Starbenders formed in 2013 with guitarist and vocalist Kimi Shelter and bassist Aaron Lecesne.
“Kimi and I always knew we were going to make music together. So when our previous band broke up, she called and declared that we pretty much were going to start our own newer, cooler, better thing. It absolutely wasn’t a question; I was already in before she even called,” said Lecesne. Guitarist Kriss Tokaji and drummer Emily Moon rounded out the Atlanta band.
Starbenders describes their music as glitter punk/rock-and-roll with some “twists down dark alleys.” Lecesne is proud to call himself an Atlanta native and that their music is steeped in the creativity that the city has to offer.
One of the featured songs in this segment, “Seven White Horses,” is about good versus evil. Shelter says, “It’s about the tug-of-war that happens when we’re ready for something better, something more.”
She continued, “I was listening to a lot of Willy Nelson and Red Hot Chili Peppers during this time, so that was definitely infused into the main riff in the verses. I had this unusual visual of blood being injected into another liquid…the two mediums running into one another like white horses riding into the storm. We never traveled growing up, so I had a very romantic view of California. I saw it as a lot of people see it: the place of possibilities. The chorus sings ‘California’s calling, but you’ll never go,’ meaning your dreams are calling, but you’re choosing to stay sick, stay in the life that’s hurting you.”
