Micky Satiar – Dear Superstar Interview Exclusive
Written by Johnny H
Wednesday, 03 March 2010 08:00
Dear Superstar are certainly a UK band that are on the up. 2009 for the five guys from Manchester was a veritable Rock ‘n’ Roll roller coaster ride of touring and living the lifestyle whilst promoting their ‘Heartless’ album.
Rewind to just before Christmas we were due to run an interview with the guys ahead of them setting out on the road with Heaven’s Basement, but being struck down with Hard Rock Hell lurgy we cancelled fearing passing it on to the lads wouldn’t be the wisest thing for us to do.
When we found out Dear Superstar singer Micky Satiar was still keen to talk with us at Uber Rock, Johnny H jumped at the chance to get a piece of the band’s action, and catch up with them, yup you guessed it ahead of them setting out on the road with Heaven’s Basement.
Hey Micky firstly many thanks for taking the time to talk with us at Uber Rock when things must be more than a little busy for you preparing to hit the road again.
So before we get in good and deep, for some of our readers, Dear Superstar may be something of a new name for them, can you introduce yourselves and give us a potted history of the band to bring everyone up to speed?
Ok, well I’m Micky… Hello! And we’re just 5 dirty Mancunians who like to play hard and party harder! We play balls to the wall rock n roll, 110mph with little concern for our own wellbeing or safety and a blatant disregard for authority or morals.
We have a never surrender attitude and live and breathe for this band. We’ve toured relentlessly with the likes of Papa Roach, Buckcherry, and Bullet for My Valentine and even had the honour of throwing our asses around stages as Download Festival and Sonisphere.
So 2009 was pretty hectic year for Dear Superstar what with all the tours and Festivals you’ve done off the back of your second album ‘Heartless’, what was it like to be at the heart of all that? Pretty immense I bet.
Yeah fucking insane. After recording our album in 2008, we always intended to hit 2009 harder, faster, louder and bigger than ever before. Through that hard work, we got some amazing opportunities such as the Papa Roach tour back in April 2009. That was fucking huge for us and we felt so blessed, since then it has been like a super massive rollercoaster, which just didn’t slow down. We went back out with Papa Roach around the UK and Europe in June/July, then with Buckcherry. With things like Crue Fest, Download Festival and Sonisphere thrown in there on the way round. It was a fucking trip and most of it hasn’t sunk in even now.
At the end on 2008, we had spent our last penny and were on our asses, so to be handed such a huge lifeline was huge for us. We took every opportunity we could and made the most of it; living life at that speed was killer. Jumping from country to country and stage to stage was such a dream come true. Like I say we felt truly blessed!
Since then we have become 100% built for the road and we don’t intend to spend any time at home in 2010! We don’t want any ears to go untouched by Dear Superstar this year! So watch your backs because we are coming for ya!
And do you have any particular standout moments that you’d care to share with us
Shit, the whole year was a standout moment. From partying with Tommy Lee in Copenhagen, to hitting the stage at Donington, it was a year I will never forget!
Who’s been the coolest band you’ve played with so far?
I don’t wanna take anything away from all the other cool bands we have toured with. But we spent so much time with Papa Roach last year that they are without a doubt the coolest sweethearts I’ve ever had the pleasure to tour with.
We partied with them most nights and just connected on a really wicked level. Love those guys to death!
You signed to Global via Demolition DR2 for the release of ‘Heartless’ which seems to be a great Rock label to be on, how did that all come about?
We always wanted to be with Demolition DR2 Records, from well before we even wrote ‘Heartless’. When the album was complete, we went straight to them. We barged our way through their door with our vision, album and hearts on our sleeves.
They are a wicked label and genuinely care for their artists – we definitely made the right decision!
With the benefit of hindsight looking back over twelve months since it’s initial released are you please with how ‘Heartless’ turned out?
Yeah unbelievably! We’re really happy with record sales so far and they just keep getting better. We have achieved so much off the back of ‘Heartless’ and the release via DR2 Records. The whole thing couldn’t have played out better, I cant fucking wait to finish up our next album and do it all again!
So what are you guys up to right now, writing/recording?
Right now we are spending day and night in the record studio, laying down demos for the new album and getting ready for the next tour in Feb/March.
When we are not on tour, we have to be doing something musical. It’s impossible for me to turn that passion off – so when we’re home we write, rehearse, meet chicks and get drunk! In that order! Ha ha
What do you guys draw on influence wise when you are writing?
Life Experience is what influences me to write music. Getting out there and living life to the fullest really gives me something to write about. The thought of being sat home watching TV night after night as life quickly passes by, scares the living hell out of me!
Also, we’ve toured with a lot of really influential bands, so when we get off tours we always find a renewed energy in ourselves and our song writing.
You’ve become (or would appear to have become) pretty close with Heaven’s Basement recently, what’s the story there then guys?
Yeah we’re cut from the same cloth as those guys. They have the same kind of background, the same work ethic and the identical twisted and fucked-up personalities!
We played a few shows together back in 2008 and then hooked up in Holland to support Papa Roach together. Since then, we have seen ourselves on the same bills – like the Buckcherry tour, Sonisphere etc etc. So we formed a really good bond, when we’re backstage together it feels like we’re all in the same band! They’re wicked guys!
Of course you have the upcoming UK tour, which is twelve dates with Heavens Basement throughout late Feb and early March. What can we expect from those shows?
A fucking bloodbath! Anyone who came to the Heavens Basement / Dear Superstar shows in December will know what I mean. No-holds-barred debauched rock shows straight from 1986!
Being an out and out rock band from Manchester, what’s that like for you? Surely it can’t be easy walking down the street dressed like you guys do? I mean you’re hardly regulation tracksuit fodder guys are you? Any Rock N Roll survival tips our readers can pick up from Dear Superstar?
Manchester can be a pretty hostile environment for a rock n roller – but that has never stopped us. Rock bands can take a lot of stick from the small-minded tracksuit paraders, but bands have to stick together and act like a crew! Kick ass and take names when necessary! If one member of Dear Superstar gets into any kind of shit, we’re all there to back him up! We never let that shit lie!
If we were to do the random five tracks on your Dear Superstar I Pod/I Phone MP3 player right now what would come up? (No cheating OK !!!)
Ok… I’m gonna do this right now… Damn it, there’s a bad one in there!!!
1. Killing Yourself To Love – Black Sabbath
2. American Metalhead – Sebastian Bach
3. Kickstart My Heart – Motley Crue
4. Movies – Alien Ant Farm
5. Ballad of a Teenage Queen – Johnny Cash
And to finish things off where do you guys want to be in say a years time? Or In other words what’s in store for us when the Dear Superstar masterplan get’s in full swing?
To be honest, as long as we are still here and making music the way we do now – I’ll be happy! We are a high-octane band and people keep saying we’re gonna self destruct, but we’re still her standing tall sticking two fingers up at the critics! We aint going anywhere!
And with that we’d like to thank you for taking the time to speak with us at Uber Rock, we’ll hopefully catch up with you on the Heaven’s Basement tour, so until then we wish every success guys.
http://www.dearsuperstar.co.uk/
http://www.myspace.com/dearsuperstar
Photo Kudos to Mark Forrer http://www.markforrer.co.uk/ and live shot Rob Watkins