Stars (Canadian band)

History

All five members of Stars originally came from Toronto. Torquil Campbell and Christopher Seligman created the band’s first album, Nightsongs, in New York during 1999. For live performances, they asked childhood friend Evan Cranley to handle bass, and Cranley brought in Amy Millan. After a brief stay in New York, the four relocated to Montreal to begin their second album, Heart.

There they met Patrick McGee, who took over drums. Heart came out on Arts&Crafts, a new label that also worked with their friends in Broken Social Scene. During their first joint North American tour, members of Stars and Broken Social Scene regularly traded places on stage each night. The album reached the !earshot National Top 50 chart in March 2003 and earned strong reviews.

The band then rented a house in the Eastern Townships during winter, living together for six weeks to write Set Yourself on Fire. They recorded it at Studio Plateau in Montreal with producer Tom McFall. Positive reviews and energetic live shows cemented their place in Canada’s indie rock scene. Stars list influences as varied as Berlioz, Outkast, Paddy McAloon, New Order, The Smiths, Brian Wilson, and Momus.

They covered The Smiths’ “This Charming Man” on Nightsongs and The Pogues’ “Fairytale of New York” in 2005. Early on, many tracks featured guest collaborators from other indie acts. Worried that In Our Bedroom After the War might leak before its official release, Stars became one of the first bands to offer the album digitally the day after finishing it on July 10, 2007. The CD included a bonus DVD, the film Are We Here Now, directed by Anthony Seck, with interviews and live footage.

Campbell also played in the band Memphis, while Millan put out two solo albums: Honey from the Tombs in 2006 and Masters of the Burial in 2009. The EP Sad Robots arrived on September 1, 2008. Their single “Celebration Guns” served as the title track for the TV series ZOS: Zone of Separation and was given away free through a partnership with Moms Against Climate Change. Stars covered The Smiths’ “Asleep” for the charity compilation Sing Me to Sleep – Indie Lullabies, released worldwide in May 2010.

Their fifth album, The Five Ghosts, came out in June 2010 on their own label Soft Revolution in Canada and via Vagrant Records elsewhere. The sixth album, The North, followed on September 4, 2012, through ATO Records, promoted by a free download of the single “The Theory of Relativity” for email list signups. They played the 2013 Coachella festival and the Field Trip Arts & Crafts Music Festival, which marked the label’s tenth anniversary. No One Is Lost, their seventh album, dropped in October 2014, with Chris McCarron, formerly of Land of Talk, officially joining as lead guitarist after contributing to The North and touring.

Stars appeared at the WayHome festival near Toronto in summer 2016. On January 1, 2017, they took part in CBC’s The Strombo Show’s Hip 30, covering a Tragically Hip song for the band’s 30th anniversary. Their eighth album, There Is No Love in Fluorescent Light, produced by Peter Katis, was released worldwide on October 13, 2017, via Last Gang Records.

Musical style and influence

Stars are known for a style often called "beautiful, eloquent indie pop," built on rich instrumentation, polished production, storytelling lyrics, and gentle yet expressive vocals. Their sound shifted over time: the early album Nightsongs, on Le Grand Magistery, leaned toward electronic pop, while later records moved toward rock-based arrangements. This change coincided with the permanent addition of singer-guitarist Amy Millan and bassist Evan Cranley on Heart, released by Paper Bag Records, and drummer Patrick McGee on Set Yourself on Fire.

Their songs have appeared in numerous TV shows and films, including Queer as Folk, Alias, The O.C., Warehouse 13, Degrassi: The Next Generation, Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill, The Vampire Diaries, Skins, Continuum, Chuck, One Week, the 2009 indie film Tanner Hall, Studio C, and the 2011 film Like Crazy. Their music also appears in the software-based artwork I Want You to Want Me (2007) by American artist Jonathan Harris.