Starsailor interview

STARSAILOR BASSIST JAMES STELFOX TALKS TO ROB TOWNSEND ABOUT REGAINING LOST PASSION

“People have called us a second-rate Coldplay.”

Despite a career that has spanned over a decade, seen them release top-ten albums and singles and tour with the likes of The Rolling Stones, critics, it seems, are all too dismissive of Starsailor. “We came in the shadow of Coldplay and I think it did us quite a bit of damage,” bassist James Stelfox (or ‘Stel’ as he likes to shorten his name to) frowns when asked if he thinks his band gets the recognition it deserves. “I like Coldplay as people and I think their music is alright, but they really weren’t an influence on me or the band at all. We’ve sold a lot of records, over three million or something, but we do feel slightly overlooked.”

While some sections of the music press may choose to ignore them (“We’re too fat to be in NME. You have to have skinny jeans.”), Starsailor’s longevity is such that their fourth album, All The Plans, has just hit the shelves, and their fan-base will be happy to learn that it is a return to their roots. “The third record [2005’s On The Outside] was our heaviest, and I think it alienated some of our fans, so we decided to go back to what we know best, which is the ballads. We went back to working with Steve Osborne who produced our first record and it just took a natural shape from there."

All The Plans has been a long time coming; over three years in fact, but even though Stelfox admits that band relations hit a low on their previous album, the bassist says there was never any doubt they would return for another outing. “I think we lost a bit of our passion on the last record. We’ve been together since 1998 and we were with each other all the time for seven years. There was quite a lot of internal squabbling at one point and we just needed a break. We took a big chunk of time out with our families and away from each other.” The long break clearly revitalised the British quartet, both musically and in terms of the dynamic of their friendship. “It’s the most enjoyable record we’ve made to be honest, because we’d had nine months off from each other and when we went back in [to the studio] we were top mates again. We’d lay tracks down from twelve until eight at night, then we’d go to the pub round the corner and get pissed. It was just fucking fun being in a band again.”

With this newfound joie-de-vivre also came a new working practice, with the band heading into the studio with very little material written. “We went in with nothing really – just basic melodies and a couple of chords. We’d get a groove down and just work along it. Obviously there are songs on the album, like Boy In Waiting, which Jim [singer James Walsh] had already written, but a lot of it was kinda from scratch in the studio, like Stars and Stripes, which is just a live jam. I think the second take of the song ended up on the album.”

The release of All The Plans will hopefully see Starsailor head this way again later this year. “We’ve only been to Australia once and that was probably about seven years ago,” Stelfox says with a level of incredulity in his voice that suggests he can’t believe they never returned. “We were going to go when Four To The Floor was out but we never made it. We’re all pushing to get to Australia on this record. We’ve got a couple of friends in Sydney so it’d just be nice to see them.” Almost incidentally, he adds. “And we’ll play a few shows while we’re there.”