Dear Superstar – 20-07-2010

Interview with: Micky and Benj
By: Nina Mende

Today at the Papa Roach show in Nuremberg we also did an interview with one of their opening acts Dear Superstar. Micky and Benj were kind enough to answer me some questions. They had just arrived from Manchester/UK, it was a 24hrs drive and so they were quite tired. But they would be fit enough for the show because playing in front of the audience would give them a lot of energy.

Before we started out with the actual interview, we had a little small talk where I found out that Micky knew Tempelores from the album review we once wrote about the Dear Superstar album. Micky also told me that they always love the Papa Roach audience because of all the energy the fans give the bands performing, but they were also sure that after the show the guys were ready for some rest. The next show would be in Luxemburg, so there would be a lot of long journeys lay ahead of them but playing the shows are worth all the travelling. And travelling is half of the game.

My first question was why they were touring with Papa Roach again, since they did a few tours with them already. Mickey told me that after the UK tour last year they just went along so well that Papa Roach was asking them to come along for the European tour. They have similar personalities and therefore just went along brilliant. So Papa Roach asked them again to join on this tour.

Dear Superstar said they would try to convert every Papa Roach fan at the shows to be their fans as well or at least leave a long lasting impression. With their performance on stage and meeting the fans afterwards at the merchandise stand to sign stuff, take pictures with their fans and have a little chat with them they actually got a lot of new fans throughout the tours with Papa Roach. Dear Superstar like to be close to their fans when being out on the road and playing shows. “Most people either love Dear Superstar or hate Dear Superstar“, Micky said.

Since I had always missed Dear Superstar on stage, I was now wondering what I had to expect of their show. “It’s all balls to the wall” was their first reaction. But then they explained that it would just be a plain rock show and that they always give everything on stage. They go out there and just want to play music and that’s what Dear Superstar do.

Now I was wondering if Dear Superstar had any plans of touring the US. Micky said that there were no plans as of now but it would of course be a plan for the future and definitely on their “To Tour” list, but a tour in the US always includes a lot of costs and a whole lot of preparation. Right now they are in the middle of recording a new album, so right now it is not an option anyway. But it definitely is a long term goal for them since they have some good friends over there like Papa Roach and Buckcherry. The time for such a tour has to be right and due to recordings and other activities the plan unfortunately got put back and back. But it definitely will happen someday. About an US tour Micky has massive expectations but no precise ones about each state or from city to city. But they still have places they definitely look forward to play at someday like Los Angeles, New York and such. But they do want to get to as many places as they can. And even if the US would be just half as great as Europe always is it would definitely be a huge step ahead and a great success.

Dear Superstar’s favorite places to tour in Europe are the Netherlands and Finland. But there are so many more amazing places. Their first shows in Finland before heading anywhere else in Europe were amazing and the audience gave them such a warm welcome and made the band feel like home. They had played there several times before hitting the mainland of Europe. So Finland is very special to them. On the European tour with Buckcherry and Papa Roach last year they got to see a lot of other cool places though, that it is hard to name just a few favorite places because almost all places where somehow special to them. Last time they were in Germany, Micky had an allergic reaction in Bremen and had to go straight to the hospital, so he will never forget that. But all in all there is many cool places.

Now we did a total cut and talked about influences they told me that they are influenced by almost everything. They listen to everything from rock, hard rock, pop, hip hop, country music, old and new stuff … But mainly the influences for their music are coming from being out on the road and meeting all these different people, all the happenings on the road and the new experiences.

They can hardly remember what they lives were like before making music because they’ve been doing that for about 10 years now. So basically they always have been playing gigs and have been making music. When they get back home they all still have day jobs and it has always been like that. But the fact that they get to tour with awesome bands like Papa Roach, Buckcherry and such and get to tour through Europe is worth all that and they are a lot happier that way. They wouldn’t want to miss it and just live “normal” lives.

The festival s they played this years was Sonisphere in Switzerland, a festival in Belgium, and some other.
The name Dear Superstar is basically just their dream of being superstars and being addressed as “Dear Superstar”.

As closing we talked about their upcoming US Army shows in Italy and Germany. They were pretty excited and honored to get to do this. Because the troops don’t get to go to shows like we do, but they fight for their country instead. So it is a neat thing to play for them to give them back something.

That was a very interesting interview. Many thanks to the guys for their time.

Links:
Dear Superstar Official