Good Luck Dark Star

"This isn't going to be space rock, is it?'My less informed companion asked this question the first time we went to watch the Good Luck Dark Star. The group spent the next forty-five minutes living up to their name, emanating vibrations that were high and sweet against the backdrop of an exploding white dwarf. There was space, and there was rock, But lying in wait between the two was euphoric harmony! Singer Bret Jason Krock was no neophyte on this night, I had first heard of him near five years ago when he led Eighty Katie to power pop infamy. But this new group was playing something very different from the Cheap Trick-type rave-ups Krock had made a name for himself with. Drummer Preston Todd had been sought out by Krock just a few months before. Guitarist Johnny Guttery had first teamed up with Krock a year earlier when they Stepped into the roles of Ace Frehley and Gene Simmons, respectively, in a one-off KISS tribute. Bass player Dirk Kitterlin first met Krock when they shared front desk duties at the STAX Museum. For all intents and purposes, that's enough personnel for a rock group, isn't it? The first few Good Luck Dark Star shows went well, but not Quite up to Krock's expectations. The album Krock had recorded with friend Kerry McDonald (Christie Front Drive, the Mighty Rime)"You'll Need It", is laden with ELO-inspired harmonies. Harmonies that weren't being replicated live. Krock and his sister, Lisa had long talked about starting a band together, Good Luck Dark Star quickly became an opportunity to finally see that through. After adding the younger Krock sibling as auxiliary singer, Megan Kitterlin, Dirk's wife of only a few months, became Lisa's counterpart. With enough singers to handle (most of) the harmonies recorded months before, the current Good Luck Dark Star ascended. Good Luck Dark Star are certainly aiming high with their live set. Already a little imposing with their six players, when the power is turned on, GLDS do invoke the aesthetic of some of their inspirations - the effortless melodies of Big Star and Jeff Lynne, the electric guitar density of Crazy Horse or Queens of the Stone Age, and the upper atmospherics originally mapped out by David Bowie. While an actual Dark Star obliterates any matter or light that comes within its grasp, Good Luck Dark Star betrays their namesake by performing in an opposite capacity! On that first night I saw GLDS, I heard songs about boyfriends and girlfriends separated by light years, desperate calls from unimaginable distances, and the phenomena of dreams. Perhaps suspended animation isn't so hard to take, if Good Luck Dark Star provides the soundtrack - H.C.