was a nice surprise for all of us. The short answer is, that no matter how hard you work on your craft, in 2014 without
the “right” support team around your project you could just fade into obscurity.
JP: Philadelphia has some great venues. TLA on South Street, THE LEGENDARY DOBBS--also on South Street, THE
TROCADERO--an old opera house on Arch Street, just to mention a few. Of all of the places you have played, what is
your favorite?
Vex: We did a summer being the house band at Dobbs back in 2003, so it REALLY holds a special place in my heart
for that reason. We have headlined The Trocadero multiple times over the years and the staff is ALWAYS amazing to
us--and we adore that stage. The TLA is also fantastically accommodating and a GREAT sound system to boot, but if
I had to pick one…it’s DOBBS. I LOVE the little dirty Rock ‘n’ Roll rooms (laughing).
JP: If there was one place anywhere in the world you could play a sold-out headlining show--where would that be?
Vex: That’s the easiest question all day! BUDOKAN! That has sincerely been a goal of the band since our inception.
JP: Why should anyone take in a StarSkream show or buy one of your CDs?
Vex: I’m not hell bent on commercialism. More often than not, if you ask me nicely for a CD, I’ll gladly give it to you
after one of our shows. However, I take GREAT pride in our power as a live act. In a day and age where bands tour
with whole Pro-Tool systems to play tracks filling out their live sound--at a time where even the evil cover bands wheel
in a Pro-Tools engineer to make them sound EXACTLY like the records they are mimicking--we STILL have
StarSkream. We are literally one of the loudest Rock bands you will EVER hear, because volume IS still important.
We have a crushing rhythm section with pin-point accuracy that will shake the fillings out of your head. King Sam
with his Marshall full stacks and armada of Gibson Les Pauls is one of the last GREAT guitar heroes walking the earth
today. It seems prowess on one’s instrument has sadly become a thing of the past, but WE still respect the art. I have
a big mouth, but would like to consider myself humble, if even only in my mind. I studied at the altars of MORRISON,
OSBOURNE, MERCURY and ROTH…ALL in an attempt to accurately portray emotion, angst and ferocity every time I
touch a microphone. Everything about my appearance on stage is to heighten the listener’s experience. We’ve
performed in front of audiences who couldn’t even speak English, but 4 or 5 songs in, we’ve ALWAYS won them over.
StarSkream IS a live band.
JP: Our readers are spread out across the country. Where can they find and/or buy your music?
Vex: Frankly, I’m even a little surprised myself, but StarSkream is pretty much available EVERYWHERE online-iTunes.com, CDBaby.com, Amazon.com--just to name a few. TOIL Records even recently re-released our first EP
digitally for the first time since its release in 2004. We recently had some demos of music from King Sam and I
recorded in the mid 90’s converted to digital format, and have been toying with the idea of a box set release
sometime down the road. Officially, as StarSkream, we have the “Nothing to Save” EP, released in 2004, our first
full length “Fire & Alcohol”, released in 2008, and our most recent LP, “Some Flaws” from 2013.
JP: There has to be something that you want to tell the readers of ION Indie Magazine that I didn’t ask you. It’s your
time, so have at it.
Vex: Whoever is reading this interview, please understand that time is fleeting, more than you could EVER realize.
That being said, do WHATEVER makes you happy in this life. I recently read a PAUL STANLEY article leading up to
KISS’s induction into the R-N-R HOF, and some of his words sincerely inspired me. He spoke about how setting a
seemingly impossible goal for yourself takes great focus and discipline, because most people “in their right mind”