Interview with Velvet Starlings: ‘It’s faster and crunchier, a distortion of our beach fuzz sound’

LA-based, neo-psychedelic garage rock band Velvet Starlings, kings of the fuzzy, distorted foot stompers, will bring out their debut album, Technicolor Shakedown, on 29 September.

The band comprises Christian Gisborne (vocals, guitar and organ), drummer Foster Poling and his brother, bassist Hudson Poling. Gisborne met the brothers somewhat serendipitously at a Cage The Elephant gig close to where he lives in Mar Vista, just down the road from Santa Monica: ‘They liked my dad’s Who t-shirt and said how cool it was. We got talking and they said they knew all the Jack White chords and I said “Dudes, I know all the Jack White chords!” It was awesome. We ended up making our debut album over lockdown. We’re in this super weird grey area where masks are mandatory in LA but not in Orange County or Sacramento.’

Their name is a reflection of Gisborne’s love of the 60’s and garage rock, including The Beatles, The Doors and Cream. ‘I was gonna call us Tired Starlings as a reference to Cream’s song ‘White Room’, he laughed. ‘But it didn’t sound so good! Actually, I didn’t have any velvet then but I bought a velvet outfit and I wore it to every show! I recently bought a blue velvet shirt.’

Their album Technicolor Shakedown will comprise 10 tracks, including the titular track that they released as a single last month. ‘Bruce at our label, he said nine songs is ok but one more song would knock it out of the park. Then, the song ‘Technicolour Shakedown’ didn’t even exist but it became its own thing!’

‘It fully embodies the feeling of going out to shows’

It’s a briliant track, kicking off with an instantly infectious, frenetic guitar riff over a Kinks style rhythm as it builds into a blast-off singalong chorus inviting the crowd to, ‘turn it up and turn it on’. It’s an anthemic ode to going out and to the joy of live music, the energy of catching your favourite band, being packed in a venue like sardines and loving every minute of it. ‘It fully embodies the feeling of going out to shows,’ Gisborne said. ‘The song was born out of the feeling that this is the only thing I want to do and I don’t know when it’s coming back. There was not a clear end,’ he said.

The video has a great retro feel to it, they’ve spliced together shots of them in Venice Beach with commercials from the 60’s. ‘I forgot my guitar strap that day, so I had to hold my guitar high!,’ he said.

‘Back of the Train’, which they released as a single in June, will also feature on the album. The song paints the story of paying dues, putting in the time and effort to get where you’re heading in life, while making sure to enjoy the ride along the way. It centres around an infectious, ‘sneaky low note guitar riff and drums so over-compressed it would make The Sonics cringe’, Gisborne joked. I tell him that I love it and that, for me, the low guitar riff is what holds the song together. ‘I didn’t know I wanted it to be so compressed but it’s cool,’ he said. ‘Our next single ‘Pacific Standard Time’ is a bit like that as well. It’s all distorted, I think this record is the time to feel like that. The story is specific to California, to the ocean and the beach. I grew up in two extremes – here in LA and in Chico in northern California.’

In the video, there is footage of them running around a train track, with Gisborne even lying across the tracks in one scene. ‘We were running around and there were heroin needles and everything,’ he said. ‘Dude, we messed up our suits that day with train oil,’ he said, sadly.

‘I write a song and then it gets seven or eight brothers who live together’

I ask him if there’s a theme running through the album. ‘It’s less of a concept record, it’s more like I write a song and then it gets seven or eight brothers who live together,’ he joked. Another “sibling” on the album is ‘She Said (She Said)’, which will be released on 1 September. The song is rooted in the 60’s, with a signature Doors style organ riff but quickly shifts into frenzied beach fuzz, garage punk territory, and tells the tale of instant attraction, coupled with the excitement, energy and adrenaline of “cutting a rug” on the sweaty dance floor of an all-night Californian house party. I ask him what he used to get the very unique organ sound. ‘I used a Nord Electro 5, 73 keyboard, it has six organ sounds. It’s the worst possible frickin’ thing if you want new sounds (laughs) but it’s great if you want classic sounds. People want distortion on bass, it’s faster and crunchier, a distortion of our beach fuzz sound.’

‘She Said (She Said)’ is a good reminder of what life was like pre-COVID: ‘It’s about a party that didn’t really happen,’ he said. ‘It came about ‘cos I was watching a movie in quarantine and it got me thinking that a party could be so awesome. I just got my driver’s licence six days ago, so I finally get to go to shows! Doing what you love, don’t expect a reward because doing what you love is the reward. I’m so thankful to be able to do music, it’s the ultimate luxury. In lockdown, I got into listening to vinyl and new bands. If you put $20 into an album, you’ll listen to all of it, even the bad songs!’

Their yet-to-be-released video to ‘She Said (She Said)’, which will come out the same day as the single, allowed Gisborne to fuse two of his favourite things: music and LEGO: ‘I made a LEGO music video to it,’ he said delightedly. ‘I made it on my phone when quarantine meant we couldn’t hang out together. For Christmas, they sent me a little LEGO stage. With the stop motion app, you can’t move the camera, so I used a stapler and tape to get 25 photos and then restarted it. You need 200 photos for 25 seconds. After five hours, I had 6 seconds! Then I realised you can loop something – like the guitar moving. I’ve even got a LEGO guitar and drums. I got the idea from Jack White, in ‘ Fell In Love With The Girl’, he used LEGO in the video, I thought it was so cool. Our song is a similar tempo and vibe to their song.’

It turns out that he’s such a massive LEGO fan – he even has the Death Star from Star Wars – that he applied for a job in a LEGO store when gigs were banned during lockdown. ‘But I didn’t have a car then, so it wouldn’t have worked,’ he said, sounding a bit dejected. I ask him if he’s seen the LEGO animation of comedian Eddie Izzard’s ‘Death Star Canteen’ sketch and when he says he hasn’t, I say I’ll send it to him because it’s absolutely hilarious and he messages me afterwards to say it’s brilliant.

‘It’s the slowest, it’s forlorn, there’s no distortion, just a Mellotron, think Moody Blues meets Donovan’

His favourite track on their upcoming album is ‘Colors on the Canvas’: ‘It’s the slowest, it’s forlorn, there’s no distortion, just a Mellotron, think Moody Blues meets Donovan. There are 12 string guitars all over it, I used a dynamic compression pedal and an octave pedal to get the sound.’

He’s also a massive fan of Melboune-based psych rock band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard and I say I’m a big fan as well: ‘There’s nobody else like them,’ he grinned. ‘They started out with garage roots and jazz and then they did a thrash metal album, Infest the Rat’s Nest, man, you gotta listen to it. If we were living in the 90’s, they’d be on a major label and be as big as Nirvana.’

The first Velvet Starlings’ song that I heard was ‘Sold Down The River’ and it remains one of my favourites. I say that when I first heard it, I assumed he was Mancunian because of his accent and he laughs: ‘My singing accent, it’s a problem! My dad’s from Leicester. He was in a Brit pop band, Plasticine, in the 90’s but they only had one record. I grew up listening to The Stone Roses, Supergrass and Oasis. You know how David Bowie could sing like John Lennon by over-pronouncing his l’s or Ian Curtis (of post-punk band Joy Division) could sing from the back of his throat and everyone else started doing it? I think my accent just came about because of who I was listening to, without even realising it. When I was six, I got a box set of The Beatles, I listened to them every day for six or seven years! When I was nine, I hadn’t heard of The Rolling Stones. It taught me a lot about music, it helped me to figure out the chords. I didn’t get lessons for keys or anything.’

His family also has a Who Do You Think You Are? worthy backstory: ‘My grandfather – I never met him, he died eight years before I was born – he was a conman, I think he’s still wanted in Ireland,’ he laughed. ‘So my dad moved to the US to avoid all the scandal. That’s how he met my mom, she was his lawyer initially.’

If he could write a song with anyone he picks The Beatles: ‘You can’t say anyone else,’ he said. ‘But if we’re going with someone alive, then Pete Townshend from The Who, maybe not now as they don’t write as much but back in the 60’s. If he could tour with anyone he picks Jack White and King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. ‘They’d be so much fun for sure,’ he said.

Despite being a multi-instrumentalist, the guitar remains his instrument of choice: ‘I’ll always favour the guitar, the bass and guitar form the structure of the song, so I’d choose the acoustic guitar but I have super fun playing bass and drums. My first guitar was a Fender Telecaster. The action is super high, so you have to press down so heavily on the strings. My dad’s always like “Dude, you could add this harmony” or he talks guitar and it’s like the MiIlennium Falcon, I don’t know what he’s saying!’

(Photo from left to right: Christian, Foster and Hudson.)