Stars to play at Bluebird

Indie rock band Stars will be playing at 7:30 p.m. today at the Bluebird Nightclub with Wild Nothing. They are currently entering their second decade of making music and are all members of acclaimed indie band Broken Social Scene. Their fifth album, “The Five Ghosts,” was released June 22 of this year.

The Indiana Daily Student spoke with Evan Cranley, bassist for the Canadian band Stars, about the recording process of their latest album, touring, and what he would do if he had to give up making music.

IDS Can you explain the recording process of “The Five Ghosts?”

CRANLEY I really wanted to push the synthesis of this record. I thought it was a really good way to offset the cold subject matter of what we were talking about on this record — so kind of cold, impersonal sounding synthesizers against very stark lyrics about losing a loved one.
We did a lot of writing for it in Vancouver, which was cool. That was great. We spent 10 days there in a room recording. We did another three months in Montreal, finishing off the record.

IDS I’ve read that you, along with Chris Seligman, are the main composers for Stars. Can you briefly describe the composing process?

CRANLEY Every time I start a record, I like to buy a piece of gear I’m unfamiliar with, like a synthesizer or a drum machine. I feel like when you learn a new instrument, it can bring creativity to a place that you’ve never really experienced before. . We like to try to buy two or three or four pieces of gear before we start writing a record, and it helps us to come up with new tricks and hooks and ornamentation that we’ve never done before.

IDS You’ve used some non-traditional ways of releasing your records, including making “In Our Bedroom After the War” digitally available and the “Sad Robots” EP, exclusively on your online store.  Do you plan on continuing to investigate marketing methods that are less than conventional?

CRANLEY We kind of had a traditional release in June with our latest record, but the way we decided to center the marketing around it was to tour it in the months of May and June and play the record in its entirety in sequence before we actually released the record physically, which means we actually leaked the record ourselves live.
I thought that was a really creative way of getting fans rediscovering our new music. I think with every single release we’ll try to do something that challenges not only ourselves, but our fans.

IDS The AV Club had this to say about a song on your latest album: “‘We Don’t Want Your Body’ is a shockingly swaggering slice of bona fide death disco.” What is your favorite description of your music that you’ve ever read or the most gratifying thing that has happened to you?

CRANLEY Just on this last tour, having these kids sing along to a chorus. That has to be the most flattering thing that can happen to you as a band because people are participating in your music. That, by far, would be the most gratifying thing.

IDS You started your own label, Soft Revolution. Tell me about the label and why you decided to start it.

CRANLEY We decided to start it because we wanted to curate a home for ourselves and our music. I think that it’s really nice having your own imprint because then you can control your own aesthetic. And I think in the future we’ll start re-releasing and re-mastering old records and maybe doing compilations of our own music on our own imprint. It’s just nice to feel a sense of control in this business if you can, especially if you want a long career. The band’s been around 12 years, but we’ve really been making music for 10 or 11 years. Ten or 11 years in the music is like 60 years in the workforce, which is insane. I’m proud of us.

IDS You’re also a member of Broken Social Scene. How do you coordinate your time between both bands?

CRANLEY Between 1999 and 2006 was an incredibly crazy time for me. I was always on the road, and I didn’t have a home for 2 1/2 years because I was concentrating on both bands. But I’d really say that Stars is my favorite artistic outlet.
Broken Social Scene is like an amazing kind of friend that I can go and pick up where I left off. I can play my horn and guitar, and it will always be there. But Stars is what I think about the most and get frustrated over and love the most.

IDS What is the best part of being on the road?
CRANLEY Watching the fans reaction to the new record. To watch 12-, 13-, or 14-year-olds sing along to our music and the parents there that drove them there also singing along to our music. 

IDS You’re a multi-instrumentalist. Do you admire any other musicians who play a variety of instruments?

CRANLEY Steven Drozd from the Flaming Lips is an incredible musician who plays all of those drums on the Flaming Lips records. He writes a lot of the music, plays a lot of guitar and a lot of bass. He’s definitely someone I really admire. I think he’s incredible.

IDS If you had to give up making music, what would you do to be creative?

CRANLEY I would maybe work at a restaurant with food, or I’d invent things. I have a really good idea, but I think someone might steal my idea. I think I would open up a coffee shop or work on repairing instruments, like trombones or trumpets. I’d just get more crafty.

IDS What are you listening to right now?

CRANLEY I like the new Yeasayer record. I think that’s really cool. I’m really looking forward to the new Dears record, which comes out in February. Generally, I don’t listen to a lot of music on the road because I’m so punished by sound all the time. I tend to just relax, but I listen to a lot of jazz and classical. We’re on tour with a band called Wild Nothing, and I like them, or a band from Montreal called Think About Life.

IDS The music video for “Your Ex-Lover is Dead” has always reminded me strongly of the Michel Gondry movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Is there any connection?

CRANLEY There is a total connection. Kevin Drew, who directed it, was totally inspired by that scene where they’re on the beach in what looks like a snowstorm. It was about negative 20 degrees, and that was us out on the frozen water in a lake on top of a mountain. It was really intense.