Starbenders
The glam Atlanta mavericks channelling Marc Bolan, Stevie Nicks… and vampires.
The weirdest gig Atlanta glam-goth crew Starbenders ever played was at the Tulsa Theatre in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Back in the 1920s, it was reportedly the scene of several deaths when it was used as a detention centre following a bloody race riot. Around the same time, the great tenor Enrico Caruso died after playing there – some say he caught pleurisy, others say he hanged himself.
“There was this weird energy about the place,” says singer Kimi Shelter. “When we walked in, it was, like, ‘whoah.’”
Shelter and her bandmates – bassist Aaron Lecesne, guitarist Kriss Tokaji and drummer Emily Moon – sprinkled sage around the stage to dispel negative energy. “I did my make-up in a really ghoulish way too,” says Shelter. “I made sure to let it know that we were not there to disturb it, we were just there to share the space. The show was bizarre. It was a very violent and intense show. It felt like something beyond this realm was happening.”
If any band can pacify the spirit world, it’s Starbenders. A supernatural streak runs through their tremendous second album, Love Potions, a record that plays like an Anne Rice novel soundtracked by Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac, Siouxsie And The Banshees and imperial phase Stones, made by a band with an image to match.
“We wanted to be a rock’n’roll band in the classic sense,” says Lecesne. “Where people put attention into how they look and how they dress. It’s more than just music. Starbenders is an art project.” Preposterous? Absolutely, and thank whatever god you pray to for that. But Starbenders have the songs to back up the talk: the likes of Hangin’ On Tonight, Bitches Be Witches and London echo with the kind of old school FM radio rock choruses that haven’t been heard since Ally Sheedy got detention in The Breakfast Club.
Atlanta itself figures large in Starbenders’ self-created mythos. “There’s blood in the soil here,” says Shelter. “Everything that happened with Native Americans, slavery and plantations, the Civil War. There’s so much dark energy to it. Duane Allman was the one that said Atlanta was the spiritual vortex of the South.”
Starbenders are pushing back against that dark energy, even if they’re out on their own in a town dominated by hip-hop. “A lot of people see us and go, ‘So when are you guys going back to LA?’” says Shelter. Still, given the vampire references that puncture Love Potions like tooth marks, the California sunshine wouldn’t really suit Starbenders… “That’s true,” says Lecesne. “We’re fragile and we only venture out at night. The vampiric aesthetic shines through.”
“We’re not slipping into costumes, but it is part of the theatre of what we do,” says Shelter. “We’re just exploring all of the layers of this realm and others, in the way that Marc Bolan or Stevie Nicks did. Perfectly rational people, after leaving our shows, do start to wonder if there’s something more there. I’m here to tell you there really is.” DE
Love Potions is out now via Sumerian Records.
“It’s more than just music. Starbenders
is an art project.”