Starflyer 59 is an American alternative rock band from Riverside, California that was founded in 1993[2] by Jason Martin, brother of Ronnie Martin of Joy Electric. While Jason Martin has written nearly all of Starflyer 59's songs, the band has included a number of different musicians over the years, including Jeff Cloud, Frank Lenz, and Richard Swift. The band's sound was initially identified as an outgrowth of the shoegaze movement of the early 1990s, but the band's music has gradually evolved to the point of little resemblance to that of its early days.
Starflyer 59 was signed to Tooth & Nail Records, their original and current label, after Jason Martin gave a demo to Brandon Ebel when the two met at a music festival in 1993. Shortly afterwards, Ebel contacted Martin and offered him a record contract.[1] The band was one of Tooth & Nail's original signees.[3] In 1994, Starflyer 59's debut album, Silver, was recorded and released.[1] In mid-1994, Starflyer 59 released a follow-up EP to Silver entitled She's the Queen.[4] Both Silver and She's the Queen exhibited heavy shoegaze influences with significant usage of reverb, phaser, and delay.[1][4][5]
In 1995, Starflyer 59 released their second album, Gold. The sound was similar to their first release, while Jason Martin continued to add layers of guitar riffs to each song.[1][5][6] This album is considered instrumental in developing the "shoegaze" sound. In 2016, Pitchfork Media ranked Gold as the number 41 best shoegaze album of all time.[7] Lyrically, the album continued the trend of somewhat depressive and lovelorn content in contrast to the message of the band's Christian record label.[1] In 1996, the band released a live album via Velvet Blue Music entitled Plugged.[1][8]
For Starflyer 59's next studio album, Americana (which was released in 1997) several changes to the band were made. Bass player Andrew Larson departed and was replaced by Eric Campuzano (The Prayer Chain). In addition, Wayne Everett, also of The Prayer Chain, became the band's studio drummer. Campuzano left the band before it began touring to support the new album. Replacing him was Jeff Cloud, who had been Starflyer's touring manager.[1][8][9]Americana had a more rock bent than the band's previous two albums with more uplifting and explicitly religious lyrics.[1][8]
1998–2001: Change in sound with The Fashion Focus
The release of The Fashion Focus in 1998 signaled a significant change in the direction of the band's sound, largely due to the influence of producer Gene Eugene. Where previous albums had emphasized guitars and loud rock and roll, The Fashion Focus was a significantly softer album. This album featured the introduction of keyboards in the music, which replaced layered guitars. The new sound was more pop-friendly than earlier albums, while not abandoning the signature Starflyer sound. The song "Too Much Fun" would be the band's last song in the early shoegazing style. Everybody Makes Mistakes, released the next year, continued in the same direction as The Fashion Focus.
On November 21, 2000, Starflyer 59 released Easy Come Easy Go, a two-disc "best-of" set. The first disc consisted of the band's most popular songs from their first five LPs (three songs from each album), while the second disc was a collection of rarities, B-sides, and eight songs from a live performance. 2001 saw the release of Leave Here A Stranger, Starflyer's next full-length album. The band's sound continued to evolve, as Leave Here A Stranger would come to be lauded and praised by many music critics as Starflyer 59's best release to date. After the untimely death of Gene Eugene, Martin called on long-time musical hero Terry Scott Taylor to take over production of the new album. In a tribute to the Beach Boys' monumental album Pet Sounds, Leave Here a Stranger was recorded in mono.
2002–2008: Extensive album production
From 2003 to 2006, Starflyer 59 released one full-length album a year, all of them self-produced. The first of these albums was Old. Old maintained a more pop-oriented sound that had begun with The Fashion Focus, but was also more guitar-oriented than Leave Here A Stranger. However, the music of Old was still significantly softer than the band's early work. In 2004, I Am the Portuguese Blues was released. With this album, Starflyer 59 returned to the heavy guitar format that was so prominent on their early albums Silver, Gold, and Americana, as well as to the monochromatic album covers that had characterized these albums. I Am the Portuguese Blues was not a true follow-up to Old, but instead was a set of older songs that Jason Martin had written for a follow-up album to Americana. The material was originally shelved when the band shifted gears and instead recorded The Fashion Focus. This confused many newer fans and critics who were familiar with Starflyer 59's more recent pop-friendly work. The album is generally thought of[by whom?] as an EP or side project and not a proper Starflyer 59 studio album, and to date[when?] is the last time guitar distortion was featured on a Starflyer 59 recording.
2005's Talking Voice vs. Singing Voice saw the band change their sound yet again, to a style that seemed a more natural follow-up to Old than I Am the Portuguese Blues had been. For this album, Starflyer 59 was cut down to two members: Jason Martin and drummer Frank Lenz. It would be the first studio album since Americana to be recorded without bassist and ideas man Jeff Cloud. Despite having only two band members, the songs on Talking Voice vs. Singing Voice have a full sound. This is largely due to the inclusion of guest string players on many of the album's tracks. Also in 2005, Starflyer 59 re-issued digitally re-mastered versions of Silver and Gold, with bonus tracks. The re-issue of Silver came with the tracks of the band's follow-up EP, She's The Queen. Gold was reissued with the Goodbyes Are Sad 7inch single and three of the four tracks from the Le Vainqueur EP. Many of these extra tracks, however, had been included on the 2-disc set Easy Come, Easy Go.
Frank Lenz left the band near the end of the recording process, leaving Jason Martin as the only member. Josh Dooley re-joined the band as second guitar, the first time in the band's history with a guitar player other than Martin, and Trey Many joined as the drummer. This threesome toured very briefly behind Talking Voice vs. Singing Voice with an electronic bass track.
The band released their follow up to Talking Voice vs. Singing Voice titled My Island September 12, 2006, along with a music video for the album's single, "I Win". As the years go by, Starflyer 59 continue to release albums that seem to be a natural progression of the previous album, with the exception of I Am the Portuguese Blues. In 2007, Starflyer 59 had a special promotion among the most devoted fans, where they would release a total of 10 7-inch vinyl records over a period of months. Each 7" would contain a song from the forthcoming record, as well as a B-side that would be released only for the promotion. The 10 vinyl records, known as Ghosts of the Future, came with a custom wooden record box, and early buyers were rewarded with inserts signed by Jason Martin and Scott Hatch. Their 11th full-length album, Dial M, was released on October 28, 2008. Dial M consisted of the first track of each vinyl record from Ghosts of the Future, remixed and cleaned up. The album was significantly influenced by the passing of Jason's father, affectionately referred to in the song Mr. Martin.
2009–present: The Changing of the Guard and further projects
The band released The Changing of the Guard on August 10, 2010.[citation needed] After the passing of his father, Jason Martin took over the day-to-day operations of his father's trucking business in Riverside, California. Because of this responsibility, Starflyer 59 no longer actively toured as of 2010.[citation needed]
The band's next album, IAMACEO, was released on December 17, 2012 (Jason Martin's 40th birthday).[10] This album was crowdfunded through Kickstarter.[11] When the fund-raising campaign began on March 6, 2012, all the funds necessary for the project were raised within just a few hours.
In July, it was discovered by fans that T.W. Walsh – who mastered and performed on IAMACEO – had added a new Starflyer 59 release under the 2015 section of his website.[12] In August, a member of the Facebook fan group mentioned that he talked to former Starflyer 59 bassist Eric Campuzano about the new Starflyer material. Campuzano said, "The new Starflyer 59 album is going to be killer. Lots of the older style coming out. The demos I've heard are amazing."[13] When mentioned in the Starflyer 59 fan forums,[14] musician Mike Adams hinted at a new Starflyer 59 record, saying he knew "every intimate detail about the new [Starflyer 59] release," and that it was coming out in October 2015.[15] He also shared a mysterious image that fans presume to be album art.[16]
On April 26, 2019, Young in My Head was released through Tooth & Nail. It was released on CD and vinyl, including limited edition versions, as well as digitally.[17] For this recording, Jason's son (credited as C. Martin) played drums, and longtime member Steven Dail played bass. TW Walsh provided synth as a guest musician.
On May 14, 2020, Velvet Blue Music released the single "This Recliner" to promote the EP Miami, which was released on June 19, 2020[18] and included three new songs and two reworked versions of songs from Young in My Head.
On October 15, 2021, Starflyer 59 released Vanity through Velvet Blue Music digitally, as well as on CD and vinyl.[19]
On May 9, 2024 (5/9 Day), a new release was teased on the band's Facebook page. Lust for Gold will be released on Velvet Blue Music as catalog number VBM 235. No other information, including release date, was provided.[20]Lust for Gold was released on August 16, 2024.[21] The first single, 909 was released July 19, 2024. 909 refers to the area code for the Riverside, CA area during the band's early years. The 909 area code was created in 1992, just before the band's founding (later, western Riverside County was split off from 909 and assigned area code 951 on July 17, 2004.).[22]
Joy Electric is the brand label for a series of electropop/synthpop productions by Ronnie Martin. Martin began producing music under the Joy Electric name in 1994, after the demise of Dance House Children, a band Ronnie was in with his brother Jason Martin of Starflyer 59. Starflyer 59 bass player and Velvet Blue Music owner Jeff Cloud joined Joy Electric from 1996 until 2002. Joy Electric is currently a solo act.
Jason Martin is a musician from Southern California. He is best known as a member of the indie rock band Starflyer 59, one of the first bands to sign with Tooth & Nail Records.
Starflyer 59, usually known as Silver, is the self-titled debut album of rock band Starflyer 59, released in 1994 on Tooth & Nail Records. It has acquired the name Silver due to its cover art.
Gold is the second album by Starflyer 59. It was originally released in 1995. In 2005, it was reissued with five bonus tracks from the band's Goodbyes Are Sad 7 inch single and Le Vainqueur EP.
Old, the seventh full-length album released by Starflyer 59, was released on Tooth & Nail Records in 2003. A majority of the lyrics of the songs on this album revolve around the theme of growing older, and the album reintroduces Starflyer59's rock-oriented sound.
I Am the Portuguese Blues is the eighth full-length album released by Starflyer 59. With this album, the band returned to its past in multiple ways. The band's earlier albums had been characterized by loud guitars, but later albums saw the band progress to a softer sound, incorporating keyboards. I Am the Portuguese Blues saw the return of the sound from earlier albums, as the band was stripped just to Jeff Cloud on bass, Frank Lenz on drums, and Jason Martin, the only person to perform on all of Starflyer 59's albums, handling guitar and vocal duties. In addition, the album has a monochromatic cover, similar to those of Starflyer 59's first three albums. Many of the songs on I Am the Portuguese Blues were written years earlier as demos for an album to follow Americana. They were eventually scrapped, as the band decided to take a different musical direction for The Fashion Focus. The old demos were refined and combined with several new songs for I Am the Portuguese Blues. In regards to the title of the album, Martin, the band's frontman said,
"I thought the title was odd. There are a couple of proper blues riffs‚ on there, but mainly it is just a rock and roll album – no tricks no gimmicks.... And, oh yeah, I'm Portuguese."
Americana is the third album by Starflyer 59. It was the last of the band's three consecutive albums featuring monochromatic covers. This album was given a name, unlike their prior two albums, which had titles that fans had given them based on the colour of the cover.
Calico Sunset is a Bakersfield, California-based electropop band, comprising Joseph Andreotti and Jenny Alvis. Calico Sunset is signed to Jeff Cloud's Velvet Blue Music. Calico Sunset's debut album on VBM, "Deep Deep Paranoia," was produced by and featured Frank Lenz and featured Josh Dooley on guitar. Shortly after the release of "Deep Deep Paranoia," Calico Sunset joined Joy Electric on a national tour. Calico Sunset has also shared the stage with such bands as Moving Units, The Fever, Starflyer 59, Freezepop, Broken Spindles.
Can't Stop Eating is an EP by indie rock band Starflyer 59, released in 2002 on Tooth & Nail Records.
The Prayer Chain was a 1990s Christian alternative rock band. The band has been called "the epitome of the Christian underground". The Prayer Chain was known for producing moody, angst-ridden music which was, in turn, the result of creative differences within the band and with their record label.
Ryan Curtis Clark is an American musician who also has performed under the stage name Maven. He is best known as the lead vocalist of the Christian metal band Demon Hunter, which he co-founded with his brother, guitarist Don Clark. He was also the frontman for Christian metalcore band Training for Utopia along with being one of the guitarists for Focal Point. He is featured on Zao's The Lesser Lights of Heaven DVD and Mark Salomon's Podcast, Never Was.
My Island is the tenth full-length album by Starflyer 59. It was released September 12, 2006 on Tooth & Nail Records.
The Brothers Martin are an indie rock band from Riverside, California consisting of brothers Ronnie Martin and Jason Martin. Musically, they incorporate elements of both Joy Electric and Starflyer 59 : electropop and shoegazing, while modern rock and 1980s new wave are also a central influence.
The Brothers Martin is the self-titled debut of The Brothers Martin, a band consistent of brothers Ronnie and Jason Martin, founders of Joy Electric and Starflyer 59, respectively. It is the brothers' first collaborative effort since 1991's Dance House Children and somewhat of an amalgamation of both artists' musical influences.
Neon Horse was an American rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed by Mark Salomon, Jason Martin and Steven Dail. They were previously signed to Tooth & Nail Records with whom they have released two studio albums. Neon Horse's sound has been described as being influenced by the music of the 1980s.
Dial M is the eleventh full-length album by California-based Indie rock band Starflyer 59. The album was released on October 28, 2008 on compact disc through Tooth & Nail Records. A vinyl record version, containing an extra song, was released by Burnt Toast Vinyl.
Bon Voyage is a musical duo consisting of Jason Martin of Starflyer 59 and his wife, Julie.
The Changing of the Guard is the twelfth album by indie rock band Starflyer 59. It was released on August 10, 2010. The album was produced by Jason Martin and mixed by JR McNeely.
Slow is the fourteenth studio album by Starflyer 59. Tooth & Nail Records released the album on June 17, 2016.
Somewherecold Records is an American independent record label established in late 2004 by Jason T. Lamoreaux. The record company was founded in Lexington, Kentucky, but is currently headquartered in Shelbyville, Kentucky. It releases ambient, shoegaze, dream pop, slowcore, post-rock, space rock and drone music, with an international roster of artists spanning from the early 2000s to the present. Somewherecold Records has released music on vinyl records, compact discs, compact cassettes and digital audio formats, with global distribution through The Business. The company is affiliated with the Somewherecold webzine, which was formed two years before the record label.
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