A Dirty Dozen with STARCOAST – November 2021

According to a recent press release: “Starcoast was inspired by a meteor shower from a late night beach walk in their hometown of Virginia Beach (US), to create songs that embody larger than life experiences. The band’s music is less of a specific sound, but rather an overall feeling that leaves behind an optimistic imprint. The band, composed of Tom Hunter (guitar/vocals), Jim Hunter (bass/harmonies) and David Johns (drums/percussion) has made its main mission to spread love, positive vibes and expansive music to their fans wherever they go. From touring the U.K. to directing their own TV show, the band enjoys a wide variety of activities and devises a great deal of content to a vastly diverse array of fans. The main focus behind all their creations though is to give their audience a space in time where fans can open their minds, release their worries, and be present in the soundscapes and rousing rhythms the band has to offer.” We get the trio to discuss new music, influences, and more…

1. Tell us a little about your latest release.  What might a fan or listener not grab the first or second time they listen through?  Are there any hidden nuggets you put in the material or that only diehard fans might find?

Our latest single “Around” is that moment when you wake up and realize you have to do the same thing that you had to do yesterday. On the first time through, listeners may not remember how the song began. The song is actually meant to be listened to a couple of times because when you go back to the beginning and listen to the self-aware narrative of the lyrics acknowledging the situation and mentioning hope, all of that becomes so lost by the end which is often how people can feel in day to day life when dealing with toxic cycles. We decided we wanted to experiment with different sounds, so the three of us went into our studio with an assortment of instruments from panflutes, trumpets, zither, glass bottles, and even a tape measure at about 4am and created all of the sounds you hear at the end of the song on the spot.

2. What got you into music, and can you tell us about the moment you realized you wanted to be a musician?

All three of us got into music at different times in different ways, but the moment we realized we wanted to truly become musicians, was when we came together as a band to play our first show.

3. Building on that, is there a specific song, album, performer, or live show that guided your musical taste?

Our first U.K. Tour guided a lot of our initial music tastes. Bands we play with and meet usually are the ones to inspire us musically and help to shape where we go next. Our most recent single “Around” was really shaped by touring the west coast in an RV together after escaping the toxic cycles of working back at home.

4. If you could call in any one collaborator to do a song with, who would it be, and why?

We’d love to collaborate with Liam Gallagher if possible, just his raw, genuine energy he puts into his music is something we love.

5. What is your favorite activity when out of the studio and/or not on tour? What do you like to do to unwind?

Once a month we go out and camp together in the wilderness. It keeps us grounded and connected as friends and as brothers.

6. How would you describe your music to someone who’d never listened to you before? What is the one comparison a reviewer or fan has made that made you cringe or you disagreed with?

We would just say it’s us and our story put to music. We honestly cringe whenever we get direct comparisons to other artists since we are always striving to be ourselves.

7. When your band is hanging out together, who cooks, who gets the drinks in, and who is first to crack out the acoustic guitars for a singalong?

Jimbo cooks us some of his famous gumbo, Mr. Davies cracks open some cold ones for the boys, and good old Tsom leads the paradeing in a good game of song and dance around a crackling fire.

8. When was the last time you were starstruck and who was it?

When David was 2 or 3, his father was playing guitar at the colosseum for the touring band War and he showed him the drummer playing from the side of the stage and the rest is history.

9. What is the best part of being a musician? If you could no longer be a musician for whatever reason, what would be your dream job?

The best part of being a musician is being able to see people having a great time when we play shows and just getting to see them enjoy the moment. If we couldn’t be musicians, we would dream of being musicians.

10. What is one question you have always wanted an interviewer to ask – and what is the answer? Conversely, what question are you tired of answering?

We have always wanted to be asked what it’s like to record our own music! The answer to that is, it’s convenient, it’s cheap, and it’s a damn good time. We are tired of being asked where we are from.

11. Looking back over your career, is there a single moment or situation you feel was a misstep or you would like to have a “do over,” even if it didn’t change your current situation?

“No Ragrets”

12. If you could magically go back in time and be a part of the recording sessions for any one record in history, which would you choose – and what does that record mean to you?

We’d love to see Definitely Maybe by Oasis be recorded since it’s such a rawly recorded record. To us it represents positive music topping the charts in a time when mostly negative music was popular.

STARCOAST LINKS:

OFFICIAL SITE

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

INSTAGRAM

Category: Interviews