The Wooden Stars: VLT Addicts

THE WOODEN STARS: VLT ADDICTS RETURN

Five or six years ago, Ottawa’s the Wooden Stars were one of Can-Rock’s hottest commodities. Michael Feuerstack, Andrew McCormack, Josh Latour, Julien Beillard, and Mathieu Beillard, had released three critically lauded full-length records, and their 1999 release, The Moon, had solidified their status as a group of Canadian indie rock’s most important players. In 2000, the Wooden Stars shot their stock through the roof by collaborating with friend and compatriot, Julie Doiron, on the appropriately named, Julie Doiron and the Wooden Stars LP. Doiron was just coming into her own in her post-Eric’s Trip career, and this record caught so much attention, and was such a leap forward, that they took home the 2000 Juno for Alternative Album of the Year. And then that was it. Doiron kept making lovely, successful records, and the Wooden Stars vanished.

“We had to hide for a few years,” explains Andrew McCormack. “Otherwise, there might have been too many people at our shows or buying our records!” Sarcasm aside, the Wooden Stars felt they’d hit a brick-wall, and that their music might not be of the commercially viable variety. Hit-and-miss shows and tours had soured the band, who, although they’d won a Juno, felt it could be a fluke and that maybe their energies might be better spent. Disillusioned, they took some time off. Side-gigs became a respite, (most notably Michael Feuerstack’s Snailhouse project), but McCormack is pretty vague on the exact whereabouts of the band for the last half-decade.

“Mike has been doing his solo stuff and touring with other bands, (Maritime, Kepler). Josh and Julien live somewhere in New Brunswick and make a living betting on the VLT’s. I can’t remember what I’ve been doing. Five years is a long time.”

Last fall, empowered by their “diminished expectations”, the Wooden Stars sighed a collective “fuck it!” and started playing shows again. Not surprisingly, they have been welcomed back by their brethren with open-arms. But, when you’ve made fans of folks like the Rheostatics, the Arcade Fire, and Hawksley Workman, you must have something beautiful to offer, and McCormack doesn’t see that they’ve changed much in the intervening years.

“We’ve got a little less hair now, but we’re still rocking the party jams.” Now it’s time to get a new album out, and for the task, they’ve turned to a quiet indie label phenom headed by former Inbred, Mike O’Neil. Zunior.com is a label for the artists through and through, one that allows fans direct access to the artist’s music without the regular industry riggamarol.

“We are working on a new record with Jeff McMurrich, (Sea Snakes, Constantines), and we hope to have it released late 2005/early 2006 through Zunior. Zunior.com is basically an entirely web-based label. It saves people the trouble of getting off the couch and going to the record store and then going home and ripping MP3’s. You can just stay on the couch, buy the MP3’s from Zunior and you are good to go. For us, it was a great way to make our record, and back-catalogue available to the world.”

The Wooden Stars will be making their triumphant return to Guelph on August 4^th. Check them out at the Ebar with the Bell Orchestre. $10 at the door. Find out why everyone already loves them. www.thewoodenstars.com

(originally published July, 2005. Echo Weekly. Kitchener)