Interview by Scott Swinford

Where are you from?
That’s kind of a loose question right now; we’re not really from anywhere. We’re from a van on the road. I spend half my time in Toronto and half my time in Montreal when I have any time. Torquil is residing in Vancouver when we currently have time off, and Chris Seligman lives in Montreal. When we all get together to rehearse, we meet in Montreal. That’s our home base. Evan and I play with Broken Social Scene when we’re not touring with Stars, so we don’t have much time to live anywhere.

Which members of the band play in Broken Social Scene as well?
When we tour with them we’re all in the band, you know. Chris plays French horn, Torquil plays trumpet, Evan plays trombone, and I sing. So, Broken Social Scene is a very inclusive band. So, if we’re opening or co-headlining with them then we end up being in the band, but if they are going on tour they generally don’t take 15 people.

How did Stars come together?
Well, I guess we all kind of grew up together, and there is a big community of people who played music. It just happened that Me, Chris, Evan and Torquil ended in that one band, and James and Emily ended up in Metric, and Kevin, Brendan, and Andrew ended up in Broken Social Scene. But we’re all part of the same community. We’re all on the same plan. Chris and Torquil were living in New York City where asked Evan to be the bass player, and Evan suggested that I be the female singer. So we all met in New York, and it blossomed into a love affair.

Do you enjoy touring and playing live?
Absolutely. Yeah, I love it all.

Do you have a favorite city or venue?
I prefer where it’s warm, so California, and Seattle… the west coast, definitely. I mean, there has been a big huff for us for a longtime. When the east coast, US, and Canada didn’t have a clue who we were, there was a lot of support from Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. So, I guess we feel a bit of our heart is there on the west coast, and it’s always really nice for us to come back to.

Are there any bands you enjoy touring with?
We’ve been very lucky to tour with friends; we met a great little band called the X-Green that we did a little tour with. The thing that is fun is the excitement of meeting new people. Generally the bands are really great, and fun to have a drink with. I don’t think I’d take any favorite. My band is my favorite band to tour with. It’s always an adventure, but we are on this tour with Apostle of Hustle, who is phenomenal, I can’t wait to go on tour with.

What is your song writing process like?
Generally Chris and Evan come up with a progression and melodies, and either Torquil or I will put lyrics over top and write music for the lyrics.

Who would you claim to be some of their musical influences?
Well I think we all have very different influences, personally. But I think that’s what makes us different than other bands, is that we are not all coming from the same floor. I think, you know Torquil’s, I’ve never really listened to The Smiths before I joined the band, but they are obviously one of his big influences. New Order is for Torquil. But I was much more of an old timer, haha, I listened to a lot of Willie Nelson and I liked a lot of Johnny Cash; I’m kind of a country girl. It was fun for me to join such a pop outfit because I got to use some of the songwriting skills that I have in country and apply it to different genre, which was very exciting. I think Christopher is really influenced by classical music. He’s been a French horn player since he was 8, and I think you can hear that in a lot of his string arrangements. I think that Evan’s also been really jazz-influenced. He’s a trombone player, I think you can hear that with the way he writes progressions. Also, his timing is not generally on the one; it’s always off, off the one. I find the 4 of us together kind of come up with something unique because we’re all bringing something to the table.

Any new bands or sounds you’re into right now?
There is a band from Toronto I really like called Silt And I’m really into them. We’ve just been really lucky because we’re surrounded by a lot of great bands here. People are listening to the Arcade Fire a lot around here.

If I’ve done my research right, you have worked on movie soundtracks, correct? Yeah, I just did a Canadian film called Siblings.

How does it differ recording a soundtrack compared to recording an album?
I think it’s a bit easier when you’re doing a film, because you have the chunk of it already. You’re trying to convey what the director has already presented to you. It’s not coming from just yourself, it’s coming from an actual piece of art that has already been made. So you’re just trying to fit into the piece of work, rather than creating your own thing from the very beginning.


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