The death of a Starfucker
Portland’s premier rad-rockers Pyramiddd party on with Susana Pearl.
Hell hath no fury like a blogger scorned. When Portland’s former Starfucker decided to cast off the moniker ball and chain that had been holding them back in order to become Pyramiddd, the musically credible but cliquey local online press were scornful. “Portland electro-rock band Starfucker are changing their name so they can really ‘make it’ in the music world,” sneered The Stranger, and the first commenter on the Portland Mercury’s story simply said, “And…this band is over. Poof.” Hey, at least they didn’t call themselves Rad Stewart, one of the mooted options.
“It wasn’t so much that we got asked to change it,” said Josh, the guitarist and originator of the band. “We didn’t really like the old name anyway.”
“Josh just started it as a joke and we didn’t expect it to go this far,” adds singer and decks man, Ryan. “It’s like getting married to your friend. Or getting married at all! It’s a joke that went too far.”
The band laugh knowingly. This seems like a story for another time. For a band who’ve successfully broken out of the bedroom only to have success denied to them on account of their name, it’s hard not to feel indignant on their part for the amount of nonsensical “sell out” shit thrown their way from self-righteous bloggers, particularly when they all keep day jobs and live off food stamps when not plying their wares as a goofily fun electro pop band with a neat line in the good bits of MGMT and of Montreal’s less psychotic moments. Oh, and aerobics gear and drag.
“We just like to be silly and not really serious on stage, to have fun and wear stupid things that we wouldn’t ever normally wear!” drawls Shawn.
“It just feels like a good opportunity to wear a dress if you ask me,” adds Josh.
Jupiter, the EP that made for the last release under their old name, bounds psychotically with the nervous exhilaration of having necked a few too many Pro Plus whilst samples of Alan Watts’ plummy British neo-Buddhist philosophies tease with the promise of some strange other world. Live, they’ve got that same potent vibe as a !!! show, springing gaudily back and forth whilst Ryan leaps into the crowd to face off with the audience during their cover of ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’.
They’re coy about the release date and machinations of its follow up – “probably in the middle of 2010 sometime,” says Ryan.
“We don’t want to rush it, that’s for sure,” adds Shawn. “The last records were pretty rushed, we just want to take our time and make the best album we can.” Although it’s apparently “darker musically,” there’s no chance of it becoming the “mellow sad bastard music” of their Josh and Ryan’s previous band, Sexton Blake.
“I don’t even like to go see live shows very often unless it’s a friend’s band or someone I really love, and I feel like if you’re bored of a show then just dancing can make it more fun, so that’s what Pyramiddd is, it’s more fun to dance even if you’re not into the music.”
You might have noticed that Pyramiddd are pretty into having fun, and if that comes at the expense of riling a few po-faced bloggers into disowning them, fuck it. We’ll have ‘em.
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