It seems surprising to hear vocalist Mia Mendez say that her local screamo act, Art Star, counts rock icon Tom Waits and surrealist painter/novelist Leonora Carrington among its influences. But there is nothing even close to conventional about this righteously raucous band that includes guitarist Elizabeth Southwell, drummer Nate McKinley, bassist Katie Schneider and guitarist Joe Suthers.
Southwell told the City Paper that, in retrospect, this professional assemblage of like-minded musicians was inevitable.
“We’ve pretty much all been friends, or at least acquainted over many years of going to shows and the like,” Southell said. “So I hounded the others for a long time about starting a weird band, and here it is.”
Art Star’s collective ambitions were modest. “When we started out we wanted to write music that was abrasive but still accessible,” Suthers said.
Mendez said that “unrestricted” has always been the best way to describe Art Star’s approach to music-making: “It just feels like, what’s the point in telling ourselves what we can or can’t be, or can or can’t sound like?”
Steadfastly shunning mainstream concepts and concerns has led to the handful of tracks that surfaced on the group’s most recent EP, In Three Parts, which arrived just before the new year. The record is a time capsule of sorts for the individual members who created it.
“This one is special,” Mendez said, “because we all went through a lot of big changes in our personal lives throughout the course of writing, recording, and, finally, releasing it. A lot of loss and shedding skins. It’s strange to think how different we all are from the beginning of that process to now. Not bad or good. Just different.”
Southwell is especially pleased that the EP ended up having more of a darker and experimental tone than earlier efforts as that aesthetic fits better with her personal vision for the band. And whatever comes next for the eclectic ensemble, she does not want this endeavor to ever feel like a business.
“It’s most important to us to be able to contribute to a healthy and flourishing musical landscape,” Southwell said.
“We don’t have rules, and we’re not going for a specific sound,” Suthers said. “We’re just freaks writing the music we want to hear. If our songs resonate with you, you’re probably a freak, too. Congrats! Now go start a band of your own!”
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