Reaching for the Stars at the Local 506 With LA Band Starcrawler

By Nichole Heller

After a quarter century since Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous was released, it’s hard to not get pumped walking backstage, or in the case of Chapel Hill’s Local 506 venue, up the stairs of the building over to their green room which is lined with denim couches on the second floor. I sat with lead singer Arrow De Wilde and lead guitarist Henri Cash of Starcrawler as they prepared for the live show.

The punk rock group Starcrawler added the Chapel Hill date to their US tour last week, days before the show was set for Sept. 14.

Initially, it took a few months of aiming for a show in the Orange County vicinity. Luckily, it came together. They had just come from Detroit the day prior taking them ten hours of a drive to get to North Carolina. The audience packed the room after opening doors with fans lined up beforehand.

The band has been supporting the farewell tour for the band Garbage while headlining their own shows in between.

Although they’ve been developing and releasing music for close to a decade, Starcrawler is as refined as punk rock can be.

It’s not their first time in the Tar Heel State. North Carolina has become a popular stop with performances at The Pinkhook in Durham all the way to Greenfield Lake Amphitheater in Wilmington.

“Each one of us listens to different music. When we each play, we each have a certain style,” said Cash.

Removing one person from the band – everything would change and every song would be different.

“We all write the songs and come up with the visuals,” said De Wilde.

As far as getting to the sound they want to achieve, it isn’t always manifested immediately into the twangy rock punk of their collaborative operation.

“I wish I could choose to write a certain song…I feel like you write songs when they come,” said Cash.

His brother Bill Cash is an excellent pedal steel guitarist that fortifies the band’s legendary sonic status.

Cash shares that there are some songs that you never hear as a fan. “Everybody writes bad songs,” Cash reminded me.

It’s about what makes it on the record at the end of the day.

“There’s some magic that happens when you don’t know what the f*ck you’re doing,” he continued.

From the beginning, they have progressed with persistence. A true love for the music and the creative process shines through it all.

Starcrawler has new music coming soon. The date is yet to be determined.

“I’m excited for our record,” said De Wilde.

“What happens, when people get writer’s block, is because all of a sudden they hold themselves to a higher standard and then they won’t let anything naturally flow because it’s not smart enough…you just need to let things flow out of you. It could be the dumbest lyric ever and you can change it later,” said Cash.

Cash plays Gretsch guitars now but that wasn’t always the case.

Henri Cash wasn’t planning on playing guitar when he met De Wilde. Cash’s father played guitar, mainly blues with open tunings. “I was trashing around on the guitar and I broke the bridge and was only able to put half the strings on it.”

The Epiphone, with only three strings, made it to their first rehearsals.

“I saved up my money and got a Telecaster.”

Lead singer and guitarist JP Verardi of The Girls from Wilmington, NC, dazzled and delivered as the supporting act and opener for the gig. Guitars are a huge part of their music as well.

“I’ve always just played Flying Vs. Oddly enough, at a young age I had Flying Vs.”

Verardi’s biggest influence is Johnny Thunder of the New York Dolls – evident in his own retro appearance and sound.

A laid back atmosphere backstage was nothing like the show put on minutes later. Both The Girls and Starcrawler were full of energy and life.

Henri Cash walked to the back of the venue with his guitar and extremely long extension cord to jump on top of the bar for a guitar solo, pulling a hanging light down from the wall to aid in the endeavor while moments later De Wilde crowd dived – quite the Sunday night.

I can’t confirm if they put more of the “rock” or “star” in “rockstar” but I can assure you they are certainly all of the above.