Soulful rockicana band, Star & Micey, has no shortage of stories. A quirky band with an endearingly awkward little mascot on their universally appealing album art, the four piece has fans that range in age from 6 to 60; “There are a lot of children who know the lyrics to our songs, they probably know them better than we do!” says co-frontman Nick Redmond with a laugh.
Based in Memphis, the foursome cites their hometown as a major influence on their sound: “I think the reason that the music is good in our city, I like to say it’s eclectic, is because there’s no one to hold you accountable, no one expects any type of music to come from you. It’s almost like a party without a chaperone. Detroit—there’s a type of music that comes to mind when you think of it, and it’s usually followed pretty closely by what comes out of it. The same can be said for a lot of cities; I’m sure the same is said about Memphis, but living here, it’s not like that at all. There are so many different types of groups here that never even see the light of day…probably because they’re so weird, and Star & Micey is no different,” Redmond says with a laugh. “This is the fifth incarnation of the band’s sound that I can think of, and it’s funny that this is the first one that people will hear. We started as a three-piece folk group playing acoustic instruments. It morphed into a six-piece gypsy pop band, with violin, accordion, full-on drums. We played punk rock songs with gypsy instrumentation. For whatever reason, the next year, we were a four-piece rock band with electric guitars.”
Their debut full-length album, Get ‘Em Next Time, will be released on March 11th via Thirty
Tigers. Redmond and Cosby share vocal duties, with each singing lead on half of the songs; their voices are wonderfully different, a fact that makes the debut even more sonically interesting. “Life is a yin and a yang, and so is this. If people don’t like my voice, they usually prefer Josh’s, and if they don’t like Josh’s they usually prefer mine,” says Redmond with a laugh. Star & Micey are gearing up to show the country what they’re all about, and will kick off their tour today, March 1st, with a show at The High Watt in Nashville.
The record has a central message—in life, the lesson is that you can always try again, no matter how bad it gets. Their addictive new single, “#1”, premiered recently; “It’s very interesting how that song came to be; it was bizarre,” recalls Redmond. “We had just finished an album, and the producer said, ‘Don’t get me wrong, I love the record, but that I think you still have a song in you that could be your ‘#1’ song, you just haven’t written it yet.’ I don’t think he meant it to sound mean, but it sure made Josh and me mad, so we drove back to our homes, and unknowing to one another, we each wrote a song. The next day I called him and said I might have ‘that song’, and he said ‘You’re kidding me!? I wrote a song last night! It came to me in a dream, and I think it may be that song! Let me show you how mine goes.’” They melded both songs together, and gave it a tongue-in-cheek title… “#1”.
The band’s mantra is “rock and roll recovery”; “As individuals, none of us have been really big troublemakers, however, the figures in our lives can’t always say the same,” says Redmond. He and future co-frontman Josh Cosby forged a friendship over a shared harrowing life situation— both of their brothers were incarcerated in federal prison battling raging heroin addictions. “Right there, it was a bond between us. I’d never met anyone who’d ever been understand what that was like,” he says.
The group also shares a common philosophy, one they refer to as “Swirlin’”. “It’s the same thing as TCB—Taking Care of Business; it’s doing everything we can musically to make people happy. Some of us been through some really sad situations, and we’ve collectively decided that our music wouldn’t be one of them. We love more than anything seeing people happy after hearing our music. The records are what they are, but the live show has consistently been the same for the last eight years. It’s an extremely fun experience,” explains Redmond. “At some point, you have to ask yourself, ‘when I leave this earth, did what I leave behind help?’ I definitely think we’ve helped. It’s always been our goal, and I hope it shines through in the music.” Mission accomplished, y’all.
Pre-order Get ‘Em Next Time: http://smarturl.it/GetEm
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