released December 15, 2023

EP Tracks - Recorded at WGNS Studios, Washington DC in 1997. Produced by Stark Fairweather. Engineered by Geoff Turner.

Demo Tracks - Recorded throughout 1997 on ½” 8 Track at Copycat Sound Lab, Mount Pleasant, Washington DC. Produced by Stark Fairweather and engineered by Jim Spellman. Mixed in 2023 by Nick Pellicciotto.

STARRY EYES were:
Sarah Shannon - Vocals
Jim Spellman - Guitar
Kelly Young - Bass Guitar
Nick Pellicciotto - Drums

With additional contributions from:
Brian Baker - Guitar
Geoff Turner - Moog Synthesizer
Dave Berman - Harmonica
NOTE: Dave Berman appears courtesy of Bermtech Industries

Greek Chorus: Krissy Mazzocchi, Mia Guizetti, Debbie Surman, Willem Overwijk, Valerie Palmer, Melissa Farris, Phil Satlof, Nick Pellicciotto.

Photos by Maria Hoey
Art and Design by Steve Raskin

(Full pdf version of liner notes, plus extras and band photos available as bonus content with download.)

LINER NOTES BY JIM SPELLMAN

Sometime in 1996, Velocity Girl decided to break up for the typical rock band reasons. Later that same day Sarah, Kelly, and I decided to form a new band. I switched to guitar and we grabbed Nick Pellicciotto for drums.

We took the name Starry Eyes from the power pop classic by The Records and set about writing new material. I spent a month at Sarah’s house in Seattle with a 4-track cassette recorder and a drum machine and we banged out crude demos. Back home in DC the group entered WGNS studios with engineer Geoff Turner and recorded a four-song EP for Dave Marsh’s Radiopaque label. Two of those tracks appeared on a companion 7” single.

The WGNS sessions saw the group get a little help from our friends. Geoff Turner played some Moog, Brian Baker a bit of extra guitar, Dave Berman (RIP) played harmonica, and a bunch of our friends stopped by to record background vocals.

As this was playing out the band was also recording demos at my 8-track studio, Copycat Sound Lab. A somewhat mysterious English record producer named Stark Fairweather rolled into town around this time and helped the band craft their sound, then vanished shortly after these recordings. We hear he changed his name, but no one has been able to track him down in the years since.

The EP and single came out and Starry Eyes did one tour opening for Tuscadero then decided to call it a day, once again for the typical rock band reasons.

Fast forward to mid-2023.

Velocity Girl began digging up old tapes for some upcoming re-releases and whaddya know, there are the Starry Eyes tapes. Analog masters from WGNS including the 4 song EP plus a completely different take of one song, and the multitrack tapes from Copycat Sound Labs, poorly labeled in Stark Fairweather’s handwriting. The tapes were transferred to ones and zeroes and Nick P. set about digging through the material and mixing the best of it. We had completely forgotten some of these songs. That’s how it goes sometimes.

This Bandcamp release brings together the four-song self-titled Radiopaque EP, an acoustic version of N-N-N-Nervous, and five demos from Copycat. We must give special thanks to Geoff Turner, Adam Wade, Dave Berman, and Melissa Farris who each appeared live on stage with the band at various times, to Maria Hoey who photographed the band, and Steve Raskin who designed the CD and 7”. Most of all a big shout out to Dave Marsh who supported this band and many other bands and who encouraged us to pull together this release including the demo material.

In retrospect should we have stuck with this band a bit longer and finished an album? Maybe, but things happen. Hope you find something here worth a listen…


Best,
Jim Spellman

Washington, D.C.

December 2023


EP tracks

Disappearer

This song was titled Disappeared and somehow a typo along the line changed it to Disappearer, which would be fine except there is a Sonic Youth song by that title. Geoff Turner played synth on the track. Going for a Cars thing most likely.

Music and lyrics by Jim Spellman

Sarah Shannon - Vocals, 
Jim Spellman - Guitar
, Kelly Young - Bass Guitar
, Nick Pellicciotto - Drums
, w/ Geoff Turner - Moog Synthesizer


Radio!

For this one, Jim was enthralled by the backing vocals on the Rolling Stones track Sympathy for the Devil, and specifically watching the recording of those vocals in the Jean Luc Godard movie of the same title. So, we rounded up all our pals who were hanging out at the Black Cat, conveniently located a few doors up the block from WGNS.

Music and lyrics by Jim Spellman
Sarah Shannon - Vocals
, Jim Spellman - Guitar, 
Kelly Young - Bass Guitar, 
Nick Pellicciotto - Drums, 
Greek Chorus: Krissy Mazzocchi, Mia Guizetti, Debbie Surman, Willem Overwijk, Valerie Palmer, Melissa Farris, Phil Satlof, Nick Pellicciotto.

Getting Over My Surprise

This ballad gets an assist from Brian Baker who played some twangy guitar on the choruses.

Music and lyrics by Sarah Shannon
Sarah Shannon- Vocals, 
Jim Spellman - Guitar, 
Kelly Young - Bass Guitar, 
Nick Pellicciotto - Drums
, Brian Baker - Guitar

N-N-N-Nervous

Our pal Dave “Dude’ Berman on harmonica graces this song. A fixture on the DC music scene and a great guy, he nailed the harp on the first take. Dave passed away a few years back and is sorely missed.

Music and lyrics by Jim Spellman
Sarah Shannon - Vocals, 
Jim Spellman - Guitar
, Kelly Young - Bass Guitar, 
Nick Pellicciotto - Drums
, Dave Berman - Harmonica

NOTE: Dave Berman appears courtesy of Bermtech Industries

N-N-N-Nervous Acoustic

No drums or bass on this one, just acoustic guitar, harmonica, and vocals until the breakdown where Stark Fairweather played a keyboard part.

Music and lyrics by Jim Spellman
Sarah Shannon - Vocals
, Jim Spellman - Guitar
, Dave Berman - Harmonica
, Stark Fairweather - Keyboard

DEMO TRACKS

Bring it on Down

Here the group takes a crack at a Manchester-style groovy track. Nice bass part. Needed another set of verse lyrics.

Music and lyrics by Jim Spellman
Sarah Shannon - Vocals, 
Jim Spellman - Guitar, Kelly Young - Bass Guitar, 
Nick Pellicciotto - Drums, Shaker

Flattery is Everything

Labeled “No Depression” pre-lyrics, so likely going for that whole thing with some rock guitars.

Music by Jim Spellman, Lyrics by Sarah Shannon
Sarah Shannon - Vocals
, Jim Spellman - Guitar
, Kelly Young - Bass Guitar
, Nick Pellicciotto - Drums

Nothing Saves the Morning After

More Americana, more fleshed out. Jim stumbles through a lap steel part, which seemed like the thing to do for a while there.

Music by Jim Spellman, Lyrics by Sarah Shannon
Sarah Shannon - Vocals
, Jim Spellman - Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Lap steel, 
Kelly Young - Bass Guitar, 
Nick Pellicciotto - Drums

Send Send

Sarah plays the main guitar part on this one, and probably should have played guitar more often!

Music and lyrics by Sarah Shannon
Sarah Shannon- Vocals, Guitar
, Jim Spellman - Guitar, 
Kelly Young - Bass Guitar, 
Nick Pellicciotto - Drums

Number One Sounds

Jim goes for a Van Halen guitar sound on this with a purple Boss flanger pedal. Jim’s goofy lyrics reference the bands Tuscadero, Versus, Chisel, Laurel Racetrack, Antidepressants, and other things filling our time in that era. Jim completely forgot Starry Eyes played this and many, many years later Jim’s band Foxhall Stack recorded it on the Half Stack EP.

Music and lyrics by Jim Spellman
Sarah Shannon - Vocals
, Jim Spellman - Guitar, 
Kelly Young - Bass Guitar, 
Nick Pellicciotto - Drums