Star People - Preview track off their (maybe soon) upcoming 3rd album

[man2god]

Star People toured with Dream Theater, Moe, Ozric Tentacles. Some of you may remember them, some may have hated them, some of you may have loved them if you saw them live. Their 'act' was a mix of old vaudeville with a touch of "Rat Pack", combined with some really heavy duty musical chops.

Anyway, I run a fan site for the band on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/StarPeopleFans/. The band 'fell apart' in 2001 or so, however before they split they began recording a 3rd album, which they plan to finally finish it up sometime this year.

Also, if interested, you can go to their website, read up on them, and listen to their first 2 albums there http://www.starpeoplearecoming.com/

Anyway, here is a quickly made preview video (photos don't really match up to the music) of a track off the upcoming album:

[GuitarGeek]

Sweet! I actually talked to Randy, their bass player a few years ago, I guess must have been about 2006 or so. He was then playing in a band called The Lizards, who I saw open for Uli Jon Roth. During the intermission, he and I talked about Star People, he told me about the circumstances behind the band's dissolution, and he mentioned that they had managed to record that third record, and that "someday the keyboardist and I are going to mix it and release it".

[man2god]

Here's the first track (and possibly their first 'single') of the upcoming, more Beatles tinged Rock than Prog, however the playing is top notch. Last preview track for now:

[man2god]

GuitarGeek, yep the band had there ups and downs, mainly bad advice from a new manager wrecked things for the band, and they fell apart. I know a few more details behind the scenes, however I was told that in confidence, so my lips are sealed. A lot of it was the usual things that seem to happen to a lot of bands.

Randy is in a new band called Rickity, more of a pure hard rock sound then Star People, but worth checking out.

[battema]

I saw them a few times opening for Ozrics, DT, maybe one more back in the early 2000's. Aside from being terrifically silly fun (and damned talented), good GOD was the Stargirl smoking.

[Sean]

I saw them open for someone, though I can't recall who. It was pretty kitschy, to the point that good music or not didn't really help.

[man2god]

The 'kitsch' was part of the whole experience. The idea was to play it serious while doing over the top 'silly' things on stage. They played Prog music with extreme musical chops, and had a bit of fun at the same time. Star People were the Prog version of the B-52's, if the B-52's had world class musicians in the band with top notch musical chops to back it up.

If anyone will read this mini graphic novel, it will help explain that there was a deeper thought process put into the conception of the band than most might realize on the surface. Isn't that part of Progressive Music, grand majestic concepts, strong creative and inventive musical abilities, multiple listening to 'absorb' the music into your soul?

http://www.starpeoplearecoming.com/legend-of/

[Dave (in MA)]

I saw them open for someone, though I can't recall who. It was pretty kitschy, to the point that good music or not didn't really help.

They opened for the Ozrics one time when I saw them. Didn't do much for me, I'm afraid.

[GuitarGeek]

http://www.starpeoplearecoming.com/legend-of/

Ah sweet, this must be the comic book that Randy mentioned to me. Glad to see he was finally able to do that, as at the time I talked to him, I think he said at the time he had a basic idea of what he wanted to do, but hadn't really followed through on it yet.

I always dug the whole concept, I just thought it was a lot of fun, the whole sort of Rat Pack angle, with the two singers making martinis onstage while the band is playing these intricate instrumental bits (well, we can't all prance around in Slipperman costumes, ya know!).

The other thing I remember from the first time I saw them was, as they came onstage, someone next to me says "They look like a wedding band", and I noted the guitarist was even sitting down, which is traditional wedding band practice. But then once he started playing guitar solos, I thought "He's sitting down because they look like a wedding, band he's sitting down because he's a Fripp fan" (hey, that's alliterative!).

The line about native cultures being overpowered by the Earth signals is interesting, as I remember someone telling me years that ago that's a big part of why "the rest of the world hates America". It's not "us" that they hate, but the fact that our culture, and specifically our pop culture, is to a large degree infiltrating other cultures and even replacing them.

You go to places like Japan, and they watch America TV programs, listen to something derived from American music, the people even largely dress in Western style clothes. In Europe, a lot of cities have sections that look like the touristy parts of American cities (there's a frelling Hard Rock Cafe in the middle of Amsterdam!). And when I was riding the train from Amsterdam to Paris back in 2006, I remember even spotting graffiti on the bridges that the train passed under!

[Sean]

I saw them open for The Dregs/Dream Theater. I think the Ozric's crowd might have dug them more. The reaction at our show was more or less, BRING ON THE DREGS!

[man2god]

I won't "push" it anymore, but did anybody bother to actually *listen* to the 2 tracks I posted? Would be interested in a critique, pro or con. Thanks