Gary Flockhart: Starsailor are running a tight ship

Published on Friday 21 August 2009 09:28

THOUGH the cool kids still don't give them much due, Starsailor are living proof that an indie band can still enjoy good times without the love of NME.

They enjoyed huge success with their first two albums, Love Is Here in 2001 and Silence Is Easy in 2003, but a change of direction with 2005's On The Outside saw their sales and profile take a serious knock.

They appeared to have forever fallen from grace, but came storming back earlier this year, against the odds, with a more than creditable fourth album.

Frontman James Walsh admits the band has found the transition hard.

"It knocks your confidence a bit," the softly spoken singer says. "The thing that frustrates me most about our position is that we're caught between two worlds.

"We're not accepted into the Coldplay, Travis, Keane and Snow Patrol level of success, the housewives' choice, but equally, we're not accepted by the Arcade Fire, Elbow and Interpol cooler crowd either.

"It would be nice for one of those worlds to say 'Come and join us, it's nice here'.

"That's what you need for longevity," he adds.

They may still be waiting for the thumbs-up from indie's cool crowd, but they've at least taken giant strides forward with the release of All The Plans.

"I think we found ourselves in a big way with this album," says Walsh. "It goes up and down in different directions, and I think we've got a nice blueprint we can build on."

Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood features on the album's title track. He asked to appear on the song after striking up a friendship with the band while they were on tour together in 2006.

"It's quite like Oasis in parts, that song, with those big guitars. It's really loose-sounding as well, and who better to play on a song like that than Ronnie Wood?" says Walsh. "If you want a loose-sounding song, get The Faces' guitar player."

The singer, who has penned ten Top 40 singles including Good Souls, Alcoholic and Lullaby, reckons album track Boy In Waiting is among the best songs he's ever written.

"I'm so proud of it," he beams. "The simplicity of it is great. It's a joy to play songs that are that easy and completely untampered with.

"Sometimes with songs, you can be constantly speaking to the producer to work out different bits and arrangements, and other songs are built over time, but Boy In Waiting just arrived fully formed and it sounds exactly as it was in my head.

"When we'd finished it, it was a bit like 'Have that!'," he says.

If Starsailor can only keep on an upward career trajectory, it may not be long before their singer is able to say something similar to all the doubters.

Starsailor, The Picture House, Lothian Road, 7.30pm, Monday, 16, 0844-847 1740

BAGPIPES with attitude. Drums with a Scottish accent. A blazing rock band and a show so hot it carries its own health warning.

That's the gen on The Red Hot Chilli Pipers, who have been rocking the world from New York to Beijing with musicianship of the highest order and a passion for pipes that will leave you breathless.

Red Hot Chilli Pipers, The Picture House, Lothian Road, 7.30pm, Wednesday, 17.50, 0844-847 1740