Starfucker, the indie pop sweethearts behind the music from Target's “Pepto Pink” commercial, is taking a break from recording and heading down to SoCal to properly fuck some stars. They'll be playing at The Observatory this Thursday, with Robert Delon & White Arrows.
Before they left the mystical land of Portland for the just-as-mystical land of Orange County, I was able to give their bassist, Shawn Glassford, a call and ask him about their sometimes chaotic name, non-heteronormative stage wear and what they have on the horizon.
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OC Weekly (Charles Lam): How would you describe Starfucker to someone who hasn't heard of you before?
Shawn Glassford: It's fun. Fun first, but with a kind of morbid undertone. I guess we always say dance music you can actually listen to is a good way to describe it.
Where'd you guys get the name 'Starfucker'?
Oh, just out of stupidity. Haha. It came from pure stupidity. Josh was in another band that was trying to be all serious and being in the music industry and he got super bored and fed up with it. When he started Starfucker, he just wanted the stupidest name possible so it would never get serious. Haha.
Well, that kind of backfired.
Yeah, aha.
You guys changed your name to 'PYRAMID' and 'Pyramiddd' for not very long. Why'd you decide to change it and change it back to quickly?
Well, we decided to change it 'cause we were convinced by some other people that were helping us out at the time that we weren't ever going to do anything unless we changed our name. I don't even know how we got talked into it. But it was really stupid, that was why it didn't last.
You guys dress in drag on stage a fair amount, why do you do it and whose idea was it?
I don't know whose idea it was, we all just, back in the day, we used to just wear the stupidest shit we could find as kind of an anti fashion statement 'cause I feel like people care too much about fashion in music. Me and Josh actually have been cross dressing a lot before the band started. I think it's just something where it's an alter ego. Sort of like you can switch and have a different personality.
Does it help out on stage?
Yeah. I used to be pretty socially awkward and, uh, I think the first time I was dressing in drag and I was out I was a completely different person. I had this weird new sassy confidence that I've never had before. I kind of found power in that. [Now] There's no real reason for it, we just like to be goofy and stupid with the fans.
What's your favorite outfit been?
There was one time in Reno [that] I found this trucker hat that said 'High Step' on it and I thought it was hilarious and it turns out that they're a community service program in Reno and anytime anyone does community service they wear the 'High Step hat'. I had a white trash outfit going on for a minute, I had lightning bolt pajama pants. Really ridiculous and stupid.
Josh dresses like Barbara Bush sometimes, that's pretty awesome.
What're you going to be up to after your stop in SoCal?
We're recording right now! We're going to be recording all spring into the summer. We're just taking this week off to play these shows. It's a nice little break to step away from it for a second and go play some shit and go back to work.
