Starbenders, Atlanta's rising stars of the glam/punk/rock'n'roll/goth underground, have released a new single, Sex. The song is the badly-behaved second cousin of Billy Idol's Rebel Yell, with a touch of Rammstein about the keyboards, and the Doctor Who theme thrown into the mix. As if that weren't enough, it's also a technicolored paean to the thrill of sexual congress.
"I almost viewed the story of the song playing out like a simulation, a video game," says lead Starbender Kimi Shelter." The goal of the game? Get some and don’t get burned. I tend to feel a lot of longing to be one of those seemingly light footed people that dance around all of the heaviness of meaning and consequence. As with most romanticisation, I realise that the grass isn’t greener but it’s fun to play with in my mind. The poet has gone rogue."
Sex is the sixth single released by the band since the arrival of their second album, Love Potions, in 2020, and follows in the stack-heeled footsteps The Game, which graced us with its glorious presence in February. A new album is apparently waiting in the wings.
Unusually, the press release accompanying news of the single comes with a glowing testimonial as to Starbenders' greatness from Alice In Chains frontman William DuVall.
"Starbenders are a rock'n'roll dream come true for every hard-luck dreamer occupying this third stone from the sun," explains DuVall. "Singer/songwriter Kimi Shelter is the love child Johnny Thunders and Joan Jett should have had, raised with an impeccable education from Blondie Elementary School, Def Leppard High, Bowie College, and a Ph.D from Siouxie Sioux University in Fuck All Y’all.
"Aaron Lecesne brings ripping bass lines, vivid musicality, fashionista chic, and lightning-rod stage energy. Kriss Tokaji is the literal embodiment of a Guitar Adonis whose fretboard mastery easily places him at the pinnacle of today’s young guns, a legend in the making. Then we have Emily Moon, the siren behind the drums, channeling her spiritual father (and namesake), Keith Moon, in a gorgeous tornado of sound and fury."
Starbenders spent the early part of the year on the road in Europe with Sumerian labelmates Palaye Royale, and will complete a US tour at the Fonda Theater in Los Angeles, CA, tomorrow night (May 20). They're also scheduled to perform at the Louder Than Life Festival at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville, KY, on September 21, and at the Aftershock Festival in Sacramento, CA, on October 5.
