Stellastarr*

The city is full of bad, lazy bands who believe their blurbs and insist on playing the Mercury Lounge two weeks after they debut. And many of the better, more patient bands like current sensation Interpol have limited their NYC shows, knowing that courting kids in Europe can be more important than being recognized in their own neighborhood. It’s strange that many local bands have to become stars in England before they chart at Other Music, but that’s New York.

Stellastarr*, a playful, new-wavy three-pretty-guys-and-one-pretty-girl group who sound like a sunnier Echo and the Bunnymen, are neither bad nor lazy, and they haven’t yet had the means to head to Europe. Although Stellastarr* are being seriously courted by major labels, their next show is another freebie at Luna Lounge on Jan. 11. This show may very likely be the last time you’ll be able to see them for free, but with this band, you never know.

I chatted with frontman Shawn Christensen at the Fat Black Pussycat the day after Stellastarr* returned from two Los Angeles showcases in mid-December. Christensen is also a great painter who’s been supporting his current musician lifestyle by selling inventive rock-star portraits (shawnyboy.com).

Tell me how the L.A. trip went.

We did two showcases out there at the Derby and Spaceland, and we had a lot of meetings and photo shoots and interviews because we’re kind of new out there. I’ve never been to L.A., and [guitarist] Michael [Jurin] actually had never been on a plane before. So his face was kind of glued to the window the entire trip both ways.

Did somebody in particular fly you out there?

Yeah, two labels flew us out there, actually: Capitol and Interscope.

So they flew you out, but you didn’t get paid to play?

We did get paid to play because we brought in 100 people on our own in the Derby. Spaceland didn’t have a cover, so we didn’t get any money there.

How have the meetings been going?

The meetings are going well. There’s pros and cons to everything. We’re looking at indie labels and major labels. Major labels, they’re going to want a five- or six-album deal with you. The indie labels don’t want all that. You go with a major, basically, it’s your life. And if you fuck up, you really fuck up. Because you could go to a major label and get shelved or whatever, and then you disappear into the abyss.

I’ve been listening to your EP, and want to ask: Why do you think there’s a stigma with New York bands who are trying to write poppy songs right now? Why do so many bands think that’s uncool?

I’m so glad you asked that question. It’s something that’s really bothering us. There’s this huge indie thing going in New York. What a lot of people don’t realize is that a lot of these bands wouldn’t really fly on a major label or would never have flown on a major label. It’s definitely an indie movement.

With us, we enjoy writing songs that are going to stick with people, that have a little bit of a pop sensibility. But at the same time, it’s not so catchy that the first time you hear it, you’ve heard everything. Because songs like that, by the 10th time you’ve heard them, you get tired of them already. I think we’re really into writing songs that are going to last a while, not some avant-garde 40-second pile of shit just for the sheer sake of writing it.

I assume you’re in kind of a hurry to make a deal because you’re full-time musicians and still have bills to deal with.

It’s funny, we didn’t realize until we went to L.A. how we can act impatient sometimes. I think that sets us back a little. We walked into meetings, and I think we sounded a little more impatient than we would have liked–because [Stellastarr*’s full-length] album’s been in the can for so many months now. We really feel like it would be a good summer album.

Have you just been selling your art to make money?

Yeah. You know the expression, "Life finds a way"? It’s like that. Right when I don’t have rent for the next month, somebody comes up and buys a couple of paintings, and, boom, I can live for another month and a half.

When you play the Luna Lounge, you may get $60 to split among four people. Many other bands don’t like doing this.

One thing that was important to us was a fan base. And what we did to build a fan base was, we took beautiful people with a mailing list and we played our show, and we had these beautiful people wander around the room with the mailing list. It was kind of a funny thing at the time, but now, looking back on it, we have a really dedicated fan base in New York because of what we did.

People love not having to pay a cover charge. The simple fact is, nobody’s going to spend $8 at Brownies to take a chance on a band. Even though Brownies was a great club, who’s going to, like, walk by and say, "Let’s just spend $8 and throw all caution to the wind and go find out what band is inside." I mean, maybe we should be playing the Bowery by now, and we will or whatever, but it’s always just nice to throw a show down [at Luna Lounge].

There just seems to be something about being in a New York band that makes people feel dirty and just brood. Your EP’s different.

I think everybody’s going to brood. You can do it inside a good melody. You don’t have to write chord changes that aren’t in key with each other just to make something darker. You can make something that people can relate to. Isn’t the idea that they should relate to your lyrics and to your music?

I think there’s a lot of quality music here. But I think people are still unhappy. They’ve been unhappy for two years.

That brings us back to the Strokes, doesn’t it? Because their songs aren’t like that. Their songs aren’t these indie, dark songs. They have this amazing pop sensibility. They’re pretty songs.

Yeah, the songs are about girls mistreating them or being too drunk. It’s the exact same themes as everybody else, but it’s almost like it’s a celebration of the city instead.

He’s singing it in a way, and they’re presenting their music in a way where a person very far away can relate to it. We used to play with them before anybody had heard of them. In fact, our second show ever, we headlined over them in Baby Jupiter in 2000. Back then, I felt like, wow, if anybody found either one of us, they would really like what’s going on. But I felt so defeated back then. I didn’t feel like our band was going to go anywhere. And sure enough, the Strokes did. I felt really great for them because there was nothing quite like that at the time.

Stellastarr* play Sat., Jan. 11, at Luna Lounge, 171 Ludlow St. (betw. Houston & Stanton Sts.), 260-2323; and Fri., Feb. 7, with Apples in Stereo, at Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey St. (betw. Bowery & Chrystie St.), 533-2111.