STARLIGHT JUNKIES: New EP Will Leave Listeners “Amazed”

Posted on December 13, 2019 in Faces

“Not all who wander are lost…”

So says the tagline for the new project, Starlight Junkies—spearheaded by musicians Dave Entwistle and Martin Lowe. These two artists have wandered the Metro New York music scene for years, and managed to pick up a fair amount of musical wisdom and wizardry along the way.

Thanks to collaboration with a fellowship of talented entertainers, Starlight Junkies have put together a stellar 6-track EP, which was recently released via The Latest Noise. hMAG was able to chat with Dave Entwistle, who offered up some illumination about the project, its personnel, and future plans.

hMAG: Who are the personnel and how did you connect?
Dave Entwistle: Starlight Junkies were formed by myself (Dave Entwistle) and Martin Lowe in a tiny room inside one of the few industrial buildings still standing in SW Hoboken, NJ. We are both long time residents of Hoboken and became acquainted through the local music scene. Marty plays the drums and I am a singer/guitar player.

About 2 years ago we started jamming together for fun, we had no intentions beyond that. The chemistry was strong, we wrote somewhere around 50 songs in the space of a year, a song per week.

h: Each track from the EP seems extraordinarily well polished. To what can you credit the phenomenal sound, and how have the singles been received so far?
DE: That’s very kind of you to say. Everyone involved is freaking amazing at what they do and have been around the block a few times.

We are fortunate to have talented friends, all active musicians in the local scene…the force is strong with them. Marty and I laid down drums, guitar and vocals for each song and then invited players for bass, keys, flutes, ukulele, whatever the song needed. Each song is unique because we had different people on each one.

Andy Averbuch, Jaime DeJesus, Gregg Sgarlata, Gerry Rosenthal, Jack Breslin, Lloyd Gold, Maxwell Feinstein, Michael Browne, David Ribyat, and Dominick Della Fave—we couldn’t have done this without you.

We all have an admiration for each other so creating an opportunity to record together has been on my Bucket List for some time. I’ve barely made a dent to the list of friends I’d like to record with so our 2nd EP is already in the works.I must also give credit and respect to these two sonic artisans, John Roccesano (Silver Horse Sound, Hoboken, NJ) & Gregg Sgarlata (Forbidden Studios, Roseland, NJ) for their phenomenal engineering and mixing skills.

Response to the singles has been great so far. I’m probably best known around town as a booker/soundguy/promoter, so I was curious to hear people’s remarks. Before moving to Hoboken I had a former career as a recording artist in Toronto, Canada and had a couple of singles break into the top 30 on the Canadian Billboard Charts for radio play. This is the first time in 20 years that I’ve released new music.

There are 6 songs on the EP. We’ve been releasing one song per week on SoundCloud thanks to Mike Kuzan and thelatestnoise.com

This is what we consider our ‘soft release’ so we can establish our social media pages and get some traction before we make it available on all platforms.

The EP is currently available for purchase exclusively on thelatestnoise.com for a few more weeks then it goes worldwide.

h: Given all your experience in the music scene, what’s the biggest challenge when tackling an ambitious, meaningful project like Starlight Junkies?
DE: The biggest challenge is finding an audience. It’s a jungle out there. It’s easier than ever before to release music but the marketplace is incredibly saturated. Competition for listeners is at an all-time high. You have to be remarkably savvy on social media and I know that’s something a lot of artists struggle with, myself included. What bait can I dangle to get you to click? It sometimes feels disingenuous but it’s a necessary evil.

I believe there’s an audience out there for everyone, the trick is finding them and that takes time, effort, money, perseverance and a little bit of luck.

h: What’s the backstory behind the name?
DE: The Sun is a star, without its light…we all die.

h: What can listeners/fans expect to see next? Live gigs?
DE: Expect to hear more music!! Lot’s of it.

We will be releasing new music on a consistent basis until we run out of money, lol. Live gigs are in the future. Our goal is to first create a dedicated audience to play for, even if it’s small. We will continue to release music until our listenership grows.

It makes a world of difference to already have people’s attention rather than fight for it, then it’s not just a gig, it’s a lovefest!

Learn to love the Starlight Junkies, and get your fix through TheLatestNoise.com.