Sitting down to talk Mexican legends, Ants and hitting the UK, Starcrawler defy the jetlag and serve up honest truth of a band on the verge of something big.

The avant-garde, mind-twisting works of Los Angeles four piece, Starcrawler, have received praise from the high end of the musical spectre, I mean; it’s not anyone that can list Elton John and Ryan Adams amongst their eminent listeners.

In spite of the star-studded fan base, Starcrawler seem both down to earth and honestly a little tired as we catch up before their last London gig at The Shacklewell Arms.

“It’s been busy. We’ve been playing shows every day”, drummer Austin Smith admits whilst twirling his water bottle.

This string of UK shows is their first foreign trip as a band. Comparing to their usual LA crowd it’s hard to know what to expect on a new continent.

“Personally I was expecting it to be a bit cold and hard, but everyone has been really receptive at our shows… I think in general being in a band and going to a new audience, maybe prepare for the worst. So when it’s completely opposite it’s actually nice and rewarding”, Smith explains, and the rest seems to agree.

Their raw and theatrical performance style has definitely peaked the interest, as fronted by Arrow de Wilde channelling some frantic mad alter ego. The unusual combination of fake blood and a hospital gown, against Henri Cash’s rockstar moves certainly catch your attention.

“I just didn’t want to be boring”, Arrow admits. “I just got tired of watching the same type of band playing every show, and we just wanted to bring back the energy of what bands used to be like”.

“You’ve just gotta give it your all while you’re up there, even if you’re breaking your nose whilst doing it. You’ve gotta do that for yourself”, guitarist, Henri Cash exclaims.

It’s easy to see the passion, and though no noses are broken yet, you never know what might happen in the heat of the moment.

“We played our first show here in the UK and we were midway through a song. I went to stand on an amp on the stage, and it fell over. So, I just fell off the stage completely, and someone had a video of it that is really funny. I’ve been limping since that,” Arrow tells.

“I woke up with bite marks on my leg today, and the I realized she bit me last night,” Henri adds in.

Arrow: “I didn’t know I did it that hard!”

Between songs people are just like: “what’s going on?”

Starting out as a duo, Starcrawler are now an eminent four-piece. Henri takes it upon himself to break down the structure of the band:

“When it was just me and Arrow playing it was different from when Tim (bassist) came in. He brought the technicality. Austin is like a machine, always perfectly on time. So I can be sloppy and a little bit behind, and Tim can be sort of in front of that, and Austin holding the straight line. It gets this effect that makes the sound what it is. Then Arrow can be dancing in front of that like, messing with the crowd. And between songs people are just like: “what’s going on?”.

Though their live shows might stun the crowd to silence, Starcralwer are firmly based in an immense soundscape. Creating an almost dystopian layer of noise, there is a restless nature in their tunes that begs for more than just your casual half-arsed listen.

“We want to be as loud as possible,” Henri Cash announces. “Even if it annoys the soundguy.”

With an attitude ala The Runaways meet The Shining, inspirations are a pretty open guess when it comes to Starcrawler. When touching upon the subject, we are soon introduced to the Mexican legend of The Chupacabra.

“It’s a Mexican demon, almost like a werewolf”.

“That, and the spirit of the lamb,” Henri states.

“I like racoons better tho,” Tim Franco, bassist, states.

“Tim is a big fan of racoons because they have hands like people, but the spirit of the lamb guides us through the show.”

It turns out they even have a lamb mascot with them to every show. “It has its own case”.

Their debut single, Ants was recently released by indie beacon, Rough Trade, and turns out, the song has a pretty interesting story.

“I had a huge ant infestation in my house, and I left an old sandwich in my backpack over the weekend, and I went to school the next day and my backpack was covered in ants. My teacher had like – an antophobila or something – and he brought out raid and sprayed my backpack and I got raid all over me. I was embarrassed. It was supposed to be a joke song,” Henri admits.

“I was pretty taken aback when that was the one that they chose to release as a single. I was like “oh wow, I never thought so,” Arrow adds.

For the future Starcrawler are set to tour on their side of the pond before the exciting prospects of a debut album. “We’re planning on releasing our full length.”

Until then :

“Do your chupacabra research and listen to our single.”

Photos: Aurora Henni Krogh