“Totally infectious & just begs you to sing along which you will doubtlessly be doing.”, is how Get Off My Lawn fanzine refers to Count the Stars’ music. The band, the music, the perserverance and persistance are their only guidelines.
Count the Stars has seen many twists and turns in this business of rock and roll and being 18 years old experience is hardly on their side. But even at such a young age their work ethic has made them quickly rise above many other bands, and it is that work that has earned them so much success and respect from fans and various music business professionals. If a band could ever be called indie it would be Count the Stars, and up to this point everything the band has acomplished has been independent. The real school is the real world and thats where Count the Stars has been enrolled for sometime now. The first real endeavor for the band was footing the entire bill for the recording of their debut album “Another Useless Night” which was released on a small independent label, Dreamsand Reords. While in the studio the band learned what type of gut is needed to be a musician and make a record. While plenty of errors where made, the band has gained valuable experience that it can use in future projects. In hopes of promoting the new album the band embarked on their first tour on the east coast which was booked and funded completely by the band. The tour was a major success not only for broadening the bands fan base but it gave the band the confidence that they could make their music career happen on their own. While most bands would take the same old road of playing in the same local bar for years until they get picked up by a record label, Count The Stars couldn’t wait for that oppurtunity to come to them so heading up another tour was the only choice for them. This tour would last longer and take the band across the country and back, and they are hoping that it will be the ground breaker for the group. At this point the band has sold over 4,000 albums without retail distribution or major label backing and has played with bands such as Stroke 9, Goldfinger, They Might Be Giants, Unified Theory (ex-members of Blind Melon and Pearl Jam), Nine Days, Rob Base, Sponge and many more.
The Erie Times wrote,“You can’t always rely on the media to spread the word, so Count the Stars hits the mall, the internet, and the phone lines-whatever it takes.” The band uses every extra moment to meet new people and talk up the band. A lot of times fans will just meet the band on the internet in chat rooms directing them to the website, which had over 18,000 visits in it’s first 5 months in existense. Utilizing tools such as their email list and phone list the band is able to have the personal interaction with fans that many bands ignore, many times on tour you will find the band in the mall selling CD’s and just promoting the shows. These type of promotional techniques are how Count The Stars has won over so many fans. The most important thing the band brings to those fans is the fact that they are making music and just having a great time doing it. These guys will run around naked if it will make them laugh, and that’s what the band is really about, just having fun, hanging around, and traveling with your best friends. The touring has really brought them closer together and continues to make them like a close knit family, as Adam always says, “I think of you guys as my brothers.”
The band’s live show is the backbone of their music and has been rumored to be as energetic as an old-school hardcore show with more stage antics than an eighties hair metal band. The music has been described as having catchy melodies, emotional ballads, and upbeat driving rock tunes that are, “Sincere and well performed”, according to Metroland Magazine. With heavy influence from both modern alternative rock and emo scenes, the band would self describe the brand of rock they do Power-pop/emo but who can classify music now? The band hopes to bring their music to more than just this demographic, but to many crossover audiences. Chris’s songwriting process has started to solidify, combined with the creative power of the rest of the guys in the band and the amount ot time spent rehearsing, who knows what could stop these songs from sneaking into fans heads. If Count The Stars can continue to bring the music to these audiences on their own, with the help of a few trusted friends and fans, they will.
