STARRING

Founded in 2008 by Pterodactyl drummer Matt Marlin and Skeleton$ keyboardist Mike Gallope, STARRING revisits the terrain of progressive rock by distilling it to its essence. Starring plays “prog rock” because they are in love with a sense of unscripted fun, looking to spit beer, exhilarate and electrify rather than be like "dude, check my chops.". Starring combines the forces of farfisa, viola, guitar and bass to sculpt driving, heavy, high-speed sound guns aimed at stealth bomber choruses. Beneath it all, Matt Marlin’s notoriously frenzied drumming, which is as furious here as on any Pterodactyl record, propels this distortion-addicted quintet from one transfixing riff to the next.

All five members contribute vocals over the course of the record, experimenting with figures of authority, blissed-out psychedelic narratives, or simple primal scream therapy. And each song is no less diverse in its ambitions: “July” is a monstrosity about a horrific encounter at a holiday barbeque, with a mathy, scattershot verse turning on a dime into an anthemic, Stooges-inspired chorus. “Get Over Here, Disco!” sets fire to a catchy two-note riff, and twists it into a shout-your-brains-out headbanger. And the album's final track threatens to cannibalize everything that’s preceded it, churning along for minutes in a brutal, spellbinding jam, only to be interrupted by dreamy voices that eerily plead: “Won’t you be my body double?”

Their genre-pretzeling debut, Wife Of God, will be available June 8th on Death By Audio Records. Thank you.

Inside Edition - Pics from the Loft

Here is the film to be used to make screens for the new Sisters tee shirt.

This is what 50% of the walls inside the pedal area look like. It's how we clean screens.

This is how we make sure everything gets put back in its place.

This is a show poster made out of a record.

This is the old piano that found it's way in to the practice space. It sounds like it looks.

Imagine you're about to land on the planet Trixanium, 14,000 light years from Earth in the Alpha Pentari galaxy. You decide to aim for a clearing near what appears to be an alien Stonehenge.

Now turn your flash on and imagine that you taking pictures in the closet where all the spray painting is done.

This is some shit hanging in the practice room.

These are lab coats that DBA got for some of its employees. Pictured here are Travis' from Grooms, Matt's from Sisters, and Willie's.

This is some art project that George from Coin Under Tongue is working on that involves a lot of foam circles being made from decoys?

Here are some random custom pedals that can always be found lying around on the floor of the practice room.

One time Ollie got back from tour, opened his suitcase in the kitchen area and took some clothes to his room. When he got back 30 seconds later, this cat had shit in it. A couple of weeks ago, I was going to work and noticed that this cat had peed right in a pocket of my manbag. This cat has also been known to pee in Travis' guitar pedal bag. It has no name.

Old Grungy Coins

From the mighty Shiny Grey Monotone / Colostomy Grab Bag community comes this nice, declaratory review:--------------------------------

"Reception / Hussies At Bay

And so it begins. The transistion out of Post-Post-Post-Punk into Re Grunge (that being groups emulating the Sub-Pop / Am Rep pre-Nevermind era - not to be confused with 'Post-Grunge', that's, like, Creed or some shit). And you really couldn't ask for a better spearhead. Tickling the new wavers with occasional drum machines and moments ofCure-ish pop before slamming into the full on Nirvana - Bleach / Cherubs - Icing sludge rock, they remind the kids of what their parents were likely blasting while they were shitting a diaper, and send their parents (us) into nodding approval - yes, this is how you do it. Memorable and catchy, noisy and edgy. The main difference here is instead of using Black Sabbath, Void and Pixies as their main starting points of reference, it's Nirvana, Melvins and Joy Division ---------------------------------------------------------- Currently signed to Death By Audio Records (who also make the most fucked effect pedals on earth and are headed up by Oliver Ackermann of A Place To Bury Strangers) they've actually been releasing their new album, 'Hussies At Bay' as it's being recorded, as well as their first EP Reception (aka So Far) - so this is totally legit. --------------------------------------------------------- What I'm finding highly amusing is how everyone seems terrified to use the term 'Grunge' to describe CUT, dancing all about without saying it when that is undoubtedly the largest element in their sound. Grow some fucking balls, limpwrists - you're rock critics - no one thinks you're cool anyway, whatta ya got to lose by being honest? --------------------------------------------------------- Anyway, these guys are the opening salvo, let's see how far it goes!

Post Valentine's Update

Here's what's going on:

1) On February 26th, 2010, a recording summit will be held in the kitchen of the DBA compound for the recording of new 7" record- a split featuring 2 Brooklyn drum phenoms: David Moore (from the sometimes DBA free/noise/jazz/rock band The Statler Bros.) & Ches Smith . The session will be recorded/engineered by Steve from Wodger Records. The tentative title of this ultra-limited (100) pressing will be "BBQs of the Future".

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2) DBA records finally wrangled SEAWHORES back into the corral. The tracks for a new DBA exclusive Seawhores 12" have been compiled and the pressing plant paperwork is being filed out as we speak. This too will be an ultra-limited pressing of 100 units.

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3) Have you checked out the "FREE MUSIC" section! If you ever want some free music, you can always click on the graphic on the right side bar of this site. There's already a bunch of music in there but we're here to announce 2 more free tracks: one from Seahwhores and one from Coin Under Tongue's neverending album. Have at it.

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right click (windows) or cntrl+click (mac) to keep it.

Seawhores - "Butterfly Wings Of Gold"

Coin Under Tongue - "Seizure In The Stairwell"

The Death By Audio New Year's Eve Party '10

Ollie and I played darts and set-up lights throughout the loft. We dragged in the big guns soundsystem from the practice space and set up the DJ table on the second floor. One blinking red flood light ended up in the toaster. People really started pouring in around 11 and that's when I had to start really DJing. Played some Bee Gees. Set off the smoke machine every 15 minutes. People climbed all over the cargo net that was strung up above the people dancing down below. We had a countdown and at midnight Brian cut an old guitar that had been hanging from the ceiling for years. I played "Surfin' Bird" right at midnight for about 15 minutes because I was having a hard time finding a better record. Its hard to get out of a cargo net when you're drunk. Someone puked while on the net down onto people below. Edan DJed slam jams into the wee hours. Thanks for the pictures, Gabe!

Way Late Photos from DBA Halloween '09

That Juggalos movie has been played at least three times on the projector at DBA. Somehow this theme also translated into a Kiss Army clown and a random serial killer showing up.

Here are some Street Fighter characters (Guile & Zangief to be specific) and Vampire Kaite from Salt For Desserts.

There was this creepy guy that didn't talk all night, turned out to be Ollie.

Brian ran into another Where The Wild Things Are fan on Haloween.

Grooms' REJOICER named one of L Magazine's best of 2009

"Well, they finally ditched the faux-cutesy name "Muggabears" for the more suitably cryptic "Grooms," but it turns out the noise-rock trio is still rather perverse with names. Rejoicer, with its sinister lyrical puzzles and metallic guitar squall, isn't exactly a perfect Hallmark portrait of celebration. But acting as both the delayed fruit of a few thankless years on the Brooklyn scene, and the best, most cerebral guitar record this city produced in 2009, there's plenty to toast, regardless. " L Magazine