Jennifer Vincent: Please tell us more about each member of the band and their backgrounds.

The Fallen Stars:
* I’m Bobbo. (vocals & guitar) Raised on am radio until I discovered the Replacements and U2. I have mostly an ice hockey background. I’m a very good goalie and have been knocked out 15 or 16 times. I’ve done too much hitchhiking due to reading too much Kerouac and I try really hard not to break things on stage.
* Tracy Byrnes. (vocals & bass) Is the calm to Bobbo’s storm on stage. She grew up on the east coast but came into her own on the west coast. Tracy reads the thick books and secretly wishes she was a librarian.
* Gregg Braught. (guitar & vocals) Mixes his love of Queen & The Beatles with the energy of a funny car on the quarter mile. He’s one of those guys that looks more like himself with a guitar in his hands. Biggest influence – his dad, who got him into the Beatles
* Geoff Geib. (B3 & mandolin) The “serious” Fallen Star. Geoff considers himself the conscience of the group and often (though not always) steers us in the right direction. Also an accomplished screenwriter and movie extra.
* Brian Matteson is a double threat, mastering both drumming and recording. Bobbo and Brian are producing the next Fallen Stars album from our rehearsal room.

JV: How long have you been together? How did you form?  Give us some background.

TFS: We’ve been together for about 9 years or so. Some band members are more recent but the Fallen Stars are about 9 years old.

JV: What are your dreams and goals?

TFS: Just to keep doing it! Keep putting out great music. We’re not waiting around for some label to come up to us. Right now most labels can’t offer us anything that we aren’t already doing ourselves. We’ve toured, we’re on iTunes, we’re getting into music libraries, we’re doing it.

JV: Who are your biggest influences (musical and non-musical)?

TFS: These are all over the place. U2, Springsteen – they certainly show you how to have a career on their own terms with longevity. I have athletic heroes – Bobby Orr, Ray Bourque, Patrick Roy – folks who never give up.

JV: Who writes the songs and what are they about?

TFS: Bobbo & Tracy co-write almost everything. Then we bring them into the band, they put it through the spin cycle and it comes out way better on the other side. There are no bad ideas in rehearsal – we’ll try anything. Most songs come out of regular life and living it, whether it’s us or someone we know. You can’t help what comes out sometimes. We tend to write about people and everyday struggles and how to keep on keeping on.

JV: How would you describe your music?

TFS: We describe our music as “Americana Rock”. It makes sense once you hear us. We have some traditional ideas and instruments mixed with the rock and roll. There’s mandolin, dobro, pedal steel, accordion and then there’s big drums and distorted guitar.

JV: Are you signed? How many albums do you have?

TFS: We have our own label that we release music on. We are currently working on our sixth cd.

JV: What inspires you to do what you do?

TFS: I’m inspired by the love of doing it. Yes, it’d be great for it to be a big source of income but I’d play no matter what. Who wouldn’t want to strap on a guitar and play loud music with their friends?

JV: What is the biggest piece of advice you would give to a band that’s just starting out?

TFS: Well, I’d say that you have to love it to the point of wanting to do it for free and then I’d say run it like a business. We’re still working on that part.

JV: Finally, what’s your most recent band news?  Where can we see you next?

TFS: We are up for 3 OCMAs this year (”Best Album”  for Where the Road Bends. “Best Song”  for St. George’s Bank, and “Best Country/Americana Band”). We’ll be featured this week on Time Warner News. We’ll be in this week’s OC Register. We’re playing Saturday night (March 7th) at the Marlin Bar in Huntington Beach. Other dates are March 13th at the Mint in L.A., March 14th at the Plum Room in Riverside, April 3rd at the Viper Room, April 10th we’ll be in Greenwich Village, NY. We’re about one third of the way done with our new cd. We’ll be playing all over the U.S. this year and trying to arrange for a European tour hopefully by fall. Oh, and we won “Best Live Acoustic Band” at last year’s OCMA’s. We were finalists in a couple of OCMA categories a couple years in a row. We’ve been featured on KDOC’s Daybreak OC. We’ll be opening up for Dave Alvin at the Coach House in June.

www.thefallenstars.com
On MySpace: www.myspace.com/thefallenstars
On Facebook: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=749653335
On Twitter: @bobbofallenstar

In the photo on the front/at the top- L to R:  Brian Matteson, Geoff Geib, Bobbo Byrnes, Tracy Byrnes, Gregg Braught.  Photo credits Mike Rotman.

Soundcheck is a new music version of Artist Spotlight.  Do you know a band or musician that we should interview?  Let us know, here.