Starsailor

It took the English group Starsailor only to release one single to become a proclaimed most promising British rock act. It was their song Fever released in February 2001 that prompted journalists to announce the beginning band the most potential among its compatriots and followers of such established performers as Travis, and Coldplay. The story of Starsailor started in 2000 in Wigan. Students James Walsh, James Stelfox and Ben Byrne composed the core of the future band. In the very beginning, they struggled looking for a good guitarist until they recruited keyboardist Barry Westhead. His music became the foundation for the sound of the whole group to be built upon. The young musicians extracted their inspiration and ideas from the works of Tim Buckley (his 1970 album gave the group its title), Van Morrison and Neil Young. Starsailor played their first London concert at the Heavenly Social club in April 2000. Around the same time, they launched the distribution of their first demo consisting of three songs, Fever, Coming Down, and Love Is Here. Already in summer, a war broke out among sound recording companies for the right to sign a contract with the recently formed team. The victory went to EMI.

After the participation in the NME-sponsored tour in January 2001, Starsailor released the above mentioned single Fever to blow away the delighted critics. Before releasing the second single, the band toured the UK with a streak of memorable sold-out gigs as a headliner. Good Souls saw light in April 2001 and entered Top 20 also harvesting a great deal of praiseful reviews. After that, Starsailor went to Wales to prepare their debut long player. In the summer, the lads were very busy playing on the stage all the time. They started the season with a visit to the USA as a supporting act for Doves. Then, Starsailor took part in a series of British festivals. They crowned the summer with a couple of concerts as a headliner. The group did meet all the expectations of experts and made her fans anticipate the forthcoming album with great passion. The album under the title Love Is Here was finally released in September 2001. Backed by the single Alcoholic included in Top Ten, it gained considerable success. The rockers finished the astonishing year with a massive European concert campaign.

In January 2002, the Starsailor debut album was officially issued in the United States of America and prepared the local audience for the large-scale North America tour by Starsailor following in several weeks. In 2004, the musicians delivered their sophomore studio effort, Silence Is Easy. The title track and the song Four To The Floor proved to be true hits. To manufacture the subsequent album, the band was about to invite producer Phil Spector, but at the last moment, they were forced to seek another specialist as Phil had faced murder accusations and was arrested. The new work by the British outfit, On The Outside, hit the stores in 2005. The songs In The Crossfire, and This Time were also released as singles. Perhaps, one can not consider Starsailor a definitely leading British group, but their distinctive character and professionalism are beyond any doubt. Whilst the overwhelming majority of rock formations pay attention to either their music or their lyrics only, this band makes both a cornerstone of their art. When it is hard to hear the words written and sung by many performers, and sometimes there is no need to, the texts of the Starsailor songs are an integral component of their music. Early in 2009, the British enlarged their discography with another studio album, All the Plans.