Black Sand & Starless Nights is a concept that has been in existence since the summer of 2002 and has been an official project since the summer of 2003. The project began with Bill Kachersky on guitar, with not much more than a concept, a dream, some ambition and some songs he had written on his acoustic. By the end of 2002 / start of 2003, Bill came into contact with a bassist named Ferenc Helyes, they met through high school and through like minded mentalities coupled with similar influences and playing styles they joined forces to expand upon Bill's ideas based upon the band name. Feddy and Bill wrote roughly 3 songs together, and Bill had brought about 7 of his own pieces into the fray, Feddy learned fast and the two jammed almost everyday, every chance they could. By the summer of 2003 they were nearly inseperable as friends and collaborators, their vision had become one in the same and they were determined to seek out and recruit a drummer to share in their vision. A drummer found them by July of 2003 in the form of Michael Vassallo, an accomplished drummer and an old friend of Bill's who lived in the same town as him. Mike stopped over Bill's house one day when Feddy and Bill happened to be jamming out on some of their newer material, Mike sat in on the session, just listening, and decided to ask Bill and Feddy if they wanted to jam with him sometime. They agreed and later on that week found themselves in Mike's garage, playing their songs while he figured out drum parts to them. Mike's drumming style fit like a glove to Bill's guitar and Feddy was a balance between the two of them. Feddy lived a good half hour away from Bill and Mike, and due to transportation difficulties it became increasingly difficult to acquire Feddy when it came time to practice, so Feddy started to jam less with Bill and Mike, they in turn jammed even more. The times that Feddy was able to come around, he fell behind Mike and Bill more and more, simply due to the fact that he wasn't with them often enough in practice to keep up with them and their progression in working on / out songs, where Mike and Bill had completed songs, Feddy had still yet to even write a bassline to one, and no recording equipment was available to make a demo for Feddy to write on his own time to. Frustrations on all sides grew and were made apparent, and tensions mounted, Bill felt forced to pick sides between his old friend and older friend, and he chose to continue on with Mike and leave Feddy at least temporarily. This created a rift between the two of them that actually inspired a song that Bill wrote, Feddy came in one last time to play on the first demo, and to play a show at Club Krome for the Hellfest Battle of the Bands, they were very well recieved and they also had a guitarist Rob Wojcik play with them at the same show. Thanks to each player the show was a personal success to them all, even though they didn't win. Time rolled on and Bill and Mike soon were playing shows by themselves, and slowly working on new material while polishing up the already existing material. By 2005 they had gotten most of their songs down to a science and had gone through a major phase of improvisational jamming that stretched over multiple months, this greatly enhanced their connection as players in reading one another and understanding each other's instrumental voice, as it were. They carried out these improvisational jams under the false moniker "The Psychedelic Wombats." Some recordings still exist of these jams today, but most have been lost by now. The majority of these jams were held in a good friend of the band Pat Poblete's basement, Pat was going to school for audio engineering, and by the time May of 2005 hit, Pat was at the end of his schooling and was up for his final project. Pat chose to record Starless for his final project, specifically the track "Good Question" and asked Bill and Mike if they'd like to re-record it. They both jumped at the chance and spent 3 sessions in New York City at SAE's studios with Pat recording "Good Question" in a half a million dollar studio, the result is the version you hear on the player today. Fast forward through a tumultuous rest of 2005 and all of 2006, lots of shows were played and Starless acquired a reputation for being a breath of fresh air in their local scene, something different, something fierce yet melodic, rough yet gentle, unnerving yet soothing. Their live shows were unpredictable, intense aural and visual spectacles with sudden fits of improvisation, sometimes no words spoken by either member save the band name, looped sound effects mixed with visual effects such as psychedelic tapestries, black lights, strobe lights, liquid light projectors, bubble and lava lamps and above all no house lights. They honed their live performances into a tight machine that floored anyone who could understand what was going on in front of them. They were respected and praised for their technical ability and how effortlessly they followed one another through improvisational and written passages. By 2007 they were ready to call it quits, but Mike and Bill started to play shows just for fun again, and realized that they could actually go somewhere with the band still, and another guitarist was added to the fold in the form of longtime friend of the band, Jesse Alijewicz. Jesse added alot of texture to the band's already broad and epic and colorful sound. Jesse and Bill began to write defined parts for Jesse to play to their already existing catalogue of songs, and in Spring of 2007, Bill and Jesse finally began working on new material. A bassist has also finally been acquired after a nearly 3 year lapse in the form of Anupam, a close friend and fan of the band who was made aware of their need for a bassist and offered his services, with the band's lineup being nearly complete now, they are working on new material, fully working out the already existing songs, setting up show dates and venues, and working to release a 5 song EP by the end of summer '07 as well as an updated version of the original demo by June '07. Stay tuned and we'll keep you updated as new info comes in.
GOOD QUESTION VIDEO
