Minor Stars Vault

ericstudio.jpgFor years I’ve been encouraging Eric Wallen (the heart and soul of Minor Stars and My Dear Ella) to let the world have a listen to his impressive collection of song idea tapes and demo recordings. We’ve been talking about creating an online “vault” of demos and bonus material for so many years that Jack White had time to telepathically steal our ideas and launch his own version.

Well, the time has come and the Minor Stars Vault has been unlocked and launched into cyberspace at long last. Here’s Eric’s announcement and the first two offerings:

The Vault will put on full display the underbelly of Minor Stars and its members. Demos, riffs and jamz from practice, live videos, old abandoned songs, rough mixes of the latest song we’re working on…the stuff that might not otherwise see the light of day but that is often the most interesting and exciting. Anything goes.

Our goal is to add a new Vault post every week. In addition to offering up cool content, the Vault is meant to keep us focused and dedicated to writing and recording music regularly, and to loosen up the stranglehold that I’ve (Eric) always had on material I haven’t considered to be in its “final” form. I’m dropping all that. It’s never gonna be in its final form, or it already is and I don’t know it yet. But it really doesn’t matter, and now it’ll be in the Vault for all to hear.

<a href="http://minorstarsvault.bandcamp.com/track/holy-fake">Holy Fake by Minor Stars: Vault</a>

<a href="http://minorstarsvault.bandcamp.com/track/intro-music">Intro Music by Minor Stars: Vault</a>

Music Spotlight: My Dear Ella’s Blonde Baby

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One minute I’m home winding down in my PJ’s and the next I’m wearing a blond wig, standing next to Eric Wallen, and head-banging to a Black Sabbath cover band.

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That can happen on Halloween in Carrboro, NC. Of course, Eric’s hair is the real rock n’ roll deal, and he’s known all about town for that and for being the creative force behind the bands Death of the Sun and My Dear Ella.

For this week’s Music Spotlight, we’ll pay tribute to both Eric and blond hair by traveling back to yesteryear and the My Dear Ella mellow-groove masterpiece, Blonde Baby. This super-chill tune was recorded at the legendary Music House, back when MDE was a four-piece, all of us housemates. I’m playing bass on this track (although I was merely mimicking the original MDE bassist, Bill “Hussein” Dechand), along with Eric on guitars and vocals, Doug White on keys, and Jeff DeWitte on drums.

Grab the mp3 below, pop it in your iPod, and get mellow. It’s free, so next time you see Wallen out on the town, buy him a shot of Jägermeister.

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Blonde Baby.mp3