Ringo Deathstarr

RINGO DEATHSTARR
Interview by Alexander Laurence / Photo by Angel Ceballos

Ringo Deathstarr is one of the best new bands this year. They have a new album out called Colour Trip. The line up has changed since their beginnings in Austin TX in 2005. The latest version of the band includes Elliot Frazier (guitar/vocals), Alex Gehring (bass/vocals), and Daniel Coborn (drums). They have made some cool videos. They made a buzz at SXSW this year. I caught them on a tour with Trail of Dead.

AL: You are over at KXLU right now?

Elliott: Yeah. We were supposed to guest DJ on KXLU today. When we pulled into the security booth at the college. We drove up from San Diego and were hung over. Daniel got car sick and we had to pull over and he threw up. There was a narrow lane and the van is very big. I hit a pole and the security guys had to call up for reinforcements. They made us get out of the car and they questioned us. I didn’t realize it was a crime to puke. So they wouldn’t let us in there.

AL: You also played with Dandy Warhols? How did that go?

Elliott: It was at an early stage of the band. It’s a bummer that we couldn’t play with them right now. We are a lot better now.

AL: Have you been to Japan?

Elliott: We have been there twice. We are going back again in July.

AL: When you hear the name Ringo Deathstarr, you think of Brian Jonestown and Dandy Warhols: bands that have a play on a name. Did you think of any of any other names for the band?

Elliott: No. It was a bother. When you start a band the last thing you think of is what to call it.

AL: There is this other band callled Gringo Starr, and there’s you. Do you think Ringo Starr will send you a cease and desist letter at any point?

Elliott: If he was going to do that, he would have done it by now. His granddaughter has our album. Our old manager knew her. She had our album and she liked it. Gringo Starr is from Atlanta. We played a show with themk in London in 2009. I think they are still around.

AL: In an average day, what pisses you off? Sound guys?

Elliott: Yeah. I almost got in a fight with a sound guy. He was getting in my face. He was getting ornery. He was kinda like a thug. There was a bunch of feedback and the speaker was behind the microphone.

AL: When did you record Colour Trip?

Elliott: We started recording it in the summer of 2009. We didn’t have a label yet. We financed it ourselves. We would record a few songs at a time, and by the end of 2009 we had 30 songs recorded. It was supposed to come out on Club AC30. It kept on getting held back, and the record finally came out this year 2011.

AL: How do you write the songs in the band?

Elliott: I have been in the band the longest so I wrote most of the songs. Now that it has been the same band for a while we work together al the time. Alex recently wrote a new song. She had a melody and we worked on it together. I watched a movie and wrote some lyrics based on the movie.