Death By Stars

“Where is the future we wanted?” In one succinct lyric, Death by Stars mulls the question at the heart of the Generation X/Y existential malaise. I have had the good fortune to attend a number of this Tacoma trio’s live performances over the past year and each time I hear their brand of psychedelic dance rock, I walk away from the venue having noticed at least one new wrinkle in the music that had previously eluded me. Death by Stars’ March 14th performance at the Mix in Georgetown was no exception.

Filling the headlining slot on a three band bill supported by Soft Blows and Mrs. Howl, the band, consisting of vocalist/guitarist Patrick Galactic, vocalist/keyboardist Cherry Danger, and bassist/vocalist Juan El Revelator kicked off their set with the first track from their debut EP The Future We Wanted (released in the fall of 2013 and available at www.deathbystars.com) entitled “Source”. Galactic and El Revelator actually opt to swap musical roles on this song, with the former providing the driving bass ostinato while the latter takes a textural approach to the guitar part, eschewing any sort of repetitive chord pattern and electing instead to create an ambient drone that provides a fuzzy aura for the song’s lone lyric “Separation is illusion”.

The exclusion of live drums in favor of synthesized drum loops has been gaining in popularity
among many Northwest bands in recent years. It is a mixed blessing. While some will miss the flash and spontaneity of an in-the-flesh drummer, the practical realities of playing live in venues that frequently offer less than stellar P.A. equipment serve to underscore one very real benefit of pre-recorded drum loops: volume control! It is the bedevilment of every band, regardless of musical style, to figure out a way to keep the vocals from being drowned out in a sea of drums and guitars. With Death by Stars, this is never an issue. The listener can hear and understand every last word. So the entire audience at the Mix had no trouble at all singing along with the E.P.’s standout track entitled “Arsonist”. Minimalism and nuance are again the order of the day as Galactic sets his guitar aside entirely to come off stage and into the audience, supported only by Danger’s dark, ringing C minor chord, to bring the Hamlet-esque brooding of the song’s verses to life before culminating in Death by Stars’ most memorable chorus “There ain’t no devil gonna steal my soul”. Imagine delta blues imagery mixed with Portishead grooves and you will get an idea of this song’s effect.

The band rounded out their set with some newer material not included on The Future We
Wanted. Several of these tunes saw keyboardist Cherry Danger taking on a greater share of the lead
vocal duties. Her husky, alto voice betrays something of Fiona Apple and whets the listener’s appetite for what may be in store for future Death by Stars recordings. And that is certainly a future that this listener wants. - NorthwestMusicScene.com

Looking for a live show that is sexy and electronic with some great atmospheric guitar? Maybe some rad bass lines as well? Then Death By Stars should be high on your list of local bands to see in 2014. They cite Massive Attack and Wire as influences, which comes through in their music which has a nice mix of electronic elements and post-punk guitar and rhythms.

This year we’ll also get to see how the band’s live sound translate to the recorded format, as they’ve just released their debut E.P., The Future We Wanted, on Seattle’s CTPAK Records. - NadaMucho.com

Music is therapeutic. People need it. It carves out pain, explores pathways of inspiration, exudes primal intentions and words never do it justice.

Take the Tacoma band Death By Stars, for example. The music the band produces hits those sweet spots in the psyche that can only be reached by an extreme love of the way notes, chords, voices, keyboards, beats, loops, skips and heart collide.

The threesome, Patrick Galactic, Cherry Danger and Juan El Revelator, are continually reaching those sweet spots in their home base of Tacoma and beyond.

Most recently, the band released its first single, "Le Voyeur." And yes, it was partially named for the campy little venue in Olympia.

"We played an amazing show there in May," Galactic says. "The crowd was just amazing, and it added an interesting perspective on the lyrics."

"We really are inspired by our environment," adds Danger. "It's so much about being a voyeur."

Post-rock, electo-punk, shoegaze, trip-hop, future punk, whatever you want to call them, Death By Stars creates danceable, sweet, loud and relatable music.

"We have a collective form," said Danger. "We're art freaks and when we start vibing, the music streamlines - it's so fun."

The band has a strong onstage presence that is a continuation of the band's heady, out-of-this-world music. Music flashes in time, and you can tell that if the band members didn't have to have control of their instruments they would be exploding with enormous dance moves.

"Our message is really about unity and love," Danger says.

"But it's also about limitations," Galactic chimed in. "Wanting unity, but being pulled by the environment - it's that dichotomy finding itself."

You can catch Death By Stars in all their cosmic glory on Saturday at New Frontier in Tacoma. The show will follow the first-ever Lumin Lantern Parade, a procession of illuminated art forms that will grace downtown T-town in celebration of the autumn equinox. The lantern parade begins at 8:30 p.m. on Broadway. The parade is part of Broadway Center's Fall Free For All, a free community event that showcases music, dance, drama, film and children's activities.

The after hours party at New Frontier also includes performances by Kaletron and Xylophones. All three bands fit perfectly into the light, love and freedom of creative expression that the festival and parade encompass. Except it's at a bar, so libations can be part of the festivities, as Death By Stars and guests take partiers on stellar musical ride into the night.

[Death By Stars, Kaletron, Xylophones, 9 p.m., $5, New Frontier Lounge, 301 East 25th Street, Tacoma, (253) 572-4020] - Weekly Volcano

The string of words that make up the name Death By Stars sounds at once full of portent and utterly frivolous. This dichotomy seems to seep into and help define the band's music as well. Combining the biggest, most direct qualities of punk, electronica and psych-rock, the band has cooked up a cutting, immediately hooky sound. There's an invigorating quality to Death By Stars that seems to transcend their basic formula of spacey, psychedelia-informed vocals encased in programmed beats, exploding into life-sized dance-punk refrains. In a live setting, Death By Stars veers into performance art territory, with light shows and costumes. It's a delirious soup - all surface, really. But what a surface it is.
Of course, Death By Stars - having formed in the earlier half of last year - is a band still in the process of finding itself. The three-piece is made up of Bees, Patrick Galactic and Cherry Danger (if those are their real names!).
"We kind of started with just guitars and bass," says keyboardist Cherry Danger. "I had old ES-1 beat-making machines and things that we were playing with - lots of Korg stuff. At first, it was this guitar-y, almost Link Wray sound, and as it evolved, it ended up being a lot more cerebral and post-punky with a little bit of psychedelic. So that's where we're at right now."
"When (fellow bandmate) Bees and I were discussing it, our intention was to have a less than typical setup, where you have two guitarists, a bassist and a drummer," says Patrick Galactic. "We had the intention that we were going to play around with electronics more. Cherry brought that to the forefront."
As I've mentioned, Death By Stars really comes to life when performing in concert. The band's brand of dance-punk is a perfect foil for their overblown visuals.
"The performance is something we believe in," says Galactic. "We want to put on more of a spectacle than just music. The show's kind of an art form beyond just music."
"We're really about putting together an experience where people can be surrounded by (the music)," adds Danger. "All of a sudden, they depart from what they're normally used to doing and seeing in some little club, somewhere in Tacoma. We try and take them to a complete place, where there's a real feeling of place there that's beyond just sound. ... We're pumped to play the Dorky's show, because we're totally in that vein of video games and fun in Tacoma."
Dorky's Arcade is a bizarre venue, to be sure. In a darkened room, lit up with the glow of a couple dozen arcade games, a tunnel vision begins to form between you and the band on stage. It's an absurd sensation, and Death By Stars seem uniquely equipped to take the environment that comes so naturally to the arcade and blow it up into something bigger and more meaningful than the sum of its parts.
It's all of a delirious surface. But what a surface it is.
Death By Stars

with the Hyper-Space Dumpster Sludge Junkies, Oven Rake, the Dirty Words and Sliide
Saturday, Oct. 29, 8 p.m., no cover
Dorky's Arcade, 754 Pacific Ave., Tacoma
253.627.4156 - The Weekly Volcano