10 star
Words: Maytina -; Images: Katy Vegod
Words: Maytina -; Images: Katy Vegod
10 Star grew out of a band called Solar Krush in late 2002, when the two founding members, Alan Vankirk and Chris Cannon decided to start the band over, but wanted to do it with a new name and a twist on their old sound. Alan answered some questions for us in late January.
Line up changes happen to everyone, and 10 Star is no exception. Though instead of it becoming some kind of downer, it's taken in stride, and only the positive is noted. Describes Alan, 'well, this line up has been in place for about 6 months now. I think the strength with mix of people is the level of musical diversity each person brings to the table. Eric (drums) is the true punk kid with influences ranging from Dropkick Murphys to Less Than Jake while Pierce (bass) brings a love of ska and straight edge bands like The Toasters & Minor Threat. Actually we met Pierce at our second show when we opened for RX Bandits and at that time we had a temporary bass player while we looked for a full time guy. Now the other half of the group consists of Chris (guitar) and myself (vocals) and we have been bandmates for almost 4 years now. Chris' influences are basically 80's metal, very guitar driven rock while my style is similar but leans more to the power-pop kinda sounds like American Hi-Fi and The Marvellous 3. This diversity is, I think, where our strength lies, it produces a very rocking sounds with catchy hooks and sing along choruses.'
That's not an exaggeration, either, as I sit here typing this, this is playing in my head.. (I'm like a black cat living on the thirteenth floor…). says Alan on songwriting, '99% of the time Chris will bring in the music and I'll put a vocal line and lyrics to it then we take it to the band at a rehearsal and we'll tweak it as a band. It seems to work much better this way because the songs end up sounding more well rounded when everyone can put their stamp on them.'
Their newest songwriting efforts are underway as you read this (assuming, of course, you're reading this in early 2004). Alan on the process, 'we spent 3 days in pre-production at Fireball Studios in Marietta late last year and our tentative plans as of right now are to finish writing the record and hopefully get back into the studio in early spring and knock out the full-length.'
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In a sea of bands, how does 10 Star plan to stick out? For me, it was their web site, easy to navigate, and made in sexy flash, (oh la la) 'we take promotion *very* seriously. These days there are thousand and thousands of bands out there and one of the few ways you can stand out from the crowd is to present your band in a very professional way. We have a photographer at all of our local shows, we have a 200+ person active street team and we try to be very creative with the way we promote our shows. Custom printed post-it notes, flyers, spray painted sheets and free cds have been the promotional tools we have found to work the best, but we are always looking for new ideas from our street team and frequently run contests to generate new interest in the band.', Alan explains. 'We don't have any illusions of greatness or anything like that', notes Alan when asked about goals within the band, 'we simply want to produce music that we enjoy to play and people enjoy to hear. We have no interest in a major label recording contract or national tours but we do want to do everything in our power to create a strong supportive following in atlanta as well as around the southeast. We have been very fortunate to have been given several great opportunities to perform on bills with some great national bands like RX Bandits, Bowling for Soup, Left Front Tire as well as countless great regional bands.' |
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Not lofty goals by comparison to some bands that are looking to get picked up by a large label (though not usually one of the huge ones). So what's standing in 10 Star's way? 'that's very easy, one word', says Alan, '*time*. The four of us all have very hectic schedules and it is very difficult to coordinate them to make time for rehearsals on a regular basis. Chris and I both have very time demanding jobs and Eric & Pierce both have very demanding college schedules so the only thing that holds us back at all is having the time to dedicate to the band.'
So what are they up to now? 'Currently we are trying to get back in the groove after taking some time off for the holidays', Alan explains, 'we are looking at getting back into the clubs sometime next month (February) and then concentrate on finishing the record. We are also focusing on getting a slot on this year's music midtown festival in Atlanta.'
