Starsailor (band)

Infobox musical artist
Name = Starsailor

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Img_size =
Img_capt = Starsailor live at Summercase Festival, Madrid
Background = group_or_band
Origin =
Genre = Britpop
Indie rock
Piano rock
Rock
Years_active = 2000–present
Label = EMI
URL = [http://www.starsailor.net/ www.starsailor.net]
Current_members = Ben Byrne
James Stelfox
James Walsh
Barry Westhead

Starsailor are an English rock band from Chorley. As of 2006, they have had three charting albums and ten Top 40 singles in the UK since 2001.

Early history

The band met and played at Wigan and Leigh College (Railway Rd Campus) prior to this Walsh attended St Michaels CE High School in Chorley, Westhead attended high school in Wigan and Byrne and Stelfox went to school in Warrington.

Bassist James Stelfox and drummer Ben Byrne had been playing together in the north west of England for a number of years. When their regular singer fell ill, they recruited young singer and songwriter James Walsh from a school choir. He was influenced by Jeff Buckley and his 1994 album "Grace" in his singing style. Comparing it to Oasis' "(What's the Story) Morning Glory?" album, which Walsh says sums up a unique moment, 'Grace' captures 'every moment'.

The band, then named Waterface, had tried a number of guitarists before they asked long time friend Barry Westhead to join the band in 2000 on keyboards. He had been teaching Judo and playing organ for a church near his hometown. His arrival has been heralded as the most significant event in the band's formation. Walsh also took up the guitar, following frustration over not finding a musician right for the group. The band started to build up a reputation, and their name changed to Starsailor after the 1970 album "Starsailor" by Tim Buckley.

A journalist from "NME" saw a gig in 2000 and gave the band a glowing review. "One live encounter was enough to convince many sceptics that here was a band who were genuinely special, blessed with a singer whose voice thrummed like an emotional telegraph wire, that swerved the pitfalls of indie melancholia and were clearly in love with rock’n’roll and all its possibilities." Their performance at the Glastonbury Festival added to the band's reputation and led to a bidding war amongst UK record companies. The band signed with EMI in 2000.

'Love Is Here' era

'Fever', the band's first single, was released in early 2001. The song, and its two B-Sides 'Love Is Here' and 'Coming Down' were cut from a demo recording session in mid-2000. All three tracks went on to feature on Starsailor's first album "Love Is Here", but the latter two were re-recorded.

March 2001 saw the band sell out their first UK Tour, which consisted of eleven dates in England. Their second single, "Good Souls", was released in April and featured a cover of Van Morrison's 'The Way Young Lovers Do' as a B-Side. During this period, the band were recording their debut album in Rockfield Studios, Wales. By this time, the band were already previewing many of the album's tracks in their concerts, most notably 'Poor Misguided Fool', 'Lullaby' and 'Way To Fall'. An acoustic version of 'Alcoholic' appeared on a promotional CD for NME magazine earlier in 2001. The original release date for the album was August 2001.

Further live dates came supporting the Manic Street Preachers in Glasgow, as well as Doves on their North American tour. The band also marked their first festival appearances, playing at events such as V Festival and Germany's 'Rock Im Park'. 'Alcoholic' appeared as the third single to be taken off of their debut album, and its number ten chart position remains the band's second highest placing to date. The single version was actually an extended version of the album track.

Their album "Love Is Here" reached number 2 in the UK album charts in October 2001, after receiving great critical acclaim. Combining a mix of acoustic guitar and Walsh's beautiful vocals, critics said the songs leave the 'hairs on the back of your neck standing'.

The year ended with the band winning the "Brightest New Hope" award at the NME Awards, and the release of their fourth single, 'Lullaby', which reached Number Thirty-Six. Some fans complained about the difficulty in attaining copies of the single.

The band played the London Astoria on February 4 and 8, 2002. The first date was a concert in aid of Warchild, and also included Travis and Ryan Adams on the bill. The 8th saw the debut of 'Born Again', which would eventually be released as a single. The concert is notable since the band were joined on stage by two backing singers and a cellist. James Walsh told NME.COM after the show that he thought the gig was "amazing, something really special" while bassist James Stelfox said it was "one of the greatest ever." This flirtation with these additional voices and a cello only lasted a brief period of time.

The middle of 2002 saw a feud between Walsh and Noel Gallagher of Oasis. Gallagher had called the Starsailor singer a 'cock' in an interview for NME magazine; something denied by the accused. However, when Walsh confronted Gallagher at the T In The Park festival in 2002, Gallagher claimed that if he said it, then it must be true. Noel's brother Liam got involved, allegedly squaring up to Walsh on the same day. In live shows following this, most notably at the 2002 V Festival, the Starsailor front man announced 'it is nice to be good, and good to be nice'. Gallagher went onto declare that the incident was 'the most fun Walsh has had in his life'. The feud was resolved at Glastonbury in 2004.

Peter Kay joined the band on stage at their 2002 Christmas Concert held in Warrington's Parr Hall.

"Silence Is Easy"

Starsailor teamed up with Phil Spector for their second album Silence is Easy, which was recorded in Los Angeles. The collaboration came about following Spector's daughter Nicole attending one of the band's American concerts in the Winter of 2002. Spector is said to have been fascinated by Lullaby, the band's fourth single. After meeting the producer, the band agreed to work with him on their second album. However, the collaboration was short lived; sessions at London's Abbey Road proved difficult. Spector is said to have dismissed Ben Byrne's drumming, as well as proving tricky to work with. Only two tracks made the band's second album, 'Silence Is Easy' - one was the title track, the other the soaring White Dove. The band co-produced seven of the other tracks with Danton Supple and former Blur producer John Leckie was brought in to see over the recording of 'Shark Food'. The first single was Silence Is Easy, which made the Top Ten (#9, the band's highest placing). The album charted well, but sales were sluggish in comparison to the bands first album. The release dropped out of the Top 40 rather promptly.

A full UK Tour began in Autumn 2003 shortly after the release of the album, culminating at London's Brixton Academy. The show featured the only known performance (at least until their American tour on 2006) of 'Restless Heart', the closing track on the Silence Is Easy album. Mark Collins, from The Charlatans joined Starsailor for all dates between August 2003 to December 2004, playing additional and lead guitar

The album spawned just three singles; the second of which, Born Again had evolved from a B-Side to Poor Misguided Fool, released in early 2002. The song was re-recorded for the album, and cut down for a radio edit. Four to the Floor, which was also remixed by Thin White Duke, became a popular club hit. Walsh wanted the track to become the band's 'I Am The Resurrection'; something to be played in 'Indie Disco's everywhere'.

"On The Outside"

EMI allowed the band plenty of time to record their follow up album; having targeted producer Rob Schnapf to produce it, the group relocated to Los Angeles to record. Five possible titles appeared; (Faith, Hope, Love/Here I Go/Ashes or In the Crossfire/I do not know/Counterfeit Life), but the band settled for 'On The Outside', a statement of their position in the music industry. The sound was different from the previous two releases; it was far heavier than its predecessors. Starsailor had always received praise for their live sound, but the releases seemed 'puny' in comparison, admitted Stelfox. The recording was all done to tape, and the band did not use Editing software such as ProTools to 'perfect' the recording. Byrne later remarked that his drum-track on 'White Light' took a long time to nail; highlighting the band's desire to make the record they were truly happy with.

Starsailor released their third album, "On the Outside", in the UK on 17 October 2005 from which the first single from the album, "In the Crossfire" was taken. Critics raved about the release, with many citing it as a return to form. Despite this, promotional appearances including a short live set and signing at London's HMV Oxford Street did not aid sales- the album charted at number 13.

Since September 2005, Richard Warren joined the band when playing live, aiding Walsh with additional guitar, vocals and also harmonica parts. Again, the band's UK tour ended at Brixton Academy. Following that, the band toured Europe, playing several dates in France, where 'Four To The Floor' was a number one hit in 2004. Following the Paris concert on April 3rd, Walsh and Warren were the DJ's at the Aftershow party.

The album has spawned three singles; This Time and Keep Us Together followed 'In The Crossfire'. Despite promoting the single with appearances in London and Leeds, 'Keep Us Together' was the first single not to reach the UK Top 40. The promotional video for 'This Time' appears to be a cultural reference to the film Run Lola Run, but may not be intentional.

Starsailor played numerous festivals in the Summer of 2006; most notably 'Hyde Park Calling' on July 1st 2006, alongside Roger Waters, and the V Festival, which is held in Stafford and Chelmsford. They also supported the Rolling Stones on their 'Bigger Bang' Tour in Munich, Hamburg in 2006 and again in Frankfurt, Paris and Lyon in 2007.

The summer also saw the announcement that On the Outside would be released by Artists Addiction Records in the USA on the 22nd August, with American dates including New York on 09/11/06.

In the autumn of 2006, Starsailor toured North America, playing both headlining shows and supporting James Blunt, in January 2007 they undertook their first trip to Russia, playing in the B2 Club of Moscow. According to the band's [http://www.starsailor.net/ official website] Barry Westhead's partner Kelly gave birth to a baby boy on April 12, 2007. The baby was named Joseph. Bass player James Stelfox became a father again in 2008, when his partner gave birth to a girl, named Ella, in November while the rest of the band were doing their first trip to Korea.Starsailor was named the replacement for Amy Winehouse as the support act for The Rolling Stones on the German leg of their tour. They were opening for the rock legends for the first time in Hamburg. Front man James Walsh told BBC 6 Music: "We heard on Sunday evening, our agent gave us a frantic call, and asked what we were doing this week, fortunately we had a week off!. By the end of 2007 James Walsh will be playing an acoustic set at XFM Manchester's Winter Wonderland at Manchester Apollo on Tuesday 11th December 2007 at 7pm and may be accompanied by Stelfox.

All the Plans or Boy In Waiting

Starsailor have begun recording demos for the follow up to 2005s 'On The Outside'. Their frontman, James Walsh, wrote:

"We have completed another set of demos in Henley which produced 3 new songs. The one which everyone is raving about is called 'Lights Out' or 'Tell Me It's Not Over' (we have not decided yet!). "It's got a massive drum beat, reminiscent of Doves and U2. Another couple of these and we will have a truly great album." Based on what James Walsh has said, the new album will have "struck a great balance between their heavier side and their more emotional downbeat side. There are some stompers certainly but also the ballads are back!"

In an earlier post the band said that they had written 15 songs for the album, and demoed the songs 'Let Go', 'Do You Believe In Love?', 'Will Not Stop Now' and 'Change My Mind'.'Rebel Blues', 'Miss You', 'Here's To The Man' and 'Let Go' are names mentioned in other posts.

James Walsh has also played in several events in 2007, like SXSW festival in Texas in March 2007, and an acoustic show in London on the 12th of March. The show is notable for not having a setlist; rarities such as the hardly played 'Restless Heart' was played, due to a request from the front row. In addition to this he played the song "Tell Me It's Not Over", the track from the work-in-progress fourth album. (Early arrivals saw Walsh soundcheck half the song).Walsh and Stelfox played an unplugged on the 13 April 2007 in Switzerland with Mark Collins of The Charlatans. They played 2 songs that will probably be on their fourth album.

Further support in Europe for the Rolling Stones took place in mid-June; these were late additions, and fitted in with the band's Festival schedule. The previous concert before the Stones' support was in Den Haag, Holland; the band debuted the first full-band version of 'Tell Me It's Not Over'.Starsailor had embarked on a tour of the UK during October 2007 in support of Fairtrade. They have debuted a number of new songs during the tour as "Boy in Waiting" and "All the plans we made". The lyrics for "Tell me it's not over" had considerably changed considerably since the first time they've sang it.

Their first travel to Latin America was confirmed after a long time of speculation about it. Starsailor supported The Killers on November,2007 on their dates in Argentina and Chile and opens the possibility of more dates that they could make by their own in more other contries of the region. In their performed on October 30th in Buenos Aires they were received for about 200 fans. The've sang Tell me it's not over and else Boy in waiting.In another interview, this time with the Chilean newspaper "La Tercera", they've announced they'll present the song "Tell Me Is Not Over" officially for the first time in public with the public knowledge.

In January 2008 it was confirmed that Starsailor will play on June at the Isle of Wight Festival on the last day being The police the headliners on that date and else they'll play at Hard Rock Calling in Hyde Park the same month with The police as headliners. It's expected that they'll be promoting their fourth album those days. They have else confirmed that they will play at'Rockin' Park' in Holland on Saturday 28th June,at the 3 day 2008 Cactus Festival at Minnewaterpark, Brugge, Belgium on Saturday 12th July and the Open Air Gampel Festival in Switzerland on Saturday 16th August.

In an interview with [http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/entertainment/music/rock_and_pop/s/1017885_starsailor_steer_a_course_for_success Manchesters Evening News] in September 2007 James Walsh admitted that he wants Starsailor to be 'bigger' and more successful. As of 28th September 2007 the band have recorded 16 songs for their forth album so far. He also added that the fourth album has "a lot of soul and that they've tried to write classic songs, work the sounds around them, instead of experimenting too much". Even there isn't a particular theme to the new material "married life and international politics are some of the key ingredients among the 16 songs which have been recorded to date". Later it was confirmed Steve Osborne as the producer of the album. Steve Osbourne has else produced Starsailor's first studio album.

On December, 2007 it was published on Youtube a video named "Santa Walsh is coming to town" which shows front man James Walsh playing Santa Claus is coming to town in studio set of their fourth album.Starsailor's fourth album should be finished in spring which would mean a possible early summer release.On February 25, 2008 Starsailor played an acoustic set at an intimate central London location where they add on the setlist three new possible tracks: Walk These Wet Streets, Keep The Blues Away and Stars & Stripes.

Fourth album completed

On March the 20th, 2008, front man James posted on the official Starsailor forum announcing the album had been completed ('16 songs recorded with 12 possible contenders for the album'). [ [http://forums.starsailor.net/viewtopic.php?t=8012 Starsailor Message Board :: View topic - Finally finished recording our 4th album ] ] It was initially announced by James Walsh on an exclusive phone interview to Spin.com that the album will hopefully "drop in September-or as soon as reconfiguring label EMI assigns it a release date". Walsh, James. [http://www.spin.com/articles/exclusive-new-starsailor-album-nearly-finished] New Starsalior Album Nearly Finished] "Spin.com". Accessed May 31, 2008.] Nevertheless, the release date was delayed by EMI six months and it's now tentave scheduled to be released in February 2009 Walsh, James. [http://www.virginradio.co.uk/player/5856/backstage_interview_at_v2008.html:sd] Backstage interview at V2008 by Starsailor] "virginradio.co.uk". August 19, 2008.]

Football

Walsh and Byrne are Liverpool supporters, Barry Westhead is a Wigan Athletic fan, whilst Stelfox attends Manchester United games frequently. The band were on stage on May 25 2005, when Liverpool won the Champions League final; Byrne proceeded on jumping at the front of the stage having found out the result. Walsh was a regular visitor across Europe following Liverpool in their Champions League campaign of 2006-2007, culminating in a performance in Athens before the club's final against AC Milan.

Use in soundtracks

*The song "Four to the Floor" was remixed and included on the soundtrack to the film "Layer Cake".
*'Keep Us Together' has been used frequently by 'Match Of The Day'.
*Before they were released as singles, 'Sky Sports' used instrumental versions of "Four to the Floor" and "Keep Us Together" as background music for various televised International Cricket tours.
*The BBC also used an instrumental version as the background music for the Commonwealth Games 2006 interactive service.
*The song "I Do not Know" from their "On the Outside" album was featured in the second season of Veronica Mars.
*The song "Some of Us" from their "Silence is Easy" album was featured in the fifth episode of Bones
*The song "Way to Fall" from their "Love is Here" album was featured in the ending credits of .
*A music video of "Bring My Love" is featured on DVD 2 of the 2 DVD set of Oldboy, released in Germany and Austria. The video consists entirely of clips from the movie.
*The song "Faith Hope Love" from their "On the Outside" album was featured in Season 2, Episode 5 - Aftermath of "Criminal Minds"
*The song "Tie Up My Hands" was featured on the Television Show "Trigger Happy TV"The song 'Rise Up' was recently used on the finale of hit US TV show 'Eli Stone'

Band members

As of 2000, the band consisted of:
* Ben Byrne - born on 8 March, in Warrington, Cheshire - (drums)
* James ‘Stel’ Stelfox - born in Warrington, Cheshire - (Bass)
* James Walsh - born on 10 June, 1980, in Chorley, Lancashire - (Guitar / vocals)
* Barry Westhead - born in Wigan, Greater Manchester - (Keyboards)

Regular 'Additional' Performers:
* Mark Collins - (Additional Guitar and Vocals, 2003-2004)
* Richard 'Echoboy' Warren - (Additional Guitar,Vocals and Harmonica, 2005-)

Discography

Albums

*"Love Is Here" (October 8, 2001) EMI #2 UK, #129 US
*"Silence Is Easy" (September 15, 2003) EMI #2 UK
*"On the Outside" (October 17, 2005) EMI #13 UK

UK singles

From "Love Is here":
*Fever (B/W 'Love Is Here', 'Coming Down') (05/02/01) 18
*Good Souls (B/W 'The Way Young Lovers Do') (23/04/01) 12
*Alcoholic (B/W 'Let It Shine', 'Grandmas' Hands') (17/09/01) 10
*Lullaby (B/W 'From A Whisper To A Scream', 'Tie Up My Hands' (Live KCRW)) (10/12/01) 36
*Poor Misguided Fool (B/W 'Born Again') (18/03/02) 23

From "Silence Is Easy":
*Silence Is Easy (B/W 'Could You Be Mine', 'She Understands') (01/09/03) 9
*Born Again (B/W 'At The End Of The Show', 'Silence Is Easy' (Live 2003)) (17/11/03) 40
*Four to the Floor (B/W 'A Message') (01/03/04) #24 UK, #1 FRANCE

From "On the Outside":
*In the Crossfire (B/W 'Always') (13/10/05) 22
*This Time (B/W 'Believe Me', 'Push The Button' (Live, BBC Radio One)) (23/01/06) 24
*Keep Us Together (B/W 'Rise Up') (08/05/06) 47

References

External links

* [http://www.starsailor.net/ Official Starsailor site]
* [http://www.goodsouls.org.uk/ Official Starsailor Fansite]
* [http://www.ssfans.com/ Starsailor fan site]
* [http://www.starsailorfanpage.de Starsailor German fan site]
* [http://www.mtv.com/music/#/music/artist/starsailor/artist.jhtml MTV biography]
*MySpace|starsailor|Starsailor
* [http://www.newmixes.com/starsailor-live_at_werchter_festival_2006_youfm_020706.html Starsailor - Live set at Werchter Festival 2006, YouFM (dab radio broadcast)]
* [http://backstagepass.seatwaveblogs.com/2008/05/interview_starsailor.php/ Seatwave interviews James Walsh at the 2008 Indy Awards]