Starsailor burst onto the scene in 2001 when their single Fever earned them the title of “Britain’s best new band”. The band was formed at Wigan and Leigh Music College by music students James Walsh (vocals/guitar), James Stelfox (bass), and Ben Byrne (drums).
Later saw the arrival of keyboardist Barry Westhead, who cemented their sound. In April 2000, after seeing their first London show (at the Heavenly Social) the NME wrote: “One live encounter was enough to convince many sceptics that here was a band who were genuinely special, blessed with a singer whose voice thrummed like an emotional telegraph wire, that swerved the pitfalls of indie melancholia and were clearly in love with rock ‘n’ roll and all its possibilities.”
After a five-year hiatus, the band reformed in 2014, enjoying triumphant festival performances at the Isle of Wight Festival (UK), Pentaport (Korea), Rock Zottegem (Belgium) to name a few. 2015 saw them tour the UK, Europe, China, Korea, and a co-headline tour of the US and Canada with Embrace.
Their return was swiftly followed by the release of their biggest hits through Good Souls: The Greatest Hits in 2015, which included two brand new tracks: Give Up the Ghost and Hold On.
The band were back in the studio at the end of 2016 and into 2017, resulting in their fifth studio album All This Life. AllMusic said the album featured a “perfect balance of emotional gravitas and buoyant lyricism”, while Mojo described it as “a winning fusion of power-pop, electronics and blue-eyed soul.” In addition to a UK and EU Tour, the band made a triumphant return to South America, playing shows in Argentina, Chile and Mexico.
Starsailor announced details of Where The Wild Things Grow, their sixth studio album, on Friday 27 October 2023. Produced by Embrace guitarist Richard McNamara, it will be released on Friday 22 March.
