Monday, March 17, 2008

Newcomers shine at 3AP party

By Sarah Poulton

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During the 3AP Pre-St. Patty's Day Festival — a 14-hour music festival filled mostly with moderate to heavy rock bands — scene newcomers The Starlight Darlings' acoustic melodies were a fresh diversion.

Guitarist Frank Nolasco, formerly of Finding Mike Vagas, said his band separated late last summer after playing at VexFest. After the breakup, he said he knew he wanted to continue playing music and was looking to start something different.

On Dec. 14, he and vocalist Christa Flora went to see The Kellys play at Cedars Lounge. While watching singer Kelly McCracken on stage, Flora said she knew she wanted to do that too, so Flora and Nolasco wasted no time starting their own band.

Barely three months old, they have already had shows in both Youngstown and Kent.

“It's snowballed since then,” Flora said. “In only a month, we had five shows.”

Flora and Nolasco are the only two official members, but for bigger shows, they recruit Nolasco's former drummer Mike Vagas and bassist Bill Wharry, formerly of Sonny Daze, to play live with them.

In the short time they have been around, they have already written six original songs and perform Meredith Brook's classic “Bitch” as their only cover.

For the most part though, the songs and lyrics written by The Starlight Darlings are emotion-filled and happy. Flora said they get much of their inspiration from The Gin Blossoms and The Indigo Girls.

“My lyrics are all kinda cheesy love songs,” Flora said. “Frank writes the music and I come up with the lyrics.”

Nolasco chimed in: “I try to write that happy, up-beat stuff. I like acoustic, up-beat, major cords.”

Even though their music is up-beat and poppy, they said they appreciate all types of music, even the heavier local bands like Erins Vineyard and K-AWAKE.

Both Nolasco and Flora are full-time students preparing to graduate this spring from Youngstown State University, and are aspiring to return in the fall for graduate school. With their hectic schedules and lives, they agree that they're playing music for the love of the scene. Their biggest goal at the moment is to get invited to play VexFest this summer, they said.

“Yeah, we're not trying to get a record deal,” Flora said. “Really, it's just for fun. We like to perform live.”

She added: “Our music is about going to downtown Youngstown and waking up with a headache and a smile.”

The Starlight Darling's next big show is coming up at the end of April with Jordan DePaul at The Cellar, but before that, they have some work to do.

At the end of the month, The Starlight Darlings are taking a quick break from playing shows to record a three-track demo at Ampreon Recorder. With the help of Ampreon owner Pete Drivere and drummer Gino West of Jones for Revival, they hope to have the demo ready by early April, which will feature “11:11,” “My Advice” and “The Hardest Parts.”