Starsailor's answers to your questions; volume 1

These are Starsailor's answers to questions submitted from the form on this site during September and October 2002. A shortlist of interesting questions was sent to the band and they selected the ones that they felt inspired to answer. The answers below are reproduced verbatim from their responses.

Submitted by Eve from 'down south': Would you ever pose naked for a magazine and for how much ? ('Boo's note; be honest boys, everyone has their price, just for some it's higher than others!)

Stel: No amount of money in the world would make me bare my body. Far too skinny.

Ben: Same goes for me. Far too smelly.

Submitted by Eve from 'down south': Would you prefer to give up beer and eat what food you like or drink beer but have to have chicken and mushroom soup for the rest of your life?

James: Give up beer.

Barry: Give up beer.

Stel and Ben: We'd have to learn to love chicken and mushroom soup for the rest of our days.

Submitted by Parry from Wigan in England: On the message board there has been a nostalgia trip, with old kids' cartoons & programmes, what were your favourite kids' TV programmes when you where growing up?

James: He-Man because I owned all the toys.

Stel: Batfink because my wings are made of shields of steel.

Ben: Jamie And The Magic Torch cos Wordsworth is cool as . . .

Submitted by Clare Jackson in Longridge, Preston, Lancs, UK: Lancashire; describe it in no more than 5 words.

All: ugly, beautiful, friendly, grey, cold.

Submitted by Saskia in Melbourne Australia: How much has your life changed since fame? Has it had an impact on your daily routine?

Stel: It's changed alright. It's great to wake up and know all you've got to do that day is make music. Travelling the world's always a bonus too.

Submitted by lambchop in Glasgow: With regards to the new 1 Love album, if you could choose one act to cover one of your songs, who would you want to do it, and what would you want them to sing?

Stel: I would love to hear Destiny's Child do a version of 'Good Souls'.

I started the ball rolling with a few questions of my own, as a result of conversations featured on the Starsailor message board:

Submitted by 'Boo: Many bands choose to publish their music through independent labels, yet Starsailor have chosen to go with a major label, has this had any impact on your music and the resulting album that hit the shops? Do you feel the considerations of a major label have caused you to compromise your creativity in any way?

Most bands want their music to be heard by the most people. Major labels are the most likely labels to achieve this. The only reason not to sign to a major would be if you lost some creative control. We were lucky that EMI believed enough in what we were doing to let us have independent A&R. Therefore we have complete creative control and the marketing and distribution of a major - the best of both worlds.

Submitted by 'Boo: It was wonderful to meet you all at the Isle of Wight in June and you were incredibly kind to me (hope Barry didn't guzzle all the Gummi Bears). Was it a huge thrill for Ben to meet Brian May in LA last year, being the massive Queen fan that he is?

Ben: It was incredible! I've been listening to Queen since I was seven years old and I saw them live when I was eight at Maine Road in Manchester. He was a really nice chap as well.

Submitted by 'Boo: Mr. Stelfox appears to have a fixation with a rather natty line in hats, what's the story behind 'borrowing' headgear belonging to other people to wear on stage (I have photographic evidence)?

Stel: I've only borrowed a hat once at the Isle Of Wight. It belonged to a friend and I liked it so I thought I would wear it. I'm over that now.

Submitted by 'Boo: Who is the untidiest band member on the tour bus, in view of the fact that I saw the state of the area behind Ben's drums on the TV coverage of Glastonbury?

James: It's a close call between me and Stel. We're both as slovenly as each other. Ben and Barry are both pretty tidy. I don't know about the mess behind the drums but I blame the backing singers!

Submitted by 'Boo: Starsailor have done many covers acoustically and in their live shows - from S Club 7 to Bob Dylan - is there any song, done so perfectly already, that they wouldn't consider touching it?

James: Lionel Richie 'Hello' and 'When The Levee Breaks' by Led Zep.

With appreciative thanks to Starsailor for spending their very valuable time in answering the questions. Please also see volume 2 of Starsailor's answers published in April 2003.