do we have any big stellastarr* fans in the house?
I could probably get into them if it weren't for the lousy vocalist. It sounds like he's making a parody of a lot of bad new wave vocalists but I suspect he may be serious…
haven't heard much, but enough to go check them out at the end of the month.
Good observation.
I too thought the music was better than the vocals.
Sounded like he was trying to imitate what it would have sounded like if David Byrne was fronting the Pixies instead of the Talking Heads. Just didn't work for me.
I too thought the music was better than the vocals.
Sounded like he was trying to imitate what it would have sounded like if David Byrne was fronting the Pixies instead of the Talking Heads. Just didn't work for me.
Originally posted by friend of Guy Chadwick:
I could probably get into them if it weren't for the lousy vocalist. It sounds like he's making a parody of a lot of bad new wave vocalists but I suspect he may be serious…
â?? by Jennifer Vineyard, with additional reporting by Matt Paco
It might be cliché to say that to really get a band â?? any band, really â?? you have to see them live. In the case of New York's Stellastarr*, their rabid fans would testify with hands on holy books of their choosing that yes, if that is the true test of a band, this Brit-pop-flavored act not only passes but sets the curve.
The founding members of Stellastarr* met at New York's Pratt Institute of Art and had unlikely backgrounds to position them as New York's most buzzing band, though they tasted the edge of fame with their various exploits. Drummer Arthur Kremer was an actor who once shared the screen with Rick Schroeder in "The Lost Battalion" on A&E. Singer Shawn Christensen painted portraits of rock stars such as the White Stripes, the Strokes and David Bowie and sold them through his Web site, www.shawnyboy.com. It wasn't until they roped in classically trained cellist Amanda Tannen that the band became more than just another extracurricular activity.
"We basically met through the performing arts program, which was pretty small," Christensen said. "It was only like ten people who cared about acting and anything at Pratt. We needed a bassist, and we knew Amanda had a bass guitar, and we weren't really sure if she knew how to play it or not, but that didn't matter."
"They kind of bombarded me," she said, laughing.
"She didn't really have much choice in the matter," Christensen added.
At that point, the band â?? and its songs â?? got serious. Dark and yet still full of hope, their first release, the Somewhere Across Forever EP, was a time-machine excursion of '80s new wave guitar, balancing the intensity of Joy Division, the pop of the Pixies, the drama of the Cure and the quirk of the Talking Heads while still seeming fresh. The tunes on their self-titled debut on RCA, due out September 23, are just as retro-goes-modern with just as much of a sense of urgency, as if they had to instruct a new generation about the history of rock â?? a worthy substitute to Jack Black's teacher character in "School of Rock."
Upon hearing songs about paranoia, love and longing like "In the Walls," "My Coco," "Jenny" and "No Weather," friends quickly morphed into fans who would pass out stickers, sell merch and even get their songs on the radio in the U.K. But the best friend Stellastarr* ever found was television producer Jason Dolan, who videotaped all of their shows and let the tape instruct the band in one more art: stage presence.
"That was a real eye-opener, watching the tape," Kremer said.
"We'd sit there and want to cringe," guitarist Michael Jurin said. "We'd be like, 'oh my God, we're so stiff, we don't move!' Or, 'That's a ridiculous thing we do right there.'"
Quickly, the band learned to make the most of the stage. Kremer, for one, started performing shirtless, with a black masking-tape star over one nipple. And over time, Stellastarr* got to the point where the lessons didn't matter, because their ever-growing, rabid fanbase was happy enough to take over the duties for them.
"We did this show, and Shawn was losing his voice," Jurin recalled. "So we asked the audience to sing the song with him, and the song wasn't released or anything, and these people knew the words! They just saw enough shows that they could sing the song back at him, without ever owning the song."
"I don't need to be here anymore," Christensen joked. "I'll just go home."
MTV.com/Everything Indie
It might be cliché to say that to really get a band â?? any band, really â?? you have to see them live. In the case of New York's Stellastarr*, their rabid fans would testify with hands on holy books of their choosing that yes, if that is the true test of a band, this Brit-pop-flavored act not only passes but sets the curve.
The founding members of Stellastarr* met at New York's Pratt Institute of Art and had unlikely backgrounds to position them as New York's most buzzing band, though they tasted the edge of fame with their various exploits. Drummer Arthur Kremer was an actor who once shared the screen with Rick Schroeder in "The Lost Battalion" on A&E. Singer Shawn Christensen painted portraits of rock stars such as the White Stripes, the Strokes and David Bowie and sold them through his Web site, www.shawnyboy.com. It wasn't until they roped in classically trained cellist Amanda Tannen that the band became more than just another extracurricular activity.
"We basically met through the performing arts program, which was pretty small," Christensen said. "It was only like ten people who cared about acting and anything at Pratt. We needed a bassist, and we knew Amanda had a bass guitar, and we weren't really sure if she knew how to play it or not, but that didn't matter."
"They kind of bombarded me," she said, laughing.
"She didn't really have much choice in the matter," Christensen added.
At that point, the band â?? and its songs â?? got serious. Dark and yet still full of hope, their first release, the Somewhere Across Forever EP, was a time-machine excursion of '80s new wave guitar, balancing the intensity of Joy Division, the pop of the Pixies, the drama of the Cure and the quirk of the Talking Heads while still seeming fresh. The tunes on their self-titled debut on RCA, due out September 23, are just as retro-goes-modern with just as much of a sense of urgency, as if they had to instruct a new generation about the history of rock â?? a worthy substitute to Jack Black's teacher character in "School of Rock."
Upon hearing songs about paranoia, love and longing like "In the Walls," "My Coco," "Jenny" and "No Weather," friends quickly morphed into fans who would pass out stickers, sell merch and even get their songs on the radio in the U.K. But the best friend Stellastarr* ever found was television producer Jason Dolan, who videotaped all of their shows and let the tape instruct the band in one more art: stage presence.
"That was a real eye-opener, watching the tape," Kremer said.
"We'd sit there and want to cringe," guitarist Michael Jurin said. "We'd be like, 'oh my God, we're so stiff, we don't move!' Or, 'That's a ridiculous thing we do right there.'"
Quickly, the band learned to make the most of the stage. Kremer, for one, started performing shirtless, with a black masking-tape star over one nipple. And over time, Stellastarr* got to the point where the lessons didn't matter, because their ever-growing, rabid fanbase was happy enough to take over the duties for them.
"We did this show, and Shawn was losing his voice," Jurin recalled. "So we asked the audience to sing the song with him, and the song wasn't released or anything, and these people knew the words! They just saw enough shows that they could sing the song back at him, without ever owning the song."
"I don't need to be here anymore," Christensen joked. "I'll just go home."
MTV.com/Everything Indie
Are there any indie bands whose members didn't go to a prep school, a chi-chi art school, or have parents who own modelling agencies? You know, folks who come from a working class background?
Originally posted by ballsock:Exit Clov
Are there any indie bands whose members didn't go to a prep school, a chi-chi art school, or have parents who own modelling agencies? You know, folks who come from a working class background?
Originally posted by ballsock:GBV
Are there any indie bands whose members didn't go to a prep school, a chi-chi art school, or have parents who own modelling agencies? You know, folks who come from a working class background?
Originally posted by ballsock:Nellie McKay??
Are there any indie bands whose members didn't go to a prep school, a chi-chi art school, or have parents who own modelling agencies? You know, folks who come from a working class background?
Originally posted by ballsock:I think the notion that unless you come from a working class background your music or beliefs lack credibility is utterly stupid…
Are there any indie bands whose members didn't go to a prep school, a chi-chi art school, or have parents who own modelling agencies? You know, folks who come from a working class background?
I never claimed that where an artist comes from indicates credibility.
I'm just saying that nearly all indie artists appear to have come from silver spoon backgrounds.
I'm just saying that nearly all indie artists appear to have come from silver spoon backgrounds.
Originally posted by Fico:
Originally posted by ballsock:I think the notion that unless you come from a working class background your music or beliefs lack credibility is utterly stupid…
Are there any indie bands whose members didn't go to a prep school, a chi-chi art school, or have parents who own modelling agencies? You know, folks who come from a working class background?
You make it sound like such a bad thing. To some extent, they have to come from that kind of background in order to afford instruments, the ability to not work a regular full-time job and tour outside of their immediate area.
Originally posted by ballsock:
I never claimed that where an artist comes from indicates credibility.
I'm just saying that nearly all indie artists appear to have come from silver spoon backgrounds.
So Stellastarr* will be hosting Subterranean on Sunday night?
Does anyone have any questions they would like to ask Stellastarr, like why the stupid fucking* at* the* end*?
Does anyone have any questions they would like to ask Stellastarr, like why the stupid fucking* at* the* end*?
I was talking about that stupid f'ing *, and my friend pointed out that I'm the knob that always types it in when I send out my list of shows! Ooooh, caught.
Hey, how's the album?
Hey, how's the album?