Stellastarr "Haunt" U.S.

Brooklyn hipsters hit the road with atmospheric sophomore CD As Stellastarr release their second album, Harmonies of the Haunted, and launch a U.S. tour this week, the Brooklyn indie rockers are looking back on what started their sizeable buzz: stickers . . . thousands of them. td>

"We decided we were going to have the biggest sticker campaign New York City had ever seen," says guitarist Michael Jurin. "So we plastered them on every cab, on every subway -- on everything."

That was five years ago, when Stellastarr -- Jurin, frontman/guitarist Shawn Christiensen, bassist Amanda Tannen and keyboardist/drummer/Lithuanian Arthur Kremer -- were playing their first show at the now-defunct Lower East Side staple Luna Lounge. They made their way to bigger venues like the Mercury Lounge and Bowery Ballroom. Eventually, in 2003, the band -- who met while studying at Brooklyn's artsy Pratt Institute and got their start rehearsing in Kremer's bedroom ("I'd stand on his bed and Mandy would sit on his dresser," Jurin jokes) -- got their breakthrough gig at Austin's South by Southwest.

"From there, NME caught wind of us," says Jurin. "And the next day, Carson Daly invited us onto his show, and we didn't even have a record at the time! Not too many people would put you on television without a label." Riding the buzz, Stellastarr released the three-track EP, Somewhere Across Forever, quickly followed by their 2003 self-titled debut. Last year, they played quite possibly their ultimate gig: opening for James Brown and the Red Hot Chili Peppers in front of a crowd of 100,000 people in London's Hyde Park. "We thought we'd heard noise before," Jurin says, "but, no, that was noise."

But after touring for two years behind their debut, Stellastarr took a few months to think about their next move. "We needed a head cleaning," says Jurin. "You come home, and your close friends suddenly have all these inside jokes that you don't get because you weren't around for two years. " The result was "more moody, more atmospheric" music, he says, such as the tracks "On My Own," a slow-building pop epic, and "The Diver," a sardonic track about "the demise of rock & roll celebrities."

Now the band members, finally re-accustomed to life in New York City, find themselves hitting the road again. "It's going to be odd to leave all our friends again," says Jurin. "They think you've moved on to bigger and better things, and you have to convince them you haven't!"

Stellastarr tour dates:
9/17: Seattle, Chop Suey
9/18: Portland, OR, Douglas Fir Lounge
9/21: Los Angeles, El Rey Theatre
9/22: San Francisco, Pop Scene
9/23: San Francisco, The Independent
9/24: Santa Barbara, CA, Velvet Jones
9/25: Solana Beach, CA, Belly Up Tavern
9/28: Dallas, Trees
9/29: Austin, The Parish
10/1: Atlanta, Loft at Earthlink Live
10/2: Orlando, The Social
10/4: Philadelphia, Theatre Of ! Living Arts
10/5: Washington, 9:30 Club
10/6: New York, Irving Plaza
10/7: Boston, Paradise Rock Club

source: rolling stone