The Starks
The Starks are a cool Aussie band, Terry Gardiner from the band answered my questions, so read on.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Starks/351739004933178
1. When did you first discover music?
My old man used to turn the stereo up super loud on weekends and sit in the loungeroom and smoke. He’d be blaring The Stones, The Beatles, Neil Diamond or Harry Chapin…all sorts of stuff. You’d open up the door to the loungeroom and see two feet of smoke hanging on the ceiling as he sat in his couch singing and puffing away. He always said you had to be able to feel music through the floor. It always felt good.
2. When did you realise being in a band was the best way to waste time?
When my brother was in a band with the Brodie boys called Smokin’ Judas. They used to rehearse at our house and the walls shook for the second half of Sunday. I used to sit in the adjoining Dining Room and just listen for hours as they ran through all of their originals. It was the coolest way to waste away a lazy day ever.
3. Tell us about your first band (such as the name and anything special that you remember)?
First Band…I remember playing in a make shift band when I was 16. I went to an all boys school and we were asked by our girlfriends to go and play at their all girl school for some sort of special event. I remember we all headed off together except the singer because his girlfriend was 18 and drove him separately. He turned up late and couldn’t sing the first song because his nerves got to him and he had to stop and vomit on the way to the school. I ended up having to sing the first song from the drums while he held the mic for me until he got his strut on. Then he was fine. Oh, and my kit only had one leg so the bass drum kept rolling off to the right. Funny as… We were really bad. The girls loved it.
4. Tell us about the first show you ever played?
Just did!
5. Tell us about the worst job you’ve ever had?
I used to work at the Bristol Paint Factory in Glen Waverley. I had to pour paint into paint tins. You worked in pairs and you either moved cans under the spout and pressed the PAINT button, or you were at the other end of the conveyer belt putting lids on and lifting the tins off. It was great because it was casual work on holidays, but man…was it slow! The lunchroom was always the funniest time to be there, always crazy guys bored with their job just being funny…moving 160 x 20 litre paint tins not so much fun.
6. Who is your favourite band (and why)?
This changes pretty regularly. Overall, I’d have to say The Beatles because every album they ever put out was different to the previous one. So many various song styles and such diversity in the way they things. Its amazing to think they were only together for 8 or so years! It’s either them or Backstreet Boys…it’s pretty close.
7. What band should never have broken up (and why)?
Hmmm…good question. I’m gonna say Suede from the Dog Man Star album. Bernard Butler left the band and it all kind of changed after that. They still put out some awesome stuff but the depth was never quite there for me after that. He worked again with Brett Anderson in The Tears, which is a cool album, but the magic was gone. Then again, if they stayed together (pun intended…Stay Together is a Suede song), it might have all turned to custard.
8. What’s one album you play before you hit the stage (and why)?
We don’t really play anything before we hit the stage. We just discovered that we need to talk to each other as a united front before we go on, so we hit the stage as a band. We spent a few gigs making sure everything was set right for ourselves individually and we kind of took a few songs to hit our stride. Next gig I might put on All Night Long by Lionel Ritchie for the boys. We’ll see how we go.
9. Why do you love being on stage?
Because when it clicks with the band and you are a cog in the machine and the engine is running smoothly, there’s no better feeling. Recreating a song you’ve recorded live for an audience who are there with you is exquisite.
10. Tell us about your favourite tour memory.
Playing Castlemaine and just hanging out. It was just great to be away with the band and having time afterward the gig to just hang out. We’ve all got families which keep us busy and when we’re together, we’re either recording or rehearsing, so it was really cool to hang out and drink with each other.
12. What is the worst thing about touring?
Car smells.
13. What’s your favourite servo/gas stop purchase?
Those little pine tree air freshener things that hang from your mirror.
14. What’s one thing you can’t live without on the road?
Each other, too lonely otherwise.
15. What is your favourite place in the world (and why)?
I’d have to say the studio. Its just really cool to try and capture what you hear in your head as a recording. Jerome and I often thrash out ideas for songs in the studio too, so that’s probably my favourite place.
18. If you could, who would you trade lives with (and why)?
Beyonce` – no, Jay-Z would drive me insane. Kate Bush, you seen that chick dance?
