Star64 - Q&A

Below is an email from Bob Whelan to Angry Salad fans explaining the breakup of Angry Salad and formation of Star64:

Dear Everybody,

Sorry we haven't been in touch much lately. A lot has gone on and we haven't said a whole lot about it because we wanted to see how it would play out. So, here's what's up:

As of August 1st, Angry Salad, as you know it and we know it, is no longer. At the end of last year America On-Line merged with Time Warner, who owns our parent company Atlantic, who owns our label Blackbird. The accountants at AOL went to each of the departments at Time Warner and told them they needed to cut X amount of dollars so the AOL stock price could be bumped up a little bit. They went to CNN and fired a bunch of people, went to Time magazine and fired a bunch of people, and then they went to the Warner label group (of which we're a part) and fired a bunch of people there, though the industry word was that "there would be no creative cuts". True, we as a band weren't fired, and we as a band have a contract for our next album, but all but two members of the Blackbird/Atlantic staff were told to clean out their desks. That left two Blackbird people to stay on at Atlantic, but they were given no power. In the words of one of them, they had to "hang their balls outside the door of the Atlantic office." Sounds painful...

So, there we were with a signed contract for our next record, no label people to help us promote it, and lawyers telling us to get ready to sue. All the makings of a great "Behind the Music" - the only thing missing was sex, some great rehab stories, a car wreck of course and a couple million
selling albums.

Angry Salad was a pretty special band (for us anyway). We had a great run. The band played in just about every state of the union, had incredible fans, and more fun than anyone should be allowed to have. Plus, we still get to hear "The Milkshake Song" once every two hours when we're shopping at KMart or at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia or on the Rush Limbaugh show (?).

We're incredibly appreciative of all the support everyone gave us along the way - you know who you are, and we promise to write back to your e-mails before the calendar year is over.

It's not the end of the line for the music that was Angry Salad, though. Fear not.

Hale is headed to business school this fall, Alex will continue to do that voodoo he does on guitar on the east coast until he inevitably heads to Los Angeles, and Brian, Bob and Anthony (who filled in for Hale this spring on drums) have started a new project called Star64.

So, if you liked Angry Salad, you'll like Star64. It's more of the songs that Bob wrote and many you'll recognize from tours over the past couple years. It features Bob, Hale, Alex and Brian in the studio plus a number of other friends we brought in to make it sound great. Some of the songs are the best the lads ever did.

Star64 will have a web site up with sound clips for all ten of the songs that will be on the album "You May Be Beautiful," which will be in limited release in late September/early October. The album will be available on-line and at limited retail outlets. We'll get you as much information as we can as we get it and encourage you to pass it on to any of your friends who may have fallen
off the mailing list or just want a great album. We've also made an MP3 available of the song "You May Be Beautiful" so if you can't wait...

Anyway, we know a lot of you have a lot of questions and we'll try to answer some of them right here:

Q: I saw you guys on the Cowboy Mouth tour and you played a song about the woman from "Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire." Is that going to be on the next album?
Kelly -Birmingham, Alabama
A: Dear Kelly, Yes. That song is called "You May Be Beautiful" and will be on the Star64 album. A lot of people call that "The Darva Conger Song". We figured we'd make that one the first MP3

Q: Where and when will I be able to get your next album?
Rob -Watertown, MA
A: Contact our manager, Adam Lewis, and maybe he'll hook you up with a copy.

Q: Dear Bob, Is your tour manager Jim Dand gay?
Dave - NY, NY
A: Dear Dave, As far as I know, although Jim is a remarkably neat, handsome, well groomed, single man in his early thirties, I believe that he is straight. I'm not one to stereotype, but I did point out to Jim when he was in a phase where he insisted on wearing a black leather Greek fisherman's hat, riding chaps with the seat cut out and no pants on underneath along with a neatly trimmed mustache that I thought it might cut into his chances with some women.

Q: Why did you call the new band Star64?
Adam- Boston, MA
A: Umm, all the good names were already taken - and the web site www.star64.org was available. It kind of came about accidentally when Bob was sitting on his cell phone and inadvertently dialed *64 which in Massachusetts gets you the State Police emergency line. Whoops.

Q: Are you guys still alive?
From about fifty different people
A: Yes. Again, sorry we couldn't talk about this too much. There were a number of things we weren't able to discuss for legal reasons, etc.

Q: What song will you release as your first single?
Brian - Fairfield, CT
A: Not totally sure. We think the song "If there's a God" might be all right; the song "You May Be Beautiful" has been well received but it does have a rather noticeable obscenity in the chorus. Never stopped Eminem...

Q: I just found out about Angry Salad and I want to help the cause?
Melanie - Gainesville, FL
A: Dear Melanie, Thanks very much. Honored to have you on our side. The name's changed but the song remains the same so if you're still up for helping us we can use it now more than ever. It'll be particularly hard to get any radio love without the major label machine behind us (as if it
wasn't hard enough with it) so we'll need grass roots support more than ever. We'll keep you posted, but once you get the CD, word of mouth is invaluable.

Q: Will you guys be touring the west coast this fall?
Nick - Solana Beach, CA
A: Dear Nick, we have no plans to tour just yet. We'll try and do a couple shows here in the northeast. Maybe one in Portland, Maine. Maybe one in Boston. We're gonna take it step by step.

Q: What songs are on the album?
Mike - Albany, NY
A:
If There's a God
This Boy's Life
You May Be Beautiful
Overnight Drive (What Might Have Been)
Helen Keller
My Back Pages
Waited
Over Me
All Night
Wasting
You May Be Beautiful (radio edit - unlisted track)
(check out the Audio page for clips of these songs)