Sixstarhotel

Infobox musical artist
Name = Sixstarhotel


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Origin = Lisburn, Northern Ireland
Genre = Alternative rock
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Label = We Collect Records
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URL = [http://www.myspace.com/sixstarhotel www.myspace.com/sixstarhotel]
Current_members = David Clements - Guitar/Vocals Matt Minford - Bass/Vocals Timothy Anderson - Guitar/Vocals Neil Gillespie - Drums
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Sixstarhotel, are an alternative rock band from Belfast, Northern Ireland. They formed in 2001. The group have released three self-financed EP's "Circus Music", "Everyone's a Critic", "These Rosewood Theories" and released their debut album "A Kind of Crusade" in January 2007.

History

The band started out with founding members, David Clements and Neil Gillespie, playing together in the attic in Neils house to the radio and making tape recordings of their efforts. Child-hood friends, it was merely a way of having fun together yet they soon discovered that this may be more than just a hobby. They recruited Timothy Anderson a school mate of David's and Matt Minford, another of David's friends and Sixstarhotel was born.

The group have toured Northern Ireland heavily over the last four years, releasing the EP's "Circus Music", "Everyone's A Critic" and "These Rosewood Theories" to acclaim from local press. In that time the band have become full-time and for a year, relocated to Glasgow, Scotland in October 2004. 2006 however proved to, possibly, be the bands most accomplished year to-date. As well as recording tracks with esteemed producers Richard Flack (Queens of the Stone Age, Foo Fighters) and Mark Aubrey (Bloc Party) they completed a successful month long tour of Denmark and shared stages with, among others, You Say Party! We Say Die! and The Young Knives as well as filling famous Belfast venue The Limelight with its biggest ever crowd for a local band in December.

2007 has seen the band release their much anticipated debut album. Recorded in Belfast with producer Rocky O'Reilly of Oppenheimer, it is entitled 'A Kind Of Crusade' and has been self-released through the bands own record label 'We Collect Records'. The album was also made available for digital download as of 12 November 2007, the first such release for the band. Touring in support of the album has been both heavy and successful. The album tour has seen the band return to Denmark for another month long tour, as well as branching out into the festival circuit, featuring on bills at the likes of Flevo Festival in Holland. There has also been a well received UK tour and airplay in student radio stations from Edinburgh to Leeds. A discussion of the album and their general ethos with [http://www.stv.tv/music stv.tv] from October 2006 is [http://www.stv.tv/out/showArticle.jsp?source=opencms&articleId=/out/music/newtalent/newArticle3568394 available] .

Other Projects

Aside from the band, the members have many varied artistic involvements. In late 2006/early 2007 the band setup their own record label [http://www.myspace.com/wecollectrecords We Collect Records] with all four members of the band actively involved in the day to day running of the label. There are plans to use 'We Collect' to release works by other Northern Irish artists in the near future. David Clements performs solo shows under the "Captain Cameron" moniker and has released two EPs, the latter of the which was released through 'We Collect Records'. More of his music can be found at his [http://www.myspace.com/imcaptaincameron Myspace] . Matt Minford is the main organiser of a Northern Irish performing arts festival called "Forfey Festival", which is coming into its second year in 2007. The festival plays host to acts from Ireland, the UK and further afield and also showcases local artists. The official festival [http://www.forfeyfestival.co.uk/ website] and its [http://www.myspace.com/forfeyfestival Myspace] give more information. Aside from this Matt is heavily involved with other local Northern Irish acts such as Bluetree and Kowalski. Neil Gillespie has made guest appearances on the drum stool for acts such as David McNair (who produced the bands "These Rosewood Theories" EP) and is also heavily involved in the design of the bands merchandise and album covers. In 2007 Neil co-founded a design company, 'Our Friend', with three other Northern Irish designers. Timothy Anderson is involved in myriad number of side-projects, the most recent of which are "You Will Live Disco" and "Our Singapore Friends".

Discography

EPs
*"Circus Music"
*"Everyone's a Critic"
*"These Rosewood Theories"Albums
*"A Kind of Crusade"

Influences

The following have all been cited as strong influences in Sixstarhotel's music.

*Les Savy Fav
*Mewithoutyou
*At the Drive-In
*Mew

External links

* [http://www.sixstarhotel.net/ Official Website]
* [http://www.myspace.com/sixstarhotel MySpace Music]
* [http://www.alternativeulster.com/features.asp?FeaturesID=42 Band Interview]
* [http://www.stv.tv/out/showArticle.jsp?source=opencms&articleId=/out/music/newtalent/newArticle3568394 Sixstarhotel New Talent video interview] at [http://www.stv.tv/music stv.tv/music]
* [http://www.myspace.com/imcaptaincameron Captain Cameron Myspace]
* [http://www.forfeyfestival.co.uk/ Forfey Festival Official Website]
* [http://www.myspace.com/forfeyfestival Forfey Festival Myspace]
* [http://www.myspace.com/wecollectrecords We Collect Records Myspace]