Rising stars of the Atlanta glam-goth-punk underground Starbenders have released a new single, If You Need It. It's the band's first release since the Seven White Horses single in February.
"The band recorded If You Need It during a very difficult time in our lives," says lead Starbender Kimi Shelter. "The sands were shifting beneath our feet as we stood in the studio. The sentiment of the song is captured in the chorus, 'I’ve got love if you need it, drugs to keep it even. I can’t take the pain.'
"It’s impossible to fix people and that doesn’t mean we didn’t love them enough or do enough. Pain is a dignity that we alone have to transmute. The result is a metallic clash between feathers and switchblades."
If You Need It finds Starbenders in confident form, with eerie, understated verses crashing into a chorus that explodes skywards in typically exultant fashion.
The video was directed by Hannah Gray Hall, who also worked on the video for Seven White Horses, and features the band playing live in what appears to be in an abandoned warehouse, with an assortment of masked partygoers drinking a punch that's quite possibly blood-based. Either way, it's a very eventful night out.
Speaking of eventful nights out, Starbenders' latest US tour begins this Wednesday on home turf in Atlanta, and climaxes in Jacksonville, FL, in July. Full dates below.
Starbenders 2022 Tour Dates
Jun 01: Atlanta Purgatory at The Masquerade, GA
Jun 03: Nashville Exit/In, TN
Jun 04: Durham Motorco Music Hall, NC
Jun 07: Philadelphia Kung Fu Necktie, PA
Jun 08: New York Knitting Factory, NY
Jun 09: Boston Sonia, MA
Jun 13: Buffalo Rec Room, NY
Jun 14: Columbus Big Room Bar, OH
Jun 15: Detroit El Club, MI
Jun 17: Indianapolis HI-FI Indy, IN
Jun 19: Minneapolis 7th Street, MN
Jun 21: Denver Marquis Theater, CO
Jun 22: Salt Lake City Beehive, UT
Jun 24: Seattle Madame Lou's, WA
Jun 25: Portland Holocene, OR
Jun 29: Sacramento Goldfield Midtown, CA
Jul 01: Los Angeles Moroccan Lounge, CA
Jul 02: San Diego Soda Bar, CA
Jul 03: Phoenix Valley Bar, AZ
Jul 06: Dallas Club Dada, TX
Jul 07: Houston Secret Group, TX
Jul 09: Orlando Henao Center, FL
Jul 10: Jacksonville Jack Rabbits, FL
