by Erinn Fortson
“I never try anything, I just do it.” Tura Satana’s character, Varla, spits these words back at Ray Barlow as he questions her intentions. Varla and her crew of vixens aren’t afraid to prove their toughness, not even when a man challenges it.
Russ Myer’s 1965 Faster, Pussycat! Kill Kill! is categorized as your classic, exploitative cult film, full of sexuality and violence. And although the female characters in the movie are portrayed through stereotypical roles, don’t be fooled by the cleavage and dirty talk. There are empowering moments in the movie that also place these women at the top of the heap. Varla, Rosie, and Billie are karate chopping, fast driving heroines that don’t like anything soft. Everything they do is hard and that’s way sexier than any midriff, bearing top.
It’s not surprising that the ladies of Star & Dagger looked to Faster, Pussycat! Kill Kill! for inspiration. The two female posses share some similarities, with the biggest being the authenticity to just be themselves.
“We don’t try to be hard, you know what I mean? That’s just a natural thing. But that’s what probably makes us the happiest, playing hard rock,” says Von Hessling. Sound familiar?
Needless to say, Sean Yseult (White Zombie, Rock City Morgue), Dava She Wolf (Cycle Sluts From Hell), and Von Hessling have no trouble channeling Russ Myer’s three leading ladies and the band couldn’t have picked a better theme for their music video “Your Mama Was A Grifter”. They bring the same energy and sexuality to the camera, with the powerfulness of their music making the performance even stronger.
Star & Dagger formed two years ago at the urging of good friend Lenny Kaye (The Patti Smith Group). After Sean and Dava initially founded the band, they later asked Hessling to be the lead vocalist for the group.
“Lenny’s has known [Sean and Dava forever],” says Hessling. “He’s like you guys should start a band together and he was right. And they did. So, he created a monster. It was smart. And I don’t think [Sean and Dava] even looked at each other that way before. They were kind of like, oh you know we’ve both been in pretty successful bands. They were just happy to be friends. And then once they started writing together, it actually worked. If it hadn’t worked, I don’t think it would have gone anywhere. But the songs are there, so [Sean and Dava] were like, let’s go, let’s do it. Lucky for me, I guess!”
This summer, Star & Dagger released their debut LP, Tomorrowland Blues, on MRI Records. It was produced by Ethan Allen and Dave Catching.
“Ethan was really great to record with,” says Hessling. “He brought a lot of cool stuff out vocally for me. I just think he really got us. We recorded [the album] really quick. We got together, we wrote five songs, and flew out to Joshua Tree and recorded them. We were just like, let’s go. And that’s what we’ve been playing on for a year or two. So, it was pretty quick. And then we did another five songs the next six months and just went back out and recorded them. And we’re still writing. The writing’s not slowing down. Right now, we have five more songs we’re working on. And that’s cool, and great to know it’s prolific. It’s not just like, oh we got an album. We’re actually still engaged.”
Tomorrowland Blues is hard but melodic, which is exactly how Star & Dagger describe their first album together. There’s some heavy riffs and tunes, designed for those listeners looking to rock. But Tommowland Blues also really showcases the band’s ability to harmonize through their metal roots.
“I think it’s got some blues bass in it,” Hessling says about the record. “There’s definitely melody there. I mean, I’m not screaming, I’m singing. I’ve been in bands where I’ve screamed before and that’s all fun and good too. But we’re definitely trying to find melody and beauty. But we still have a lot of songs that are pretty punchy and pretty hard. And I don’t think we’ll ever lose that cause that’s what makes us happy.”
