http://slyoyster.com

Portland’s off-beat dance/pop act Starfucker has come to the realization that their band name is hindering them from getting bigger than they are. There’s the whole problem with not being on the radio or not having their CD sold in certain stores, ad naseum.

And so they have decided to change it, which means a few things: 1) fans will get to pick their new name, 2) It won’t be nearly as awesome as the name they have now, and 3) Probably best to snatch up some Starfucker merchandise before it becomes gone forever.

I get the move, but part of the band’s appeal, aside from the catchy music and great live shows, was their ambivalence towards any sort of success — they gave themselves a difficult band name, wore goofy costumes to their lives shows, etc. 

The band released a statement today explaining the plan: “The truth is we never thought we’d make it this far with Starfucker. It started as just a fun little house-show project, but now that we have the opportunity to do this full-time, travel and continue making music, we don’t feel like the name makes sense anymore.”

The band has encouraged fans to send them ideas for a new name through its MySpace page. The fan whose idea Starfucker adopts will win a Starfucker concert at his or her house.

Starfucker will be touring through the fall before heading back to the studio with its new moniker. Tour Dates are as follows:

September
12 – Morrison, Colo. @ Monolith Festival
14 – Sioux Falls, S.D. @ Nuttys
16 – Chicago, Ill. @ Empty Bottle
17 – Urbana, Ill. @ Pygmalion Festival
18 – Pittsburgh, Pa. @ Brillobox
19 – Buffalo, N.Y. @ Mohawk
21 – Boston, Mass. @ Middle East Upstairs
22 – Brooklyn, N.Y. @ Bruar Falls
23 – New York, N.Y. @ Santo’s Party House
25 – Haverford, Pa. @ Lunt Basement, Bryn Mawr College
26 – Durham, N.C. @ Duke Coffee House
28 – Nashville, Tenn. @ The End
30 – Denton, Texas @ Hailey’s

October
1 – Austin, Texas @ Mohawk
4 – Phoenix, Ariz. @ Modified Arts
5 – San Diego, Calif. @ The Loft
6 – Los Angeles, Calif. @ Echo
7 – San Francisco, Calif. @ Bottom of the Hill
9 – Seattle, Wash. @ Vera Project
10 – Vancouver, B.C. @ Biltmore Cabaret

I realized how much I was going through Starfucker withdrawal.  They’ve been busy prepping their second album (and touring the country), which I’m upset Indy Week didn’t ask Josh about during their recent interview, and have been laying low on concerts around town.  Still, when you’ve seen a band like four or five times over the course of the year and they were one of your breakout acts in 2008, it can get lonely without them.

The followup record is an EP or mini LP named Jupiter, which is set to first be available on the Badman Recording site, and general retail on May 5.  It’s only about 25-minutes and 10 songs of the band’s favorite live tunes, set to acetate.  Do bands still record on acetate?  No, no they do not.

Starfucker – “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (Cyndi Lauper cover)”

This past week has sucked unholy hell.  It’s tough not being able to do anything for something you put so much effort in.  But basically this week has been a wash, so I hope ya’ll will still stick around.  We’re probably going to stay in tonight and catch up assorted stuff.  The good news is that our week was significantly better than John McCain’s. 

Man, that was just brutal to watch wasn’t it?  (randomly google things like “John McCain’s bad week” and there are stories posted about the week that should have ended his presidential bid going back to April 2008)  It would be really funny if it wasn’t possible for him to be president.  I say this as someone who’s scared of what that would be like.  Not scared of a Republican president, but John McCain specifically.

So much happened this week, it’s hard to keep track of it all.  So what were the highlights?  I dunno. Nothing really pops out at me early this morning. I totally dig the new Jack White and Alicia Keys Bond Theme.  It’s different, but kind of cool. And certainly better than Chris Cornell’s theme song and for that matter everything in the Pierce Brosnan ouevre.

We woulda had more thoughts contained here within, but again my stupid hosting company (which has now taken the top spot on my shit list even ahead of the stupid bearded McLovin look alike hipster who felt it necessary to rock out to his heart’s content at the Starfucker show last night even though a) there was no room to dance unless he was trying to grind up on me and b) he looked apallingly ridiculous doing that weird indie rock white man’s overbite/rave style mashup and c) the cute girl you were with almost certainly did not go home with you despite your best efforts) doesn’t have their shit together and the majority of this post, i.e. all of it, was lost due to a server malfunction this morning. Of course they told me the problem has been fixed about three times now.

Honestly, I am a mild-mannered person bordering on comatose, but right now there is so much rage boiling inside of me, that I pray for everyone in my life to not set me off. It almost happened while driving to work between sitting at a train crossing for 25-minutes and getting cutoff by some asshole in a Porsche.

Deep breaths.

So I’m still alive, sort of.  It’s been grueling going to shows and work and pretending to maintain this whole blog thing.  I should, when time allows tomorrow morning, have some awesome video for you guys.  Over the past two days I’ve caught some great bands and made some nice discoveries.

However, there is much to hate about the festival and that all stems from the planning by the Willamette Week.  Twice now, I’ve bolted concerts to go to another location and twice have been met with long lines and the inevitability of disapointment.  On Wednesday it was making a break for the Mogwai show at Roseland Ballroom after being slightly disappointed by the lineup at Berbati’s Pan and last night it was leaving M. Ward midway through his set to see Starfucker and Deerhunter across town at Holocene.

Of course, not knowing anything about Holocene (cut me some slack I just moved here) I assumed because Deerhunter was playing there that it had to be a large venue, right?  That’s a good assumption to make.

I was met with looooooooooooong lines both times.  Last night was especially crushing because both Starfucker and Deerhunter were high on my list of shows to see, though I never imagined that they would schedule Portland’s most popular local band and one of the most popular festival bands back to back in the tragically tiny Holocene.  But this is Portland and that’s what happened.  Seriously, there’s something askew about this town and one day I’m going to put my finger on it.  The whole Deerhunter episode is indicative of that, but I’m not quite sure how it’s connected to long lines at coffee shops and waiters who could care less about serving you and buses that run whenever they want.  I know it’s all connected somehow.

You could hear the grumbling from people in line about why on god’s earth would Deerhunter be playing Holocene, especially given that the Wonder Ballroom wasn’t being used. One guy jokes, while leaning up against garbage cans, “Now this is how I imagined my night going” and another girl, upon seeing the monstrously long line said with utter defeat, “Can this day suck any more?”

Sucky for sure.  Still, I got to see No Age at the Wonder Ballroom and they totally rocked my socks off.  I didn’t know much about them accept for reputation only and shit, those two guys played louder and more furiously than I was anticipating.  It was just an hour of high-tempo, hard hitting music.  Battles followed them up and it’s safe to say, I can appreciate the band for what they are, but not my cup of tea.  I thought, perhaps they would sound better live but no.  Better on the record.  They are a band that’s good in theory, but again it takes a special person to love the sort of mathy-prog-rock that sounds like smurf music on acid and I’m just not that special.

We’ll have more in depth looks at the bands tomorrow. As for tonight we’ve got Britt Daniel of Spoon going solo acoustic.  Well, I’m not positive about the acoustic part but definitely solo.  And then Built to Spill performing their album Perfect From Now On in its entirety.  Then, busting ass to the Crystal Ballroom for Lackthereof, John Vanderslice and Vampire Weekend.  Maybe.  I still really wanna see TV on the Radio, but I’m not waiting in any more lines.  If that happens than I’m putting the entire city of Portland on notice.