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Stellastarr
October 2003
From the band's website, by
Peter Gaston, June 2003
Let's talk about a band, one that
seems to simply steer clear of convention quite naturally
at all turns. How many bands boast members who would
first consider themselves actors, artists, designers,
or filmmakers before considering themselves singers,
guitarists, or drummers? How many bands find an eventual
band-mate while picking up mail? How many bands play
gigs all over the New York area only to finally find
a spastically approving audience of NYC scenesters
… at high noon in Texas? How many bands get booked
for a performance on national television without a
proper label or a full album in stores? Defying convention
almost accidentally, stellastarr* is the unbelievable
band that everyone wants to believe in.
While loads of their contemporaries
weaned themselves on rock star wishes and guitar solo
dreams, stellastarr* originated out of a spirit of
friendship and artistic experimentation. Singer/guitarist
Shawn Christensen, bassist Amanda Tannen, and drummer
Arthur Kremer met while studying at Brooklyn art school
Pratt Institute of the Arts. Then and now, Shawn would
probably describe himself as a painter and an actor
prior to mentioning his current frontman duties with
stellastarr*. If he manages to sell one painting before
the first of each month, his landlord gets paid. Sheer
curiosity led Shawn to buy himself an acoustic guitar
and to learn the instrument he employed the help of
a trusted teacher: Bob Dylan, or at least his published
songbook.
Arthur also acted, landing a few
film roles, but his main passion was graphic design;
he's responsible for the band's album artwork concepts
and logos. In fact, only during the recording sessions
for stellastarr*s debut did Arthur feel comfortable
adding "drummer" to his mental business
card. Amanda also came into the band from a non-traditional
angle, drawing on her years as a classically trained
cellist while she explored the bass guitar.
So when the three friends formed
their first band, Ghistor, they began with limited
experience as rock musicians: Shawn had only spent
about six months with the acoustic and the book of
Dylan songs; Arthur was six weeks into his drumming
career; and Amanda, despite her cello training, had
never set fingers to strings on an electric bass.
As artists, the trio had simply embarked on a new
creative endeavor, albeit a short-lived one; Ghistor
was the trial run.
In the spring of 2000, Shawn, Arthur,
and Amanda reconvened in NYC after graduation and
started to rekindle the musical flames, but they were
acutely aware that the band's sound needed some fleshing
out. As rock music coincidences go, the manner by
which guitarist Michael Jurin joined the lineup is
rather classic: Michael had recently moved to NY,
leaving Charlotte's Funeral, the band he fronted back
home in Philadelphia. As fate would have it, the talented
guitarist rented a room whose previous occupant had
been none other than Arthur. Stopping by his previous
abode to check for any lagging mail, Arthur discovered
that a guitarist had taken over his old place. The
two future bandmates got to talking and Arthur invited
Michael to meet Shawn and Mandy. One jam session later,
stellastarr* was born.
Like any upstart act must do, stellastarr*
developed its sound while gigging around NYC, feeling
most at home at the Lower East Side's Luna Lounge
and at the Tiswas NYC weekly rock party on Saturday
nights at Don Hill's in the West Village. Tiswas NYC
DJ/promoter Nick Marc saw the excitement brewing at
stellastarr* shows and invited acclaimed producer
Tim O'Heir (Sebadoh, The Folk Implosion, Dinosaur
Jr, Superdrag, Hedwig and the Angry Inch) to check
out a live show. It took only that one show at Don
Hill's for Tim clear his schedule to bring the stella*s
into the studio. stellastarr*s debut EP, Somewhere
Across Forever, stemmed from those recordings and
was released on Nick Marc's Tiswas Records in December
2002. This EP offered a quick glimpse into the stellastarr*
sound in the form of the harmonic build-up of the
title track, the incendiary "No Weather,"
and the slow-burning, defiant "School Ya"
(exclusive to the EP).
Tim O'Heir and Nick Marc weren't
the only people latching onto the stellastarr* sound.
At each performance, there was a sense that the crowd
contained the same faces as the previous gig, only
with a handful of new faces added in each time. The
band's repertoire and its emotional sway over an audience
grew in leaps and bounds; songs like the gripping
"In The Walls," the spastic and melodic
"Jenny," the buoyant "My Coco,"
and the epic sojourn of "Moongirl" became
more breathtaking and enveloping with each listen.
The sound was so utterly unique when NYC seemed full
of bands either seeking garage roots or absorbing
'80s aesthetics. Still undeniably young and unpolished,
they became the most unique rock and roll band on
the scene.
Along the way, stellastarr* booked
gigs with the Joe Strummer, the Raveonettes, the Strokes,
Sahara Hotnights, Melissa Auf Der Maur, the Mooney
Suzuki, the Realistics, the Apples In Stereo, the
Black Keys, Elefant, Ambulance ltd, Aerial Love Feed,
the Red King.
In March of 2003, stellastarr* made
a pilgrimage to Austin, Texas for the annual week
of beer, barbecue, and bedlam that is South By Southwest.
With gigs at that bastion of indie rock -- the Hard
Rock Café -- and a noon show on a Saturday,
the band just wanted to make the best of it. Turns
out that just about anyone who hadn't seen the band
before came out to the Austin gigs, even at high noon
on a Saturday. In its log of SXSW shows, the UK's
NME called stellastarr* "the best band we've
seen all day" and ranked stellastarr* as its
top-ranked discovery at SXSW 2003. NME wasn't alone
in its observations; the band's name was on the tip
of everyone's tongue, mesmerized by Shawn's freaked
out and enthralling vocals, Michael's trailblazing
guitar work, Amanda's instantly hummable basslines
and cooing harmonies, and Arthur's frenetic work behind
the kit, not to mention his radical sunglasses and
the electrical tape asterisk over his bare nipple.
When the band returned home to play
a gig at New York's Knitting Factory, the building
could no longer fit all of its fans, new and old,
even for a band without a true record to its credit.
Reviewing the Knitting Factory show, NME said, "stellastarr*
seem to have emerged fully-formed, a dream of a band
with nearly every element absolutely perfect."
Yes, there was indeed a sense of evolution, that these
four people had shed their art school innocence and
metamorphosed into an electrifying and undeniable
force. The live shows were no longer an artistic trial
but instead a full blown aural assault tempered with
emotional grace.
Late April and early May found the
band returning to the studio with Tim O'Heir to lay
down the rest of the album, leaving O'Heir with the
challenge to harness these tracks into a recorded
format. After a few weeks of late nights in the studio
(with much recording done after a full day's work
at the members' various day jobs), the band made its
first jump across the pond, holding down an opening
slot on the Raveonettes' UK tour. The British press
and radio (XFM, Radio 1) had already embraced the
band prior to its arrival, but the live dates substantiated
every glowing review that came before, and the Somewhere
Across Forever EP saw its UK release, an occasion
celebrated by the band with a packed headlining gig
at London's Barfly.
The band's self-titled debut, out
September 23rd on RCA, could be called a culmination,
the product of months and years of gigs, rehearsals,
and recording sessions. In reality, it's just the
first experiment from four artists who are only scratching
the surface of their capabilities as musicians and
performers. It's never been conventional so far, so
why start now?
stellastarr* is:
Shawn Christensen - lyrics, vocals, guitar
Amanda Tannen - bass, vocals
Arthur Kremer - percussion, keyboards
Michael Jurin - guitar, vocals
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