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Interview
by SaschaS
6-1-2002
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| Starsailor: young, gifted and in front |
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Adamantine love, vespertine travail
Starsailor, inspired by some of the best artists of yester-years, are the undisputed Band Of Brit Year
James Walsh, the singer/songwriter/guitarist with Starsailor, doesn’t say it in so many words but his demeanour and body language spell it out clearly – “What an astonishing year’s been!?” The band that launched in Wigan (the hometown to the disbanded Verve) a short 18 months ago has seen three mega-hits in Britain (the fourth is on the way in shape of ‘Lullaby’) it is no surprise that the band is talked about in tones of having surpassed (or should that be - deepened?) the Coldplay standard of emotional depth and have been nominated for Best New Act at this year’s Q (magazine) Awards and are expected to feature large at the next February’s Brits (local Grammys) Awards.
Walsh is in a good and talkative mood without need for much prompting and we start by discussing the scenes at their recent concerts, an overwhelming reception before the band even had time to get to their instruments, an enormous roar of appreciation.
“It is an incredible scene and it is very difficult to describe the feeling; it is big and welcoming, the surge of energy, the warmth of the air… What is the most interesting is that it is happening so early in our career. The record company wanted to keep everything quiet and slow building, sort of low-key to give people chance to find out about us by themselves rather than be bombarded with advertising and hype. Unfortunately it has had a reverse effect and people are so intrigued about Starsailor than we’ve got this name for ourselves already. I’m very flattered with people’s interest in us. We wanted to build things slowly, we played our first gig just over a year ago.”
Underground is the new mainstream
On the carousel of influences three places are firmly taken on Walsh’s list.
“Our band is named after a Tim Buckley’s album (1971 vintage). Jeff Buckley and Tim Buckley are Number One and Two artists who have ever inspired me. Then, Neil Young is close third, and they are the first people who spoke to me through music, they are on their own, there is purity, vocal quality… Before I used to listen to music that was lyrically intellectualised or whatever… Jeff and Tim Buckley could sing about anything but used their voices to make it sound the most important thing in the world.”
“I discovered them through my father and brother who are great Neil Young fans. In about 1994 I was listening to Oasis, Blur, The Charlatans, the Brit-pop bands. But I was hearing Neil Young and it was totally different, totally immersed into searching for the truth, never caring about the charts and so on. I think he only had one hit over here but he is such a respected artist and through him I discovered Tim Buckley…”
Starsailor also played at the Fleadh Fest in London last May where the only surviving influence, Neil Young, appeared?
“It was just unbelievable and yes, the most incredible thing, so far, in my life. I regret that I didn’t manage to meet him but he kept away, to himself and there was no opportunity. Neil is an amazing artist who’s covered so much ground, done so many different albums. Then, being compared to the Buckleys is a big honour for me; we are also compared with Coldplay and I think that really helps because people get an idea about music without hearing it. We are a little bit rockier than Coldplay but we are their peers as the same artists also inspired them. I think such comparison gets people into the gigs where they discover that we are an individual band and then they get excited. Then they make their friends and relatives come.
Love is what we are
Success has come a-knocking on his door; how is he adjusting to the demands of newly found fame?
“I’m a little bit shocked with the response and the reaction has been overwhelming. This is what I’ve always wanted to do, and as long as I can up on stage and play, I’ll be happy. We are just really lucky that at this moment in time we are sort of a well-known underground band. We are all excited with the attention we are getting but there are downsides to all of these and the first thing you notice is the exhaustion. Nobody warns you how hard it actually is and especially for a frontperson as I tend to do most of the interviews. The schedule is tight to keep the rest of them at their edge but a songwriter gets the lion’s share of it.”
Popularity also puts pressure on relationships, either internal or personal?
“The band members are friends from college. We all met at a music college, Wigan and Leeds College is actually a performance college, I was 16 and the others are about four years older then me. We are friends as well as colleagues… Private life’s not yet been affected really, I still have a girlfriend and live quietly in North London… I get recognized occasionally and asked for an autograph or a posed picture, nothing too disturbing… But I live in fear that my address will be discovered and then the whole hell could break loose…”
You can’t cheat fate, mate.
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Starsailor play NME Carling Shows on 8 February 2002 at Astoria, London
SaschaS
6-1-2002
Starsailor's 'Love Is Here' is released 08 October 2001 on EMI:Chrysalis
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