pseudo star's interviews the dresden leader interviews pseudo star local band looks towards the future
A local band from the Dresden area is busy working on releasing it's debut album. Craig Robinson, Charlie Miller, Matt Workman and Steve Bellan make up the group titled pseudo star. Robinson provides guitar, bass and vocals. Miller plays the bass and piano. Guitar, vocals, harmonica and drums are all played by Workman, and Bellan provides drums, vocals and guitar. Pseudo Star began in Feb. 1997, on a day when school was cancelled due to snow. A bunch of musicians ended up at Craig Robinson's house and Pseudo Star began from there, throwing together "the best of the best." Though they've been through a variety of drummers, three of the four members have been there from the start. So what does Pseudo Star mean? A fake star. The name is to "make fun of people who aren't real stars." - people who don't write their own music and don't really care about the music. An example they mentioned a few times was Celine Dion. The band has a wide variety of influences including such groups as the Beatles, Sonic Youth, Pink Floyd, Square Root Of Margaret, smashing Pumpkins, Sloan, Led Zeppelin, Blink 182 and David Bowie. Pseudo Star has played in such events as Lambton-Kent Composite School's ArtsFest, Wallaceburg's Groundstock, in Meme's Pantry, in the Dresden Arena and in the Gazebo across from the Knechtel store. The group claims that they would like "more support from Dresden." Meme's Pantry has been very generous with giving them time and space to play, and they would like to thank Vanessa for that. "If you ever need good food go to Meme's." said Miller. Lately, the group has been in the studio recording their first CD. The CD is to be called "Sunday With The Empty..." They have been recording at the House Of Bleen Studio in Chatham. All 10 tracks on the CD are originals by the group. The producer of the CD is Square Root Of Margaret's bass player, Dennis. They hope to have the CD out in April and have been thinking of producing t-shirts and stickers. When asked how they describe themselves, Charlie Miller said that he thinks of them as a "love child between Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth, Sloan, and Weezer." When questioned about the reasons they began to play music, Miller said it was "for the women." Robinson claims "my mom made me," and Matt said "it's cheaper than hockey." February 13 is the date of Bellan's Stag and Doe which will feature the music of Pseudo Star. The group has also been booked for 1999's Groundstock which will be held in Wallaceburg, March 12. This is a very exclusive event, with only two local bands, Pseudo Star from Dresden and Grounded from Wallaceburg, the rest being from larger cities such as Toronto and Windsor. Groundstock raises money to donate to a different charity each year. Pseudo Star also hopes to play at this year's ArtsFest at LKCS. The band is also working on a side project producing a demo for the Dresden area band Merge. Robinson also plays in a band named Ruptured Spleen. One time while playing a gig Bellan said to Workman "hey, rock 'n' roll," and that has been Pseudo Star's motto ever since. Workman says the band can "entertain any crowd," and will play at any event. By Bethany McIntyre click here for the actual article scanned from the paper
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