STARQUAKE

1. What is the name of your band and how did you come up with it?

What is your name and what do you do for the band?

We’re STARQUAKE,

the name was chosen from a list we made while brainstorming for possible band names.
My name is MIKEY, I write, compose, sing, play guitars, keys, bass, I record, mix, produce, basically I am the mastermind behind Starquake.

2. Tell us where you are based and describe the scene. How do you think where you are located influences your sound.

We're from a little town just North-West of Munich, Germany.

The scene is alive and kicking, with many events and concerts.
Our influences go back to the 1970's, Deep Purple, Gentle Giant, Uriah Heep, Led Zeppelin, and a little bit to Heavy Metal, this has not much to do with location,
but hey, music is a global thing ;-)

3. Who influences your sound that would surprise people?

Maybe the biggest surprise on the new album is a track that was composed by Orlando di Lasso in the 16th century, and probably the quirky stuff that was influenced by Gentle Giant.

4. Are you endorsed by musical companies, if so who, and if not who would you like to be endorsed by?

At this moment only the drummer is endorsed by a company that manufactures great cables, the rest of the band is not endorsed, I think it would be cool to be endorsed by WAVES, cos they make really great plug ins for my DAW.

5. When you started what was your ultimate goal? And how close to the goal are you now?

When I was very young (and still stupid) I wanted to be the next Beatles, over the years this changed, now I just want to make the music I love and hope to find many people who like the music I make, so maybe one day I'll be able to make some money from it, I don't want to become filthy rich or mega famous like the next Michael Jackson, but some money would be nice.

6. In today's digital environment it takes creative strategy to keep things moving. What creative ideas do you have to keep your band relevant over time?

ha, I'm not going to share my secrets with you ;-)
but seriously, I think with the music we make persistence is the key to long term success, keep making records of good music, and people will like it.

7. We've all seen a terrible live band that is awesome on CD. Is that cool with you or do you lose respect for bands that cannot pull it off live?

I would not exactly say I lose respect for a band,

BUT, I do have to say I love a band who can pull it off live as well,

take for example Gentle Giant, they wrote some of the most complex but still kinda catchy stuff in rock, and they were able to play that stuff live as well, very impressive,
same goes for Spock's Beard by the way, great live band.

8. Tell us your “core” are you Metal, Rock, Punk, Pop etc because people just have to categorize these days you know?

OK, if you HAVE to put us and our music in a category it would have to be:
Neo 70s Rock with a nice prog flavor sprinkled with some 80's metal

9. This is a tough question but a very real reality, Is your band actually talented or just popular?

Many bands make it with a cliche or publicity stunts etc. Would you accept fame even if it was just because of being the “in” thing or is it actually important to you that you gain favor with talent?

That's not easy to answer in deed,
I'd like to say I myself am OK as a multi-instrumentalist, quite good as a singer,

the drummer for example is just amazing, totally precise, very musical, the Hammond guy is a total genius, and he plays a mean piano, too, the guitar player is as close to perfect as you can get, he always knows exactly what is needed for the song,

so there is quite some talent in this band, yes, and I think this is in deed very important, otherwise we would not be able to create this kind of music.

Everybody wants to be famous, but I think you'll have to be able to back it up with some talent.

10. Tell us what to expect from you live. Nothing is more boring than watching bands stare at the floor and bob their heads to music nobody but the band knows. What can your band offer in a live setting that people will remember?

As of now Starquake is a studio project, so no live gigs are planned for the near future,

but IF we were to ever go on a stage you can expect us to explode and give you a show as well as great music. All of us have live experience from other bands, we know how to rock a stage ;-)

11. What releases have you put out, when will we see something new?

Starquake has released two albums (the new one has been released just one week ago),

so the "something new" is already here, plus we have a whole lot of riffs and ideas for a follow up album, so as soon as we find time to finish those ideas, make them into songs and record them, you will see a third Starquake album in the not too distant future.

12. If you have videos where can we see them?

There's a lyric video for our song "Starquake" and a trailer video for the current album "Time Space Matter", you should be able to find them on YouTube, another lyric video should be online soon, and we're thinking about doing another "band" video for even another song.

13. Everybody has Bandcamp, ReverbNation, Soundcloud, etc

Why do you think this is so important? Doesn't it seem like everyone is giving everything out for free?

It's OK to give SOME tracks out for free, but not everything!
Bandcamp for example is cool, cos you can set it up for the customer to pay their own price, and it's a direct band to fan sale, you can actually interact with your fans, something you can't do on @m@zon or @ppleMusic or similar shops.

14. Best moment of your career so far?

signing the deal with PureSteel Records

15. Your message to the fans?

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!

Bonus Question who do you bring back?

Dime, Cliff, Dio, Lemmy, Randy

if it has to be one of those: Dio or Cliff,

if I get to choose my own: Freddie Mercury!