Hey there
Warheads...
What are the Warstars all about? Read on and find out.
* * *
Warstars
is about making music. Warstars is about making art. Warstars
is about making valid socio-political statements in song, video,
stage performance, and the arts in general. Warstars is pro-peace,
pro-love, anti-war, and anti-facsist.
Warstars
is about people who want to play music from their soul, and
share something real with others. Warstars is about friends
coming together to create something worth listening to. Warstars
is also about forming lasting bonds with other members of the
artist community at large, in order to expand our collective
influence.
Warstars
is about throwing free/benefit concerts, and giving away tons
of free music (thousands of compact discs have been given away
over the years. We really appreciate the positive response).
Warstars is about making all Warstars music available, free
of charge, from this website.
* * *
To have a truly informed opinion on Warstars' music, one would
need to listen to at least the top ten most relevant releases
(Or maybe just drop every Warstars album into Winamp
and click shuffle play). There's been a lot of "good"
music... There's been a lot of "bad" music. And everybody
who's heard Warstars has got a different opinion about what
songs are "good" and what songs "bad". Warstars
music is what it is.
Warstars was created for artistic purposes. The brunt of the
band is intended to be dual edged:
1) Play much music and give away much music
2) Expand on the music through paintings, graphic
art, and stage performance
The dual
nature of Warstars is very Taoist... In keeping with the Tao,
one is inevitably attracted to Warstars music, repelled by it,
or maybe even both at the same time.
Then there's the intentional similarity between "Andy Warstar"
and "Andy Warhol". That's because Andy Warstar feels
that Andy Warhol was a truly great artist. Andy Warstar's intention
has been to master the art of appropriation and mass production
as Warhol did, while maintaining collectable levels of quality...
And Andy does it all with his own unique artistic license.
Warstars music is real alternative music, and you can
feel the force and the passion as soon as you press play and
listen. Warstars are influenced by some of the most highly regarded
alternative rock musicians in the world. Whether or not you
dig the Warstars, one things for sure: Warstars invokes dialogue.
For all those Warheads who understand what Warstars is putting
across, as many new tendrils of evolutionary thought spring
forth,
and ideally begets positive within the sphere of influence.
Admittedly, Andy Warstar & The Warstars have purposely released
some "offensive", choppy anti-music in years past,
and even recently, Warstars did so for a reason: to throw a
curveball to the brainwashed automatons who carry around expectations
of how things "ought to be". There's a lot of dark
humor involved with Warstars, and a casual non-chalance.
Warstars artistic aim is to be inclusive, open-armed, open-minded,
loving and compassionate. This is the best way to teach those
who hate how to serve the greater good.
All that
being said, it's still been a windy road for Warstars... Maybe
because of Warstars eccentric members... And maybe because the
members of Warstars aren't afraid to share their simultaneously
simple and complex message with the Warheads who are really
listening.
Warstars and Warheads are the kind of folks who appreciate tongue
in cheek humor... They are the kind of folks who question reality...
The kind of folks who have always looked deeper than the surface...
We try to understand issues from all sides without judgement...
We live from their heart, not from their pocketbook. (Keep music
free! Selling sound is a scam!) We accept ourselves and our
art the way it is and continues to be... because the perfection
is the imperfection. Most importantly, we maintain that it's
never too late to change one's self, and thus the world,
for the better.
"Imagine... no country... no religion too... Imagine all
the people... living in peace..."
-- John Lennon
* * *
Warstars
began as a concept in the Earth year 1998. The idea for the
band surfaced during a conversation between Andy Warstar and
Ryan Griffin over a bowl of spaghetti after school. Andy thought
of the name "Warstars" after seeing a mediocre science
fiction flick with a similar name.
The concept was, "Let's have a name and image that looks
totally corporate and is very easily recognized. Then lets make
fun of corporate rock, the fascist climate surfacing here and
there in the United States, and basically take a shit on everyone's
expectations and "just have fun." In other words,
many satirical, experimental, punk-edged songs which cover multiple
sub-genres of the Alternative, underground, DIY rock genre.
Warstars
has been a lot of fun, and you can hear that in the music as
well. On the other hand, having fun hasn't always been easy
for all the Warstars, even from the very beginning. Andy Warstar
always had a very clear, yet complex vision for the band. However,
this is DIY (Do It Yourself) Rock n' Roll. The sound guy was
always either a band member, a friend volunteering, or a drunken
"veteran". There were also many times when Andy Warstar
brought in musicians with some very different influences.
In the early years of Warstars, this created conflict within
the group, and thus the line-up shifted year after year. Andy
surmises that some of his previous bandmates were attracted
to Warstars for the wrong reasons... Perhaps linking the slick
corporate band logo with mainstream "suckcess". Back
in those days, it was Andy's intention for the Warstars not
to be a rocket to stardom.
This resulted
in "in-fighting" amongst bandmates. Playing songs
about emotional and political strife seemed all the more difficult
at times. These kinds of energies caused some of the Warstars
early live material to be the best of a compromise.
To balance things, Andy began recording, producing and engineering
all of the studio work that's been released, by himself. Warstar
then released these really tight, professionally produced studio
tracks under the Warstars moniker. Some of Andy's bandmates
began to "wake up" and see just how much of Warstars
Andy Warstar really is.
Andy wanted everyone in Warstars to have the last name of "Warstar"
with a creative space/war related name that might also be a
play on words. Many of his band mates refused to take on the
name or were just too lazy to think of something. It wasn't
until years later when Andy started giving his new bandmates
Warstars names that these stage names actually stuck.
Perhaps it was that a few of the Warstars in years past had
too many "stars" in their eyes... This only served
to start "wars". With artistic visions clashing, Warstars
practices became looser and less often, resulting in music performed
in the Great Punk Tradition: spur of the moment Warstars
shows, with the band doing some of their best, and most spontaneous
stuff under pressure, and with little rehearsal.
* * *
Warstars first gig took place during the Earth year 1999 at
the WoodSOSC music festival at Southern Oregon University. This
show featured Andy Warstar on
acoustic guitar, and Dustin Powers
on electric. A high-energy, punk powered performance, landed
the duo on the front page of The
Siskiyou, Southern's award winning newspaper.
After their
first fifteen minutes of fame, Andy moved Warstars north to
Portland, OR in the Earth year 2000, where he teamed up with
Adam Ion and Pete Bolenbaugh III. A
year later, the trio disbanded, leaving in their wake some key
shows (Satyricon, Ash St., etc.) and some great recordings.
In Earth
year 2001, Andy joined with Kreist
Gryndor* and Battleship Potamkin
and the Warstars resumed regular practice and gigs. Around this
time, a concern arose... that concern being that the name "Warstars"
might cause some legal trouble with a certain film company.
So Andy Warstar got on the phone and dialed information. After
being connected, the switchboard connected him with the head
of this film company's legal department. Andy then posed the
question.
The response from their head lawyer was this : "I'm not
going to tell you whether to use the name or not... I can
tell you that using the 'Orabesh' font in your band's
logo is fine, and that, so long as you use the name as a parody,
well... that's fine too."
Warstars
were already a parody of corporate rock, while staying true
to their indy roots. The members of Warstars soon began to feel
the band ought to go a step further.
That year,
Warstars began basing some of their performances around a story
Andy wrote about "Kaptain Slogbaud and the Warstars System
of Planets." The story was not only a parody of adventures
in space, but pure satire as well. When the story was acted
out by Warstars on stage, it also became a mockery of the more
"extreme" alternative, punk, and industrial groups.
*Ryan did not want to play with the Warstars unless the band's
image was "evil". Andy obliged, so long as an artistic
statement could be made. For just under a year, Warstars songs
and Warstars.net took on a darker image. While some people might
have taken it all a bit too seriously, Andy was more interested
in mocking everything, especially "extreme"
rock: bands like Marilyn Manson, Cannibal Corpse, Korn and the
Deftones. (Of course, Andy still respects their artistry as
musicians.)
Andy encouraged the other Warstars to choose stage names from
the story and perform these theatrics live on stage. Griffin
and Potamkin met Andy half-way, and chose weird, if not unrelated,
stage names.
For three shows, Andy Warstar took upon the persona of Kaptain
Slogbaud. Donning vampire make-up and the American flag
as a cape, Andy became "posessed" by the spirit of
Kaptain Slogbaud. As the story goes, Slogbaud is an alien from
the distant world of 22 Pock in the Bortkore Starcluster, who
is hellbent on destroying humanity and the entire known universe.
Between
Andy, Kreist, and Potamkin, the Warstars music became a jagged
razorblade on the pulse of the national and political climate.
That didn't seem to make much of a difference to some of the
jaded, snobbish audience members Warstars encountered during
that time.
Shortly after the third and final "Slogbaud show",
Joey Ramone died, and September 11th went down. Not surprised,
Andy surmised that it was no longer necessary to wear the American
flag as a symbol of evil in satirical jest. Now it was a fully
realized reality. The events of September 11th marked the end
of an era for America and for Warstars.
* * *
Winter,
Earth year 2002 found the Warstars switching the line-up again.
Andy Warstar busied himself producing the bulk of Warstars studio
material at Studio 57, and shortly thereafter, began gigging
with a new line-up. With Andy Warstar still conducting, Warstars
now featured Owen Hoffman-Smith, a 17
year old musical prodigy on percussion, backed by the solid
rhythms of bassist Amanda Varga, while
returning member Adam Ion jammed on
rhythm guitar.
During this period, the Warstars produced some alternative rock
songs that were a lot closer to what Andy had wanted to do with
Warstars all along. But after the end of a rocky relationship
with his girl, Warstar dismissed his bandmates and went off
into the wilderness.
Earth year 2003 found Andy producing Warstars Greatest Misses
in his secluded studio. After this album's completion, Andy
went on sabbatical, signing off from writing or playing music
for the rest of the year.
By the
time Earth year 2004 rolled around, Warstar was burnt on living
in the boonies where there were, and still are, no chicks. It
was time to move back into town, and move Warstars back to Ashland
where it had all begun, five years prior.
Summer of Earth year 2004 found Andy playing old and new tunes
alike down in the city park, and for tourists down on the streets
of Ashland. Andy then befriended another street musician by
the name of Otis Merely (from Otis And The Hypnotist). The two
would often head over to Otis's place and jam out in his basement
apartment. These jams were what really inspired Andy to "get
back to the music".
During the Winter of Earth year 2004, Andy began producing his
first solo album, "Andy Warstar Fucks You In The Ear".
A departure from the angsty darkness of early Warstars recordings,
Andy Warstar's first solo effort features some lighter-hearted
folk based tunes, yet still manages to be socio-politically
critical in a postive way. For Andy, producing his own solo
album was a long sought-after goal.
At the
beginning of Summer, Earth year 2005, and after a two year hiatus
from Warstars, Andy became inspired to bring the Warstars back
together. Initially, Warstar contacted old bandmates through
e-mail, but the few who responded were unavailable to play again.
So the search for new talent began...
Andy decided the best way for Warstars to reform would be to
build the foundation from the drummer on up, using manifestation
instead of advertisements. Shortly thereafter, Andy met Apollo
Warstar, previously of Mexican Restaurant, and hired him on
as percussionist.
With Apollo's strong beats grounded in a punk rock foundation,
Andy kicked the Warstars back into gear by jamming out some
core alternative folk rock. For most of the summer of Earth
year 2005, the Warstars would jam and gig as a two-piece band.
When Apollo quit Warstars due to creative differences, Andy
asked crack drummer Master B to play his birthday gig. Only
weeks later, Andy manifested percussionist Jason Williams a.k.a
Thrasher (Captain James T. Warstar) previously of the Washington
band, The Fumes.
Shortly thereafter, Andy discovered Eddy Warstar, a bass virtuoso,
and asked him to join the fold. With a professional bassist
and drummer in tow, at long last, Andy began capturing some
of the finest live Warstars recordings yet.
Present day finds Warstar contemplating a Warstars tour, while
working hard at Studio 57. Andy's working on producing many
new Warstars studio tracks, and sorting through a trove of live
recordings for release on disc.
For Andy Warstar, Warstars is a labor of love, and will live
on so long as there are Warheads out there who appreciate real
people making real music. And you know, Andy Warstar
will probably keep making music whether other people like it
or not... Says Warstar, "It's just something I've gotta
do."
(This is for all the Warheads
out there. Thanks & Peace.)
* * *