AS THE WARRINGTON FOURPIECE RELEASE THEIR FIRST ALBUM IN SEVEN YEARS, FRONTMAN JAMES WALSH REFLECTS ON THEIR CAREER AND TAKES US TO A PLACE WHERE THE WILD THINGS GROW...
DAN BIGGANE
Starsailor make an epic return with their uplifting new album Where The Wild Things Grow on 22 March. Formed in and around Wigan at the start of the millennium, the indie stalwarts released four LPs, Love Is Here in 2001, Silence Is Easy (2003), On The Outside (2005) and All The Plans (2009), before going on hiatus.
“When we decided to split up, we were in quite a bad place,” admits chief songwriter and vocalist James Walsh. “It wasn’t that the relationships between band members were bad, we were all just a little bit jaded with the industry and felt like we were on a kind of downward trajectory. Well, not even heading downwards, just sort of treading water and not really getting anywhere. When that reality hit, it was quite demoralising.”
Seven years on from fifth LP All This Life, the group – completed by bassist James Stelfox, Barry Westhead on keys and drummer Ben Byrne – are set for the next chapter of their story. “It would be very difficult for us to reach the heights of what we’ve done before,” says Walsh, “but if this album could characterise 2024, then that would be a great thing for us.”
Tell us about the making of Where The Wild Things Grow and how you felt before regrouping in the studio.
We worked for a couple of days with Rick McNamara of Embrace, who recorded our last album, and it felt like we were on to something. Once Townsend Music heard the tracks they immediately jumped on board and that was a big motivational factor to turn this handful of demos into something more cohesive. I guess there’s always a nervousness before recording. I’d been sitting on these ideas and wondered what the rest of the band was going to think of them. Luckily, they found something in all of them that we could develop. It would be quite a blow if the rest of the band, or even one member, said they’re not really feeling it.
What does Richard McNamara bring to the Starsailor table?
He’s first and foremost a great guitarist, so it’s amazing to have him there for the rockier moments on the album. He’s also a brilliant producer and it feels like he’s the fifth member of the band. He’s very creative and open with our ideas, so it feels very collaborative. Rick wasn’t a
