Early history Although they claim to be a Wigan band, only one member is actually from the town. The band met whilst studying a music course at Leigh College (Railway Rd Campus). Prior to this, singer James Walsh attended St Michael's CE High School in Chorley, Lancashire, whilst Byrne and Stelfox went to school in Warrington. Only Westhead is from Wigan itself.
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, the label that a relative of one band member worked for, in 2000. In 2008, in a re-organisation, Starsailor were moved to Virgin Records, a division of EMI.[1]. They played a concert in Wigan in April 2009 at the Tavern pub in front of just 200 - this was the first time they have actually played in the town.
"Love Is Here" (2000–2002)
"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 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."[citation needed]
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 on to 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.
A poster for "Love Is Here" can be seen on the bedroom wall of Katie in the 2002 film "The Ring".
THIS IS SOME OF THEIR SONGS,CHECK IT OUT :
Faith Hope Love
I Dont Know
Get Out While You Can
In The Cross Fire
just wait for their another article...
and thier mp3...
No comments:
Post a Comment