Starset
Visionary media collective STARSET have carved out a unique path as part cinematic rock band and part conceptual storytellers, weaving an intricate narrative through multiple mediums and redefining the concept of a truly immersive entertainment experience.
Led by enigmatic audio alchemist and PhD candidate Dustin Bates, the band have made it their mission to take fans on a truly integrated journey, not only through music but through video, AR-integrated performances, Marvel graphic novel “The Prox Transmissions,” and online experiences, blurring the lines of science, fact, and fiction.
STARSET’s debut Transmissions was a landmark album, selling in excess of a quarter million combined albums, streams and downloads, and propelled by singles including the unforgettable “My Demons” (which spent an unprecedented 43 weeks scaling rock charts). The band has amassed combined sales of over half a million copies of Transmissions and Fearless debut Vessels, over 100 million streams worldwide, and a staggering 1.4 BILLION aggregated YouTube views.
In addition to shattering convention on record, STARSET’s live “demonstrations” are slaked on that same alloy of ambition, technology and raw emotion. With over 300 shows logged to date, Bates and his helmeted-and-pressure-suited crew (bassist Ron DeChant, guitarist Brock Richards and drummer Adam Gilbert) have distinguished themselves touring with the likes of Breaking Benjamin and In This Moment, while igniting audiences on major US festivals including Rock On The Range. However, it was four planetarium performances in 2015 including Boulder, Colorado’s Fiske Planetarium and Long Island, New York’s Vanderbilt Museum Planetarium that brought STARSET’s live promise into laser-enhanced, telescopic focus.
With their release of their third album later in 2019, STARSET are poised to ascend into a new strata.
Xavier Adames (guitar, vocals) - Aaron Rosa (drums)
When it came time to choose the artwork for their fourth album Erase the Pain, Palisades landed on an image of the Ouroboros: an ancient symbol depicting a serpent eating its own tail, speaking to an infinite cycle of destruction and rebirth.
“The idea behind this whole album is that we all experience so much pain in life, but it’s always possible come out the other side and find happiness,” says Miceli. “You don’t have to be a prisoner to whatever’s happened in your past—you can choose to start over again, and become something new.”
The most thrillingly intense release yet from Palisades, Erase the Pain is pure catharsis in album form. To fully capture their raw outpouring of emotion, the New Jersey-based band joined forces with Howard Benson (the super-producer known for his work with everyone from My Chemical Romance to Kelly Clarkson to Head Automatica). Recording at Benson’s studio in L.A., Palisades pushed their sound to bold new heights, delivering an album built on brutal but beautiful riffs, wildly thrashing rhythms, and soaring vocals that relentlessly channel the hurt and fury within each lyric.
At the same time, Erase the Pain finds Palisades achieving a greater sophistication in their endlessly melodic take on post-hardcore. To that end, the band embedded the album with inventive flourishes like hip-hop-inspired beats, as well as intricate textures crafted with the help of Benson’s extensive collection of synths.
In a departure from their 2017 self-titled effort (an album created with a host of co - writers), Palisades wrote Erase the Pain entirely on their own, purposely bringing an emotional transparency to every song. On the title track, that unrestrained honesty takes the form of a darkly charged yet majestic meditation on “being at the ultimate low point in your life, and feeling like there’s no way out,” according to Miceli. On “War,” with its throat-shredding vocals and pummeling riffs, Palisades look at the damaging impact of addiction. “It’s about how people get so wrapped up in the things they do to try to numb the pain, they end up destroying their lives and hurting everyone around them,” Miceli notes. And on “Patient,” Palisades slip into a starkly arranged and quietly epic ballad about a doomed relationship. “It’s about being with someone who keeps going back and forth on whether they want to be with you, and how that can feel like sitting in the doctor’s office and waiting to find out if you’re going to live or die,” says Miceli.
Elsewhere on Erase the Pain, Palisades reflect on such matters as anxiety and depression (on “Run Away,” a beat-driven slow-burner penned by Elgar after suffering a panic attack on the road) and a friend’s thoughts of suicide (on “Fade,” a hauntingly
tender number that the band is reimagining as a piano ballad for its remix version). But despite its share of heavy-hearted material, Erase the Pain also turns glorious on songs like “Fragile Bones,” an irresistibly defiant anthem for staying true to yourself.
Throughout Erase the Pain, Palisades infuse each track with an unstoppable energy, revealing the powerful chemistry at the heart of the band. Friends since high school, Adames, Marshall, and Rosa played together in a series of bands over the years, and crossed paths with Miceli on tour in the early 2010s. Within a few months of that meeting, the four musicians teamed up to form Palisades and soon recorded their self-funded debut EP, which promptly landed them a deal with Rise Records. Making their full-length debut with 2013’s Outcasts, the band later completed their lineup with the addition of Elgar, who’d sold merch for Palisades back in their early days.
For Palisades, the most memorable moments in the history of the band all center on their live performance, including gigs in far-away places like Russia and appearances alongside legends like Black Sabbath at Download Festival 2016. “The shows are always really heartwarming,” says Elgar. “We just do our best to connect with our fans while we’re up onstage, and after the show we get to hang out with everyone. A lot of times people will tell us that our records have gotten them through breakups or even depression, which is always such a great thing to hear—it’s the best feeling to feel like you’re helping someone with your music.”
With the release of Erase the Pain, Palisades hope to deepen that connection with their fans, and encourage even more opening-up. “The anxiety of the world is so overwhelming these days, but it’s important to talk about what’s painful in your life, and that’s exactly what we’re trying to do with this album,” says Miceli. And as Marshall points out, the making of Erase the Pain was also incredibly therapeutic for the band itself. “This album helped me get through my own insecurities and depressive moments, and I hope it helps everyone else to realize that you don’t have to submit to whatever’s holding you down,” he says. “So if you’re going through some hard times and you’re doubting yourself, you can just scream along and sing along with all of us, and get back that confidence to take over the world.”
HYDE has also previously released 3 solo albums very successfully, released ANTI, his first new solo album in 10 years on May 3, 2019 to critical acclaim. Check out this features in Rolling Stone and on CNN.
HYDE wrote some of the new songs on “Anti” with Drew Fulk (Crown The Empire, Bad Wolves, Motionless In White) and Nick Furlong (Blink-182, Papa Roach, 5 Seconds To Summer, Diplo), amongst other producers. “Afterlight” and “Fake Divine” are 2 of those new songs. The album also features focus track “Mad Qualia” from Capcom’s video game “Devil May Cry 5”.
HYDE is known to frequently invite international artists as special guests onto his extensive Japanese tours, e.g. STARSET, IN THIS MOMENT, BUCKCHERRY, HIM, Gerard of MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE, APOCALYPTICA, and SIXX:A.M. to name a few.
A BRILLIANT LIE is an explosively-energetic alternative rock band from Orlando, FL.
Alongside relentlessly touring the US in support of their current record cycle, the band are working alongside reputable producer, James Paul Wisner (Paramore, Underoath, Hands like Houses) writing and recording their new material.
Having received airtime on many of the Southeast’s largest Clear Channel and college radio stations, they’re no strangers to the acclamation of the mainstream. Performing alongside the likes of Anberlin, Minus the Bear, Passion Pit and other renowned acts has propelled them to headline performances at the world famous House Of Blues, State Theatre, Freebird Live and numerous sought after music festivals including Sunfest, Florida Music Festival and Rocklahoma.
If they aren’t touring in a smelly van, they are probably out giving high fives. Catch A BRILLIANT LIE this year. The hype is REAL.