Starlight Theatre have earned a strong following in their home state of Queensland, and now they’re ready to show the rest of the country what they can do. I recently caught up with the band’s bass guitarist Josh Belz to chat about the band’s debut EP, True Love Stories Never Have Happy Endings, life on the road, and the power of the internet.
You’re currently touring all around the country. What’s the crowd response been like?
It’s been great. It’s always nice to go into the other states and play for our fans that aren’t in Brisbane. It’s always a blast catching up with friends and to have the chance to communicate our music to a different group of people. We play in Queensland and Northern New South Wales a far bit, so to go to places like Melbourne, Sydney and Newcastle it is always a nice change.
What do you love about performing live?
The spontaneity of it. You can plan a set and think you have everything organised, but when you’re playing live anything can happen. I love the vibe you get off the crowd and the realness of a live show. You’re really putting everything out there and saying “This is us, take it or leave it!”
I read that you would love your concerts to be an experience as opposed to just another rock show. How do you try to make that happen?
We try to create a real atmosphere with our songs and our sounds. We have really worked hard over the last few months trying to create something unique. Hopefully so when the crowd walks away, they’re saying ‘Wow, that was different’. We really want the night to be more than ‘we’re the band’, ‘you’re the crowd’.
Have you got any tour stories you can share with me?
Ha ha, so many. However an easy one is our drummer, Paul, has this thing that when we are on tour, he loves to sample Roadhouse Hot Boxes. Some of the crumbed sausages and hash browns look like they have been living in the box for days. Not recommended, but every tour he loves it. Weird right? But what can you do?
Life in the music industry must be very different than being home in Central Queensland. What do you miss most about the country?
Mostly just the people. Growing up in places like Rockhampton you tend to get to know a lot of people and have a lot of history from your school and music days. On a whole, we had to leave because the music scene is just so much bigger in the capitals cities around Australia. But I still try to get back there a few times a year and catch up with family and friends. It’s always a good time.
You’re on the road to promote your EP True Love Stories Never Have Happy Endings. What can you tell me about it?
Well, this is our best recording we have ever done. We really thought about this recording and we really tried to position ourselves with some great producers. We believed we had some great songs but we wanted to surround ourselves with some people that were going to push us and get the most out of us. Matt Bartlem at Loose Stone Studios was a great choice and then we were lucky enough to get Forrester Savell and J.R. McNeely to mix the songs. As a result, what we ended up with was a great CD. We couldn’t be happy with how it sounds and we’re excited to share this record with our fans.
Your first single “Clearview” was mixed by J.R. McNeely who’s just done some amazing things with Paramore. What did he bring to your sound?
J.R. McNeely, well what can I say? He is an absolute gun and I really feel he has made “Clearview” what it is today. When I heard the first mix I couldn’t get over the full spectrum of sound that was coming back at me. I think he has given the song a real presence that it needed and I couldn’t be happier with the finished product.
Now you used to be known as Falling Short. What inspired the name change?
Well when our singer, Dane decided to move on, Paul, Colin and myself really looked at the direction we were heading down musically. We were in a position where we had a lot of new material written and it was really taking our sound to the next level, but it wasn’t Falling Short. So with Dane leaving and with Justin coming into the group, we just thought it would be better to close the chapter on Falling Short and with a new singer and a new sound, launch under a fresh new name. Looking back I think it was the best thing we could have done.
Justin Truloff is a fairly recent addition to the group. How has bringing him into the band changed your sound?
Justin has been great. He’s really brought a freshness to the group. Obviously with a new singer comes a new voice, but I’m convinced Justin has the goods to turn some heads.
You seem to have established a really strong fanbase online, with a thriving MySpace page and street team. How important is that internet presence?
Well in this day and age having a Myspace and a big online presence is everything. However like everything it’s got it’s own pros and cons. Obviously everyone is online and because of that, it’s the easiest way to connect with fans and to market your music to people on the other side of the country, that might never had the chance to hear you play. However, because of that, sites like Myspace have become so saturated with every other band trying to market their music. So you really need to find different ways to market yourself and really stand out from the pack. We just find we have to spend a lot of time in front of a computer and really make the time to connect with people.
You can still catch the lads from Starlight Theatre at the following shows. Their debut EP, True Love Stories Never Have Happy Endings, is in stores now.
16 October 2009 – Hard Rock Cafe, Gold Coast (18+)
17 October 2009 – The Globe, Brisbane (18+) w/ The Sundance Kids
31 October 2009 – Princess Theatre, Brisbane (All Ages – 6 pm)
12 November 2009 – The Globe, Brisbane (18+)
Image used with permission from AAA Entertainment