Short Biography
Combining '80s-style new wave and pop with punk-rock spirit,stellastarr* have earned a devoted following in both the U.K. and the U.S.since emerging from the ever-bustling indie music scene of New York City. With the 2003 release of theirself-titled debut album, stellastarr* impressed fans and critics alike withtheir polished sound and undeniable energy. The band's engaging live shows haveonly earned them more admiration and word-of-mouth support from audiences.
stellastarr* guitarist Michael Jurin took the time to speakwith Ticketmaster while preparing for an upcoming U.S. tour in support of theband's second full-length album, Harmoniesfor the Haunted.
Ticketmaster: How doyou approach playing live? Does your live sound differ greatly from your studiorecordings?
Michael Jurin: Looking at it broadly, I think a band shouldbe able to play live. Other bands write in different ways, but a band should beable to do what they do best on stage. That's part of the mentality that we gointo this with. It's a unique opportunity. In other arts, you make a paintingor a film or something like that, and people just look at it and that's it.Whereas in music, you actually get to perform this four-minute thing, and youcan change it subtly. You can warp it into a different mentality. You can giveit more energy, or you can slow it down. You can do whatever you want. It's soversatile. So we figured we should be able to do this really well. The album isone thing, but you should be hearing a whole new level of something live. Â
TM: You and the restof the band have said that you learned about stage presence by watchingvideotapes of your live shows. What's the story behind that?
MJ: A friend of ours used to videotape our shows. Just as afriend, being a nice guy, he would videotape the shows and give us a copy.Sometimes before rehearsals we'd watch it. You'd be sitting there saying, "My,God. We don't move!" Mandy's great now, but at the time, she didn't move aninch. Little things like that, little eye-openers...It's very informative to seewhat it looks like on the other end.
TM: You've played withsome great bands on past tours—the Raveonettes, Jane's Addiction, Red Hot ChiliPeppers. Have you picked up anything from them?
MJ: You pick up a lot, but I'm not sure if I could actuallysay what random things we picked up. You always do, being around other bands,especially if they do a live performance really well. It inspires you. Everytime you see that, you want to play harder, you want to do something better.I'm not sure that it would be easy to say exactly what they do for you, butthere are little things every once in a while. You learn little tricks of thetrade, little secrets on how to do something better. You know, "Look how cooland relaxed they look. I can do that as well."
TM: What bands do you like to see live?
MJ: There are tons. I've been toso many shows. The Secret Machines are incredible live. They're a really coolband. It's kind of like watching an indie version of Pink Floyd. Their songs doseem that big and large, and there are only three of them. It's veryimpressive. There's Asobi Seksu... They're kind of on the My Bloody Valentineidea, with swirling, huge-sounding guitars. The girl who sings is Japanese.Sometimes she sings in English, sometimes she sings in Japanese. They're areally cool band...They're going to start a whole new little genre I'm lookingforward to hearing.Â
TM: When did youfirst become interested in music and joining a band?
MJ: At an early age,I got very into music. When I was a kid, my brother and I put our moneytogether to buy the cassette tape of Michael Jackson's Thriller. With the help of my brother, that was the first realalbum I bought. We used to listen to it over and over again. Then I got thislittle boom box, because I didn't even own one at that point. I'd tape songs onthe radio and listen to those over and over again....When I was around twelve,I got my first guitar and just kept playing and playing. So I always kind of feltthat I should be in a band.
TM: How about theother members of stellastarr*? null
MJ: Mandy played a bit of cello before, but Shawn and Arthurdidn't really start to play until they were in college, which made it veryinteresting when we first started writing...When I first started rehearsing withthem, Arthur would count off any number of clicks. He'd be like, "1, 2, 3," andthen he'd start something in 4/4, which just doesn't work. They figured thatout and it all fell into place, but in the beginning it was like a clean slate.You could do whatever you wanted with these guys. They didn't have anypreconceived rules...You could do almost anything you wanted, and that's what wasreally fun about playing with these guys. You got to be fairly experimental withwhat you felt like doing and felt like playing...Definitely a lot of creativitygoing on.
TM: How does the newalbum, Harmonies for the Haunted,differ from the band's previous work?
MJ: Our first album stellastarr* was our greatest hits to that point. Whenever you're in a band, you have yourfirst album. It's whatever great songs you have to that point. This time weactually got to sit down and write a more cohesive, moment-in-time album. Inthis period of months, we felt a certain way. We planned it out a little bit inthe early stages of writing. We wanted it to be a little more spacious, alittle larger sounding...We definitely tried to go for more melody-driven songs.I feel like we were very melody-driven before, but now I think we've taken itto the next level. Mandy's backing vocals are very oohing and aahing the entiretime, in a spooky way. It's definitely gotten a little moodier too. We stilllove the fast, more punky songs. We still play them as much as humanlypossible. We just need a little bit more depth now, something with a moretactile feel, more melody and rhythm. And we just trekked toward it. Hopefully,we've achieved it. I feel like we did.
In-depth Biography
While attending Manhattan's Pratt Institute of the Arts in the late '90s, Shawn Christensen (vocals/guitar), Amanda Tannen (bass), and Arthur Kremer (drums) befriended one another for what would eventually become a musical journey. The threesome had barely grasped the beauty of their respective instruments, so forming the band Ghistor was an interesting move. It was a work in progress and a bond in the making, however short-lived. Christensen, Tannen, and Kremer eventually graduated and tried the corporate thing for awhile. They reconnected in spring 2000 with former Charlotte's Funeral guitarist and Philly native Michael Jurin to form the indie rock outfit Stellastarr. A deal with Tiswas followed by 2002 and their EP Somewhere Across Forever appeared the next spring. After much acclaim from the media for the eponymously titled debut full-length, the group returned in 2005 with the follow-up Harmonies for the Haunted ~ MacKenzie Wilson, All Music Guide
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