Stellastarr* |
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Thu. October 02.2003 4:59 PM EDT |
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Stellastarr*: Lust for LifeUpstart New York band explains its art and movie jones. Van Gogh and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, yes. Late-period Harrison Ford, no. by C. Bottomley |
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Stellastarr (Publicity) |
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Stellastarr* are a New York band who don’t seem too concerned about being cool. Drummer Arthur Kremer takes the stage topless, with a large asterisk duct-taped to his right nipple. Singer Shawn Christensen turns up to a MTV taping in a winged
Then there’s the music. It rocks hard, sure, veering closer to the polished workmanship of their buddies Interpol than the Strokes’ shabby chic. Playing the “name the influence” game is a lot harder. You might hear snatches of Duran Duran in their punk/funk rhythms, and the twisted guitar interplay may make you think of U2. But Christensen’s drill-sergeant bark is harder to peg. So really, why worry? Christensen, Kremer and Tannen first met at Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute of the Arts, playing in “joke band” Ghistor. Having grown up with ‘50s rock ‘n’ roll, Christensen was getting a crash course in the Pixies and Sebadoh and learning guitar via the Bob Dylan songbook. He took acting classes and was in a Priceline commercial. Kremer majored in graphic design and got an on-screen role in a Rick Schroeder TV movie. Tannen preferred her cello to bass. After graduation, the trio found themselves playing together again, with the addition of guitarist Michael Jurin. Stellastarr*'s self-titled debut is infectious pop-rock framed around the women in Christensen’s life - the ones who lit up his world (“My Coco”), the ones who hurt his friends (“Jenny”), and even one who’s an alien (the epic “Moongirl”). Uncool maybe, but the album’s sleek effervescence and their live intensity could make Stellastarr* the band most likely to cross over from subterranean New York to the masses. Having temporarily abandoned his sideline gig of painting rock stars, Christensen spoke to VH1 about jamming to the oldies, his love of Neil Simon, and the painters who rock his world. VH1: What’s the dynamic in the band? Who is the quiet one? SC: There’s no quiet one. We’re all loud opinionated bastards! [Laughs.] Arthur is the most enthusiastic. He’s the one cracking the most jokes. Michael is the most methodical. He would rather just play and not have to deal with the whole business side of things. Mandy is like the ‘mom’ figure. Musically and personality-wise, she keeps us in check. I’m the most headstrong. It’s hard to be democratic in a band where everyone has such strong opinions. VH1: How do you go from growing up with Jerry Lee Lewis to loving indie heroes like Sebadoh? SC: Sh*t man, you have Bobby Darin’s “Splish Splash” and all that as well! I grew up on oldies, got into hair metal, and then in college I changed everything. My peers were like “Listen to this.” I became more interested in finding bands. Sebadoh were a band you needed to find, before they had anything on MTV. VH1: What hair metal bands did you dig? SC: I listened to anything that Top 40 radio was telling me was rock: Poison, Motley Crue, or Skid Row. I didn’t realize how bad it actually was; it was the only rock I knew about. I was eating whatever was being fed to me. VH1: You taught yourself to play guitar using the Bob Dylan songbook. What’s your fave Dylan tune? SC: The first song I learned was “Just Like a Woman,” but my favorite song is “Positively 4th Street.” It’s an angry song but I love it. For some reason, I find myself keep returning to it. VH1: Does his sarcasm turn up in your own music? SC: As influential as Dylan is to me, I can never be as brilliantly metaphorical with my lyrics. He has a very beautiful way of writing about something, and using words you never thought about using. I don’t have that ability. I would love to take from his sarcasm, and I definitely do. But I can’t hide behind words as well as he can. So I try to sing a little more honestly. VH1: Does your training as an actor play into being a rock star? SC: In a way. You can learn how to act for ten years, but the only time you’re doing it correctly is when speaking or pausing naturally, not because a piece of paper says to “pause” or “roll your eyes.” It’s the same thing as being on stage. I’ve learned to naturally be part of the music, rather then over-dramatizing the whole thing. VH1: Are you slowly turning into Ziggy Stardust? SC: [Laughs.] I wish! I’d love to. I’m not going out and kissing guys and wearing vast amounts of make-up anytime soon, though. But I’d love to have that kind of mystery. VH1: Ever dream of playing Hamlet? SC: No! I was much more inspired by films growing up. I wanted to play that kind of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest role - a criminal who goes nutty inside the nutty bin. I was a big fan of Neil Simon plays when I was a kid, too. Even though his sense of humor is a little old-fashioned, certain plays of his are really great. I was always auditioning for Neil Simon plays! VH1: What’s your favorite movie? SC: Raiders of the Lost Ark. It’s the perfect mix of action, comedy and drama, and Indiana Jones is the ultimate hero. The last interesting movie I saw was Bowling for Columbine. I was really into that. VH1: Whatever happened to Harrison Ford? SC: I don’t know. He pierced his ear at like 57, didn’t he? The last thing he did that I liked was Working Girl. He played a great role in that, but I can’t watch him anymore. VH1: What do you think of the new Strokes single, “12:51”? SC: I’ve heard most of the new album. In my opinion, they’ve updated their sound a bit to more of an 80’s vibe. They have a very interesting guitar sound now, like half-guitar/half-keyboard. It’s certainly not going on anywhere else out there. It’s a cool way of progressing that I wouldn’t have thought of. VH1: Name two painters you admire. SC: That’s easy. Egon Schiele and Vincent Van Gogh. Van Gogh’s brushstrokes are impeccable. I can’t get over it! His stuff looks ten times better on a wall than it does in a book. It’s pops out at you like a hologram. That’s why I work with acrylic [paint]. I like that spontaneity, because I’m an impatient person. I can let it dry and move onto do something else. Egon Schiele is one of the best draftsmen ever. His study of the human form is beautiful. His drawings of nudes and his twisted, dark self-portraits are amazing. VH1: Doesn’t painting make you a throwback in as far as the contemporary art world is concerned? SC: I like to get unorganized and messy. It’s hard to have accidents when you do [installations and videos]. If I’m painting a face and my brush accidentally hits a streak, I’ll leave it, because I love those kinds of accidents. For me painting is risky and accidental, because I don’t know what I am doing half the time. It can be sloppy, and it can be spontaneous and that’s the look I am going for. VH1: Is the band the best medium for your creative energies? SC: For us, right now? Yes. It’s a good time for us to be doing this. You can act forever. You can be at your acting prime at 60 or your painting prime at 80. But you can’t really be rocking out at that age. My favorite bands were at their best when they were at this age - a little young, a little angry, a little naïve. All of the arts are combined for me. When I was acting and painting and into music, I was basically putting a third of myself into each one. Then I started to combine them, saying, “Painting sort of plays a part in writing music.” After that, everything became much stronger. VH1: Would you go see The Pixies if they reformed, even if they were a little grayer? SC: Absolutely! There’s no way I would miss it. It would be stupid to not catch that show. There’s the level of whether it is going to be disappointing or not, but you just have to hope against hope! |
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