Starlight Getaway Interview: Come Get Away On Your Very Own Starlight Getaway

Before coming together to form their current band, the five guys, who now make up The Starlight Getaway, were all a part of different local bands.

“[Vocalist and bassist] Christian Lopetz and [drummer] Erik Courtney had a punk band called Public School Casualty,” guitarist and vocalist Tyler Dumont said in an exclusive interview with FanBolt. “Eventually over time, more members and synthesizer were added, as well as a general shift in the style Christian started to write in.”

During their earlier years, the band was searching for a new name to compliment their new line-up and sound. After taking a suggestion from a former guitarist into consideration, the band emerged as The Starlight Getaway.

“It seemed perfect, so we kept it,” Dumont said. “We like to think of it as being a slogan that you would see on a billboard near the beach, ‘Come get away on your very own Starlight Getaway.'”

Dumont best describes the band as “if Say Anything, Motion City Soundtrack, and Fall Out Boy had a baby that also had influences in hardcore, 90’s pop, and everything in between.” Also helping to create that distinct sound is Ben Jimenez on guitar and vocals and Sean Bach on the synthesizer and keyboards.

While each member is crucial to the unsigned band’s success, Dumont says that it is Lopetz who writes most of their music and then the band creates and adds their own components to the song.

“Here’s the thing about Christian,” Dumont said, “he is always writing and demoing out songs constantly. We usually receive his new songs, pick our favorites and we learn them together and add our own parts in.”

Being together as a band certainly has its ups and down, but the boys tend to focus more on the positives. Dumont says that the best part of being a band is everything they are able to experience together.

“With each step that we accomplish, it’s very humbling and exciting for all of us,” Dumont said. “It’s all been amazing; we have kids in other cities singing along to our songs, and flew to Texas [in November] to record with Geoff Rockwell for our upcoming record.”

The guitarist says the problems that the band faces are not as bad as they seem.

“When we tour and something breaks in our van or when we have trouble finding a place to sleep, those are the things that tend to suck,” Dumont said. “But they’re still a part of paying your dues and growing together as a band.”

The Starlight Getaway has toured mostly around their home state of Florida, but plans on making their way to more parts of the country. They love playing live shows for their fans and they have a unique way of preparing for each gig.

“We actually have vocal warm ups that we do as a group before playing shows,” Dumont said. “They’re very similar to barber shop quartets, so we usually get funny looks from all the other bands that are just drinking and hanging out.”

Despite the faces that other bands may make, the members of The Starlight Getaway are always ready to put on a great performance for their energetic fans.

“The best part of playing a live show is when the crowd you’re playing for is genuinely amped up with you,” Dumont said. “You just get so pumped onstage that you feed off their energy and just go crazy.”

Other than performing, the power pop band spent most of 2009 preparing for their newest song releases. Since Lopetz was constantly coming up with new songs, the band had a tough time choosing songs for the best line-up on their upcoming CD.

“We would get new songs from Christian that were even better than the ones we already knew and loved,” Dumont said. “We kept getting into a mode of ‘Aw man, we should just record these songs!’ and since that happened a few times, we could never make progress. So once we decided on the perfect collection of songs to record, we made sure that we would not hear any new material from him for at least a year and a half of supporting this record on tour.”

According to Dumont, their new album titled My Dreams and Me be the band’s first real debut to the world and will showcase a sound that is distinctly their own. The album that was recorded over a two week period in November with producer Geoff Rockwell is set to be released in this spring. As the CD is currently in its final phase of production, the band is very eager to see their final results.

“[We] are still in the process of getting all the final mixes back,” Dumont said, “but what we have so far is amazing. What you can expect from this album is a whole new and evolved The Starlight Getaway.”

Dumont’s favorite song from their new album is ,”Sub Astrum Nos Sto Partier” because he feels it is a huge opener for the record and that it combines all the best elements of the band.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to release [the new album] through a label at some point,” Dumont said. “But either way, it is something that we can truly say we are proud of.”

Until “My Dreams and Me” makes its debut into the music world, fans can hear their music streaming from their Myspace page (myspace.com/thestarlightgetaway) or Purevolume page (purevolume.com/thestarlightgetaway). On those websites, there are links to iTunes and other websites to purchase The Starlight Getaway’s album upon its release in spring 2010.

Making an album takes countless hours of work, dedication and passion, which The Starlight Getaway is full of. Dumont says their passion is fueled by their constant involvement in the music scene.

“There is nothing like having music move you in some way,” Dumont said. “We always like to try to have that effect of other people who listen to us as well.”

If you find yourself still wondering why you should listen to The Starlight Getaway, Dumont has a simple answer to your question.

“I’d say people should listen to us because we aren’t trying to be a ‘flavor of the week’ kind of band,” Dumont said. “[We] want to appeal to the people who love music for all the right reasons. We make honest, heartfelt music and believe that is what matters in the end.”

Article By: Kimberly Gallagher

Official Starlight Getaway Site: www.myspace.com/thestarlightgetaway