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 their
self-titled debut album, stellastarr* impressed fans and critics alike with
their polished sound and undeniable energy. The band's engaging live shows have
only earned them more admiration and word-of-mouth support from audiences.
stellastarr* guitarist Michael Jurin took the time to speak
with Ticketmaster while preparing for an upcoming U.S. tour in support of the
band's second full-length album, Harmonies
for the Haunted.
Ticketmaster: How do
you approach playing live? Does your live sound differ greatly from your studio
recordings?
Michael Jurin: Looking at it broadly, I think a band should
be able to play live. Other bands write in different ways, but a band should be
able to do what they do best on stage. That's part of the mentality that we go
into this with. It's a unique opportunity. In other arts, you make a painting
or 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 you
can change it subtly. You can warp it into a different mentality. You can give
it more energy, or you can slow it down. You can do whatever you want. It's so
versatile. So we figured we should be able to do this really well. The album is
one thing, but you should be hearing a whole new level of something live.
TM: You and the rest
of the band have said that you learned about stage presence by watching
videotapes of your live shows. What's the story behind that?
MJ: A friend of ours used to videotape our shows. Just as a
friend, 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 an
inch. Little things like that, little eye-openers...It's very informative to see
what it looks like on the other end.
TM: You've played with
some great bands on past tours—the Raveonettes, Jane's Addiction, Red Hot Chili
Peppers. Have you picked up anything from them?
MJ: You pick up a lot, but I'm not sure if I could actually
say 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. Every
time 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, but
there are little things every once in a while. You learn little tricks of the
trade, little secrets on how to do something better. You know, "Look how cool
and 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 to
so many shows. The Secret Machines are incredible live. They're a really cool
band. It's kind of like watching an indie version of Pink Floyd. Their songs do
seem that big and large, and there are only three of them. It's very
impressive. There's Asobi Seksu... They're kind of on the My Bloody Valentine
idea, with swirling, huge-sounding guitars. The girl who sings is Japanese.
Sometimes she sings in English, sometimes she sings in Japanese. They're a
really cool band...They're going to start a whole new little genre I'm looking
forward to hearing.
TM: When did you
first 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 money
together to buy the cassette tape of Michael Jackson's Thriller. With the help of my brother, that was the first real
album I bought. We used to listen to it over and over again. Then I got this
little boom box, because I didn't even own one at that point. I'd tape songs on
the 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 felt
that I should be in a band.
TM: How about the
other members of stellastarr*? null
MJ: Mandy played a bit of cello before, but Shawn and Arthur
didn't really start to play until they were in college, which made it very
interesting when we first started writing...When I first started rehearsing with
them, Arthur would count off any number of clicks. He'd be like, "1, 2, 3," and
then he'd start something in 4/4, which just doesn't work. They figured that
out 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 any
preconceived rules...You could do almost anything you wanted, and that's what was
really fun about playing with these guys. You got to be fairly experimental with
what you felt like doing and felt like playing...Definitely a lot of creativity
going on.
TM: How does the new
album, 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 your
first album. It's whatever great songs you have to that point. This time we
actually got to sit down and write a more cohesive, moment-in-time album. In
this period of months, we felt a certain way. We planned it out a little bit in
the early stages of writing. We wanted it to be a little more spacious, a
little 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 it
to the next level. Mandy's backing vocals are very oohing and aahing the entire
time, in a spooky way. It's definitely gotten a little moodier too. We still
love the fast, more punky songs. We still play them as much as humanly
possible. We just need a little bit more depth now, something with a more
tactile feel, more melody and rhythm. And we just trekked toward it. Hopefully,
we've achieved it. I feel like we did.