For Stereostar FM - FM Radio Is What It's All About

By Wendy Wang

Stereostar FM
[Demo]
[Nov. 2003]

Formed in January 2003, these San Francisco natives blend teenage angst and rock influenced reflections on life. They are not screamingly loud, twanging, or focused on 3-chord guitar rock.

And they definitely do not reduce the complexity of experience to a monotone.

But they are quite punky, witty, and melodic. They play frantically fast with an emphasis on brevity, openly embracing the minimalistic attributes of the punk aesthetic.

With a little help from the Internet (Craigslist and Friendster) and playing lots of shows, these boys found each other and started Stereostar FM, fusing musical influences from the Beatles, Nirvana, and Shonen Knife to Metallica, Death Angel, and Motley Crue.

Stereostar FM has Ken Chiu on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Neil Gonzales on lead guitar and backup vocals, Ian Chin on bass, and Augustus on drums.

"Look Over There" is a stand out. It's a fast-paced, distorted guitar-blaring anthem that sounds like an ode to the "Dookie" days of Green Day. Here we have an aggressive guitar solo that's combined with pounding guitar riffs to create an unrelenting beat. Its self-oriented lyrics about being "just a Chinese guy" seems to take a stab at tackling issues of racial stereotypes and profiling.

In "Left Alone," Stereostar FM showcase chunky rock 'n' roll chords liberally laced with a hard-hitting riff-based hook.

One of the slower and mellower songs by Stereostar FM is "Blue." This is a reflective song about personal anger and soul searching. Sensitive minor chords are used to show that rock, after all, works on many different levels, not just as a public performance, but also as a means of private escape - a silent preoccupation. For these boys, FM radio is indeed what it's all about. Their pop punk tunes seem tailor-made for radio airplay.

But before they explore their musical potential, they need to work on their sound a bit more. A kind of redundancy hovers over their music that unfortunately makes most of their songs sound eerily similar. It would be great to see how far this band can go. We just need to have them discover a spirit of adventure, with eloquence and an ear to a fine tune.

To find out more about Stereostar FM visit: stereostarfm.com.

December 12, 2003