Interview Jack Starr's Burning Starr

Naar aanleiding van de nieuwe Jack Starr’s Burning Starr plaat 'Land Of The Dead' die u hier nog eens kan nalezen had Festivalblog de eer om aan Jack Starr enkele vragen te stellen.

Het resultaat hiervan kan u hieronder nalezen.

I want to congratulate you with this most exciting new album ‘Land Of The Dead’. Where came the inspiration from for this new album?

Thanks for inviting me to Festivalblog. The inspiration for ‘Land of the Dead’ came to me from thinking about how many people in modern society are afraid to be themselves and speak about issues that are important to them. Sometimes it seems that people are programmed to be consumers. Creativity  and independent thinking is not encouraged. If you accept authority then you become an authority and you join the Land of the Dead because you do not have to be physically dead to be dead!

Where did you get the inspiration for your band name?

The band name came from a friend of mine who knew I was looking for a name for my new band after I left Virgin Steele. One night I saw him in a club and he said: ‘Dude I think you should call your band Burning Starr because you burn on the guitar’. I thought about it and I liked it plus the fact that it could also be a name relating to meteors and shooting stars and cosmic things.

There are always some very original artworks on your albums. Where does the inspiration come from for doing such great artwork on these covers?

Ken Kelly did the artwork for the new album and it truly represents the spirit of the album. Also the little monsters on the cover are actually “Klipots” which are demons talked about in the Old Testament of the Bible when King David was sentenced to hell  for cheating on his wife. He was attacked by a group of “Klipots”, but later was saved and brought out of hell and back to the world.

What was for you the most difficult song to make on this album?

The most difficult song was ‘Daughter of Darkness’. Ned, our bass player, really helped to create the very interesting arrangement which involves some time signature changes . Also there is some very tasteful bass at the start of the song. Rhino contributes some very heavy drumming much in the style of the late great John Bonham. I think that this song shows that we can play heavy and yet soft and melodic and in this case it is in the same song.

What is your inspiration to make these songs?

 I really wanted to make a melodic and heavy album like bands like Rainbow and Dio have done in the past. I also wanted the songs to be a vehicle for our singer Todd Micheal Hall who did an incredible job on the vocals. Todd’s melodies are very memorable and they fit the song perfectly. This is an album that fans of Bruce Dickinson and Geoff Tate will love, because of the singing and fans of great drummers, like Cozy Powell and Nico McBrain, will also want to get it because the drumming of Rhino is on that high level of playing.

Your previous release ‘Defiance’ was the first new Burning Starr record in 20 years. Why did you start again after Guardians Of The Flame with Burning Starr?

We all felt that it was time to bring back the name Burning Starr because we were proud of our past and felt that a lot of good will was created with those classic albums like Blaze of Glory and No Turning Back and that this album Land of the Dead was a continuation of that sound. And so it would make sense to go back to the name since we already went back to the sound!

How would you describe ‘Jack Starr’s Burning Starr’ for you and your band?

For me it is one of the few old school heavy metal bands that are still left to fly the flag of that wonderful era of heavy melodic metal and I am glad that thirty years later I feel great and I still love this music. The reuniting of ten years ago with Ned Meloni, the bass player, was a great thing for me because Ned has become a very important part of this band.  His songwriting and ideas have made us a tighter and more original band. The other important thing was finding Todd six years ago as he keeps getting better and better. Hearing him sing with more power and confidence than ever makes us feel stronger and stronger in our determination to become one of the bigger bands in the metal world.  The other very important factor is having Rhino on drums which is like a dream come true for us, because he is truly one of the best metal drummers in the world and we all loved his playing with Manowar.

Virgin Steele was one of the early innovators of heavy metal. Who were the bands that influenced your playing and inspired you in the eighties? And are they still inspiring you in the band Burning Starr?

 Their were many great bands in the eigties like Iron Maiden, Manowar (that is why I am proud to have Ross The Boss and David Shankle appear on this album), Saxon, Riot, … etc. But I think for me that most of my influences come before the eighties like the music from the seventies of Deep Purple,  Zeppelin, Uriah Heep … etc. I also really like blues music from Stevie Ray Vaughn and all of these I still listen to and they inspire the songwriting.

What were for you the best musicians that you ever played with, except from your band members of course?

 I have played with some great musicians like Bobby Rondinelli who was in Rainbow and Black Sabbath. I also played with Keith Collins, first bass player of Savatage, who was a wonderful metal bass player and it was also a pleasure to be in a band with Craig McGregor, the bass player of Foghat and that band also featured David Defeis of Virgin Steele. This was a band that we put together in 1992 and we went by the name SmokeStack Lightning.

You play a long time now and you toured with a lot of bands. Did you ever meet a band or singers that made you really nervous?

I have played a lot of shows with a lot of different people from Yngwie to Motörhead and even did a concert opening up for Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones. Everyone was very nice to me and it never made me nervous, just happy to be able to play my music in front of a large audience.

How do you look back on your own career?

I look back on my career with a good sense of accomplishment and sometimes amazement when I listen to some of those old cd’s or watch old videos and I am really proud of it all.

Will you come to Belgium in 2012? Or do have any other plans for 2012 with Burning Starr?

I am hoping to come to Belgium soon and I can practice speaking French and eat some “Pommes Frites”  and drink some beer. And most of all  play some music and meet some cool people that love metal!