Ever since their demo recording of ‘If you mind’ and subsequent EP Drolatique popped up on Bandcamp back in 2022, buzz was already starting to build around Bellied Star. Who were these fresh Gen Z kids making chunky, fuzzy, grungy anthems filled with smelly teen spirit?
Made up of drummer Marco, bassist/vocalist Ethan, guitarist Audrey and guitarist/vocalist Mitch - the young quartet soon started taking their blistering sound offline and onstage at gigs all around Singapore and Malaysia. Whether they were playing alongside hardcore bands Unvisual and FUSE, or indie darlings like Blush and Subsonic Eye, or alt-rockers like CURB and Cactus Cactus, or rappers like Fariz Jabba and Mediocre Haircut Crew - they’ve won over every crowd they’ve ever encountered in every environment they’ve ever graced.
Now hot off their first-ever full-length album, we talked to Bellied Star to find out more about their origins, evolution and the making of their grunge revivalist triumph SPUT.
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Hey guys! First off, who are the members of Bellied Star and how did y’all come together?
Marco and Mitch met through this online marketplace called Carousell! Marco then asked Ethan, his classmate to jam. Last but not least, we reconnected with Marco's old friend Audrey.
What is a “bellied star”?
We got the name from this Bikini Kill song called ‘Star Bellied Boy’ and thought if we reversed it, it sounded cool. There was no meaning behind it and that was also another reason why we chose it as we could create the imagery ourselves. Though over time we did try to give “bellied star” a meaning through references like “Belle Starr” or a star being swallowed whole, free from any sort of prima donna/rockstar antics, in which we hate.
Obviously the grunge and punk influence comes through. But what’s a band/artist that inspired you guys that might surprise fans?
ABBA was a pretty big one since we really liked the melodies and stuff. Another one was The Cure, we love Robert Smith.
How did grunge become one of the defining characteristics of your music?
It was the easiest to play. And it was kinda the one genre that we all really liked that we had in common.
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If we’re not wrong, Bellied Star released music before playing shows. But in the couple of years since, you’ve been gigging quite a bit. How have the live shows impacted your progression in terms of dynamic and technique?
Mitch: It's been fun but pretty tiring. I would say it definitely helped us with being more confident on stage. I think it also helped us grow tighter sound wise, as well as just getting closer to each other as friends too.
Audrey: Personally for me, I just went straight into playing shows because I learnt bass just so I can help fill in for Ethan. But with the rate that we were going, it was difficult to keep up with the rest because they were already tight with each other, music and relationship-wise. But it just gave me more of a reason to push and keep improving.
Could you tell us a bit about the creative and writing process behind SPUT?
Most of the songs were written when we were like 14-16 years old. From a creative standpoint we didn’t think much through, we just wanted to write good songs that we could at least be proud of. I can say for a fact that those were our most formative years in terms of finding each other at a pretty low point in our lives, and it can definitely be heard in our music.
What about the recording process? What were the differences, opportunities or challenges of recording this full-length versus your past EPs?
Honestly, it was great fun working with Zhang Bo from PK Records. We originally didn’t want to record our album for a long time due to pure laziness and the hassle of GarageBand, but Bo offered to record, mix and master for us. Since we have an actual engineer with us, we got to mess around more with sounds like incorporating a trumpet, using feedback as ambient noise, etcetera. It definitely felt more professional than when we did our first EP which was honestly quite garbled.
What’s one song on the album that means the most to each member (and why)?
Marco: Definitely ‘Tear Your Light’ for me, which was written by Mitch. Aside from his usual great songwriting, I feel it shows that we aren’t really afraid to turn the volume down and have a softer, more mellow kinda sound. But it’s a close second to ‘Monthly Fee’ because the bass line is just unbelievable.
Ethan: My favorite has to be ‘Josephine's Humor’. The feedback makes the song sound so ominous and haunting while still being one of the prettiest sounding songs on the record.
Mitch: ‘Daisyclay’ is a great song written by our drummer Marco, and I definitely feel our next album should have the same vibe. It just allowed for a more diverse sound that we are trying to achieve.
Audrey: I have like 4 songs that top it for me, but I wanna say ‘Silver Sugars’. Before I officially joined the band, I heard ‘Silver Sugars’ for the first time and I just felt an air of melancholy envelope me. For that reason I’ve always felt like the song kind of grips you and leaves you wanting more. The outro still messes with my head when I play it, but it’s exactly why I enjoy the song so much.
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What can fans expect at your album launch coming up later this month?
Amazing bands like Where’s Roxie, Vegtable, INTERMISSION and Terrer will be playing! But you’ll never know what might happen…so come down!
Bellied Star will also be playing Malaysia with Terrer as part of their joint BLITHE tour. See the dates and locations below. The BLITHE tour is part of *SCAPE Music Exchange, a programme that empowers up-and-coming Singaporean youth artists with the opportunity to perform overseas.
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