PLANES MISTAKEN FOR STARS PLANES MISTAKEN FOR STARS

PLANES MISTAKEN FOR STARS
By Mike Hammer
Mar 18, 2005

Planes Mistaken For Stars are a four piece band of rawkus power and cutting insight. They punch you square in the face and laugh at you as you watch it begin to make sense. Coming out of the “rust belt” in Peoria, Illinois and heading to hardcore heaven – Denver?

Planes Mistaken For Stars have made a decent little name for themselves in their 6 years as a band, and they seem to be poised for even bigger things. They are touring with HIGH ON FIRE right now, before going to Europe to tour with CONVERGE for a month. I spoke with leade singer Gared before the band hit the stage in New Orleans, and this is what he had to say about his band, seeing the world and shoveling pigs feet into street cars.

Mike Hammer: How would you describe your band to someone who never heard it?
Gared: I don’t know….. It’s just a bunch of kids who grew up listening to Black Flag, Black Sabbath, The Replacements and and Thin Lizzy and they threw it in a blender.
MH:
How many releases have you had now?
G:
We just put out our second full-length, “Up in them Guts” (No Idea Records) about 6 months ago.
MH:
But you guys have had other releases, right?
G:
We have 2 full-lengths, 2 EPs, a 7-inch and some compilation appearances.
MH:
“Fuck with Fire” was your first full-length, how does “Up in them Guts” compare.
G:
We’re all pretty proud of “Up in them Guts.” We think it’s our best, everybody is saying that. It’s our most focused effort. We got to put about 10 times the amount of effort into it that we have anything else in the past.
MH:
Is “Up in them Guts” doing pretty good, sales wise?
G:
It’s doing alright, it’s doing good. We’ve had a lot more press than we’ve ever had before and save one or two reviews, they’ve all been pretty excellent.
MH:
How much time did you spend recording?
G:
We spent a little over 2 weeks recording.
MH:
Where do you do it?
G:
Presto Studios in Lincoln, Nebraska. Yeah, with “Fuck with Fire” we only spent 5 days recording and mixing. This way we spent 2 weeks on everything.
MH:
What’s your process?
G:
We just usually bounce ideas off of each other. I usually have stacks of lyrics on pieces of paper lying around the house, and we build songs around the lyrics. Or, we just bounce riffs off each other and see what goes.
MH:
In the studio, do you have a pretty good idea of the final product? I guess with 5 days you are forced to. However, with the new album, did you get to mess a little more with the songs in the studio?
G:
Yeah, there’s some of the stuff on this new album that we actually kinda wrote in the studio... finished songs up, but we’ve always done that too. The way it works is like, 5 days, we wanted 10 days. With 2 weeks, we wanted 3 weeks and with 4 weeks … ya know. It’s never enough.
MH:
You guys just finished touring in Europe right?
G:
Yeah, we were there for a couple weeks.
MH:
What do you do on tour when you’re not playing? Are ya sightseeing or what?
G:
Well, we really didn’t get to see much. Except for like, the 6 blocks around the club. We just make sure we laugh a lot.
MH:
What kinda music do you listen to in the van?
G:
Not a whole lot of loud stuff, cause your ears get fried. I listen to a lot of Marvin Gaye. There’s a lot of Neil Young in the van, lotta old soul, old kinda plastic rock stuff that’s pulled back a bit, but a lotta soul.
MH:
Are there a couple of staple CDs?
G:
Oh yeah, we always have, like, Sabbath records and all the classics for when we feel like getting a bit rowdy I guess. Definitely always have “Back in Black”
MH:
So, you guys finished the UK tour, now your touring the US for a couple weeks with High On Fire, then you tour Europe again for 4 weeks with Converge. That’s a lot of touring. Do you guys like the live show? Is that where you’re at your best, on stage?
G:
Well, we all love it. I think that it’s the truest representation of our form. But it’s rough being gone. We all have families or people at home, and we all get a little bit burnt. I mean, when you’re at home, you wish you were on the road, when you’re on the road you wish you were at home, so...it’s a double-edged sword, it never changes.
MH:
Do you write stuff when you’re on tour?
G:
Not so much. We don’t really have time to. Where can ya go with an acoustic guitar to get some quiet and just sit down and write? It doesn’t really happen.
MH:
Do you guys make enough money yet, to live as just a band, or do you all have day jobs?
G:
We all have day jobs.
MH:
Got any horror day job stories?
G:
I’ve had a lot of crappy day jobs. Everything from driving cabs to loading train cars full of pigs feet. But lately I don’t have a day job, ‘cause I stay home at take care of my son.
MH:
OK. How are you going to keep pushing it and bring the band to the next level?
G:
We don’t really think in terms like that. We just usually think of what works and what doesn’t and what’s fun and what’s not, we as a rule don’t really go out of the way to do things that we’re uncomfortable with in the name of success. I feel like it’s a success that we’ve been in a band for going on 7 years and that we’re all still best friends. We can all sit in a van with each other for 5 weeks at a time, ya know. We just gotta keep on keeping on. Just playing and getting people out on tour and making friends and seeing the world.
MH:
What’s the most interesting part of the world you’ve seen yet?
G:
It changes from day to day. I’ve seen some fucking crazy shit. I been to some crazy places and I’ve been to some places that are supposed to be crazy that have really let ya down. I guess the inside of the van is pretty interesting. If those walls could talk.
MH:
As the tours keep going, how do you think that new listeners will categorize you? You guys are touring with hardcore bands now, then Converge. Do you think that people are gonna lump you with hardcore or screamo? Are you worried about that at all?
G:
Not at all. This year we’ve toured with The Ataris, Against Me, High On Fire, Hot Water Music, Dillinger Escape Plan. Every one of those bands is totally night and day. And I think, if we have one thing going for us, it's that you can’t really categorize us in one genre. I think we’re somewhere in the middle of all those bands. We just like to write rock music.
MH:
Is there anything that sets you guys apart?
G:
I just don’t think we care about what people fucking think at all. Maybe that’s what does it. We don’t fucking dress up or masquerade for anybody. And we certainly don’t use marketing schemes to sell records to dumb kids.
Maybe that’s why we don’t sell a lot of records…