CHRISTIAN HAYES is in a good mood. The band he fronts, DARK STAR, are quickly picking up a fanbase supporting their mates, Ultrasound, on a nationwide tour. And with the album 'Twenty Twenty Sound' and the critically acclaimed 'I Am The Sun EP' already under their belts, he has every right to be.
(Words by David Wood)

After forming from the remnants of their previous band, the 'drug induced implosion' that was Levitation, Christian and his bandmates, DAVID FRANCOLINI (drums) and LAURENCE O'KEEFE (bass/vocals), decided that enough time had been spent on the dole, and that with a mutual musical conection between them it was time to get back into a studio. Christian explains, "We gradually tied up all the other loose strands of work we were doing and decided to concentrate on this, 'cos it's more fun than anything else. It's the music thing that we have between the three of us."

So, in 1997, Dark Star were formed. Getting signed was no big deal either...
"The thing about getting record deals is it's all about meeting peole who you like, who you think you trust and who understands you. We were in the process of gretting a publishing deal with Warner-Chappel, and the person who was working for them got head-hunted to work at EMI. And when she moved from there, the first thing she wanted to do at was sign us."

Their second release, the 'I am the Sun EP' could best be described as a traditionally pumping rock song, and contains the notable lyric, 'Jesus was my age when he got nailed'. So Christian, you're not religious then? "Religious? No, not at all! I'm an athiest."

One of the first things immediately noticable about the band's records is the apparent theme of the artwork. Christian explains. "It was done by an artist called Tom Phillips who we met, and really liked his stuff. He's a proper artist and has this studio in Camberwell/Peckham way, which is in this old house. It's been an on-going part of his work and called a humourman - and its basically and old Victorian novel that he found and he went through the whole book on each page pulling out poems and painting them, exactly like our artwork. It's hard to explain. I really loved this book, so we spoke to him and he was really into it so he did some stuff for us using our lyrics, and that's basically his style. And he actually chose the title for the record - he picked that out from the page of lyrics. So the title is down to Tom Phillips."

The album was also pretty easy to record. "We recorded it all live so basically we just got in there, set up and did what we always do and got the best take. It's the best way to record a record really. If you haven't seen us live you may not think that, but it's exactly like we play it - there's no overdubs. It's basically what we do, it's what we play."

Soundalike comparisons are almost too easy, and is a path that Christian prefers not to take. "It's really hard to define that because there's so many different elements that come from all of us, an I'm trying to be evasive, it's just that we're a very insular band. We tend to just get in a room, smash this stuff together, and go 'Well I don't know what it's like but I like it'. I mean you could say that there's bits in there that are quite baggy and there's bits in there like early PIL and stuff, which I can see that. I personally think that it sounds like Hawkwind and the Pixies, but everyone else seems to think that that's a daft assertion! There are definite influences in there from all our record collections, but they're hard to draw out."

Although Christian's principle instrument at present is his guitar, at school he was misled into learning the trumpet. "I just couldn't fucking do it!" he says. "It made my lips sore so I gave up. I don't know why the trumpet, I just think it was one of those things where the music teacher says right, you, Hayes, you learn trumpet. So I was like, 'Yeah okay?, I'll have a go at that!'"

The media that Dark Star create is a mixed bunch. Broadly, this can be split into the people who 'get it' and the people who don't. "The press isn't evil really, it's just one that's necessary. It is so reveered around the world and I think that a lot of it is actually pretty purile, badly written and fashion led. Which is dull but that's the way it's evolved."

What have you learnt by being in the band?
"I've learnt not to be too precious and to let things go. Most of the things you're worried about, most people wouldn't care or wouldn't recognise, and so to relax more. We could of spent so much more time on the album and made it about 5% better. But that wouldn't have been the point."

So what exactly is the point? Well, it could be the biting lyrics. It could also be the density of the music that these three people somehow manage to create. But more probably, it's the energy between them summons up something greater than the sum of its parts. And that'll be Dark Star.

back