For the club in Hamburg, see Star-Club

Star-Club

The Star-Club was a music club in Hamburg, Germany that opened Friday 13 April 1962 and was initially operated by Manfred Weissleder and Horst Fascher. In the sixties, many of the giants of rock music played at the club. The club closed on 31 December 1969 and the building it occupied was...

.

Starclub was an early 1990s rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 band from England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

The band

• Owen Vyse - Vocals, guitar, Hammond organ, keyboards
• Steve French - Guitar, backing vocals
• Julian Taylor - Bass, backing vocals
• Alan White
  Alan White (Oasis drummer)
  Alan White is an English drummer, best known as being the drummer of the English rock group Oasis between 1995 and 2004, performing on four studio albums, two compilation albums and one live album. He joined the band in May 1995 after the band's original drummer Tony McCarroll was removed from...
  
   - Drums

History

Little is known about Starclub. Vyse, French and Taylor grew up playing music together in Maidstone in Kent known then as 'The Shoes'. They were heavily influenced by the beatles and formed a 4 piece band with Alan Ware on drums. Perhaps their highlight in this incarnation was playing to a sell out crowd in the local theatre called the Hazlitt. All 4 were bright students, attending Oakwood Park Grammar school for boys and Maidstone Grammar School.

They continued to play gigs mainly in london until Island Records offered them a deal. Their new name tipped its hat to the Beatles where the 'Star-Club' venue in Hamburg had become synonymous with the Liverpool band. Starclub's 1993 eponymous album was recorded with several different drummers, but Alan White

Alan White (Oasis drummer)

Alan White is an English drummer, best known as being the drummer of the English rock group Oasis between 1995 and 2004, performing on four studio albums, two compilation albums and one live album. He joined the band in May 1995 after the band's original drummer Tony McCarroll was removed from...

 was recruited as a full time member and would tour with the band that year.

After the album lost its funding, the band was dropped unexpectedly by Island Records

Island Records

Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...

. Owen Vyse would form the band Paint with Julian Taylor (currently of Wolfman), and Alan White (who would leave to join the band Oasis

Oasis (band)

Oasis were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. Originally known as The Rain, the group was formed by Liam Gallagher , Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs , Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan and Tony McCarroll , who were soon joined by Liam's older brother Noel Gallagher...

, and was replaced by Tam Johnstone). Paint recorded for the Sacred record label, but the distributor, Sony, pulled the single before its release for unknown reasons. Vyse has since played with Echo & the Bunnymen

Echo & the Bunnymen

Echo & the Bunnymen are an English post-punk band, formed in Liverpool in 1978. The original line-up consisted of vocalist Ian McCulloch, guitarist Will Sergeant and bass player Les Pattinson, supplemented by a drum machine. By 1980, Pete de Freitas had joined as the band's drummer, and their debut...

, and written and recorded with other artists for film and TV, including the movies Still Crazy and The Crush and the Channel 4 series The Young Persons Guide to Becoming a Rockstar.

Starclub's single "Hard to Get" was a radio hit in the United States, reaching #10 on the Billboard Modern Rock chart.

Reviews

"Britain's Starclub has a similarly expansive view of the pop-rock world, though its not nearly as fond of Top 40 novelties. Vibrant guitars, sweeping harmonies and an occasional funk groove
are more to its liking. Because lead singer Owen Vyse sounds a lot like Paul Rodgers, comparisons with the British bands Free and Bad Company are inevitable, but Starclub's new self-titled album (on Island) is eclectic enough to make the reference moot.

"Producer Chris Hughes, who's worked with Paul McCartney and Tears for Fears, helps create a spacious environment, allowing the band to display its considerable songcraft amid showering harmonies and alternately soaring and raunchy guitars on the album's catchiest tunes — the romantic ballad "Call My Name," the rousing weekend anthem "Hard to Get" and the sultry shuffle "Let Your Hair down." — Washington Post, Wednesday 3 March 1993.

Albums

• Starclub
• Produced by Chris Hughes
  Chris Hughes (record producer)
  Chris Hughes is a music producer and a former drummer for Adam and the Ants....
  
  

CD (CID9995):

1. "Hard To Get" (Owen Vyse)
2. "Let Your Hair Down" (Vyse)
3. "Call My Name" (Vyse, Steve French)
4. "Forever" (Vyse)
5. "All Falls Down" (Vyse)
6. "World Keeps Turning" (Vyse)
7. "Bad Machine" (Vyse)
8. "We Believe" (Vyse)
9. "The Question" (Vyse)
10. "The Answer" (Vyse)
11. "Pretty Thing" (Vyse)

Singles

• "Let Your Hair Down"

7" (IS532):

1. "Let Your Hair Down"
2. "World Like You"

12" (12IS532):

1. "Let Your Hair Down"
2. "Meditation"
3. "World Like You"

CD (CID532):

1. "Let Your Hair Down"
2. "Meditation"
3. "World Like You"

• "Hard To Get"

7" (IS540):

1. "Hard To Get"
2. "Only Woman"

12" Picture Disc (12ISP540):

1. "Hard To Get"
2. "Only Woman"
3. "Rules Of Life"
4. "Pretty Thing"

CD (CID540):

1. "Hard To Get"
2. "Only Woman"
3. "Rules Of Life"
4. "Pretty Thing"

External links

• [ Starclub profile on AllMusic.com]
• [ Starclub album review on AllMusic.com]