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Strange Glue Showcase: Stellastarr* Interview and Music

30th November 2007 | by Aidan Williamson

"I was an aspiring actor when the [record] labels came around, but I was reaching more people with the music. And that's the whole point, I suppose... to reach people."

Sometimes, it seems, you pick music, sometimes, it picks you. It certainly was a case of the latter for Stellastarr* front-man Shawn Christensen.

Noone could doubt the man's desire to express himself. He's been involved in projects as far reaching as the aforementioned acting and modelling, as well as being an accomplished painter. Christensen has also tried his hand at writing screenplays, but more on that later.

The genesis of Stellastarr* takes place at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, an art school which counted vocalist Christensen, bassist Amanda Tannen and drummer Arthur Kremer amongst their attendees. Needless to say - or maybe it is needed since it's being said - the three met up and decided to form a band. After a chance encounter with guitarist Michael Jurin (he rented Kremer's old room and they met during a mail pick-up) the line-up was solidified.

In a land of eternal optimism, this is where the story would finish off, the world at their feet as the band gaze intently as the endless horizon which unfolds ahead of them. However, the year of 2008 will mark the release of the band's third album together. With album number one, everything looked peachy, they had a major label contract, the press were falling over themselves to praise the quartet and enough buzz surrounded the band to electrocute all of Ohio (not that we condone that sort of thing).

Cue album number two, the criminally under-rated “Harmonies For The Haunted” and suddenly things started to go wrong. First, there was the label, “It was tough to swallow the cliche.” says Christensen when Strange Glue spoke with him. “We signed to a label that merged with a big bad label and then we got eaten by the machine. It's like a bad horror movie. We had to walk away. Their radio department was in shambles and their marketing was non-existent. But, I think, what really ate at us was the fiasco surrounding our second album release. They forced us to use an FBI copyright CD and then screwed up getting it to some stores upon the day of release. It was a disaster, and our relationship with them wasn't the same after that.”

The decision to go with a major label had likely been a tough one, although the band technically had a record deal before signing with the aforementioned label, it simply didn't have the oomph to reach the people Stellastarr* wanted their music to reach. “Tiswas (records - their first label) was a one-man show and had no distribution, and we were being courted by labels who could get our record out there. If it was today, we would've found a way to release it digitally and perhaps would've stayed with Tiswas on some level.”

Added to that, the mainstream press no longer regarded them as cool. NME famously brushed off their second album “Harmonies For The Haunted” with a score of 4/10 for little other reason than 1.) They weren't the Arctic Monkeys, and 2.) The reviewer didn't like the song titles. “I don't read reviews anymore.” retorts the singer as to how he handled such deconstructive criticism. “My management and friends will sometimes forward our good reviews to me, in which case I will read some of them.”

To all intents, “Harmonies...” was their “Empire Strikes Back”, a masterpiece shrouded by a depressing epilogue, which will hopefully get the commendation it deserves in due time. So far, so dramatic, but with album three on the table, the horizon once again stretches ahead of them. An enthused Christensen states “This record is faster, less mid-tempo. More energy, more rock, slightly more aggressive.”

Another major change looms for the band also, this time regarding their sound. “I got hit hard with a throat issues recently and had to alter the intonation of my voice. I will be singing in a higher register for the most part, where I would normally go to a lower one.”

So then, back to the outside interests of Mr. Christensen, he explains; “I'm a film buff and I sold a screenplay to Fox Searchlight last year. I was actually writing screenplays long before I formed Stellastarr* and have two more being set up at different Studios. I also... put up an [art] gallery showing about once a year. But it's just a hobby.” Not bad for a man considered upon the dawn of his youth to be quite reclusive, although he assures us “I'm only shy around strangers, I suppose. With my friends, I'm very outspoken. Sometimes I have to tell myself to shut the fuck up.”

That's a big check against all the topics in the serious column, but it likely has escaped noone's attention that Stellastarr* features a mixed bag gender wise. We were curious as to what the policy on inter-band dating was. "[That's a] very sly question, but there's an unwritten rule that it won't happen. However, intra-band dating seems to be open terrain."

The final interrogation of Christensen elicits the response of “Jenny. And I'm not sure why. It just goes over well, I guess.” We'll leave you to figure what the question was while you sample some of the wonder that is the music of Stellastarr*.

Stellastarr* - Jenny
 

Stellastarr* - Lost in Time

Further Reading:
Stellastarr* [Website] [MySpace]