> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.hypebot.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Starling on the Subconscious Nature of Their Writing - URL: https://www.hypebot.com/starling-on-the-subconscious-nature-of-their-writing/ - Published: 2026-10-13T13:26:49.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-13T13:26:49.000Z - Description: We chat with the LA-based indie band about their mixed bag approach to production, serenading for cows, and Shakespeare super fans. - Author: Jeremy Young - Tags: Interviews, #coverstory, Touring, Starling, Indie rock, Indie Artists [**Starling**](https://www.bandsintown.com/a/15573513-starling?utm%5Fsource=hypebot&came%5Ffrom=900) is a four-piece alternative band born and based in Los Angeles, creating music with a soft heaviness that moves from grunge to songwriter to shoegaze without settling into any one of them. Combining warped, bedroom-built production with angular leads and rich vocal melodies, the band writes toward a general yearning — for contentment, a person, a place — that gives the songs their vulnerable, wide-open feel. There's a truly [DIY feel](https://www.hypebot.com/tag/d-i-y/) to this band that comes from a core place of authenticity, rather than nostalgia. And that Starling's new EP, [*Plexus*](https://open.spotify.com/album/2wughsoxhyOW8V0KIo1YkO?si=ZR0wmQfVS52BLaMLQ9kN1A&ref=hypebot.com), is an entirely self-made record, produced by the band and mixed by drummer Erik Sathrum Johnson, only reinforces that element of the band's identity. Here's our conversation. Enjoy! --- **Hypebot: Hey Starling! Thanks for taking the time to answer some questions. Congrats on the new EP, *Plexus*, it’s such a great distillation of this band’s sound, which I would say is a “live sound” in terms of energy, yet there are crucial studio punch-ins and edits on this record that distort the sound world. Tell me about how this one came together? What’s different this time around for you?** Starling: "Thank you! There wasn’t anything super different this time around with recording. We have just gotten more comfortable with our own collaborative process. With production and mixing there was an intention to marry the aesthetic palette of our first EP, *2324,* and our record *Forgive Me,*." As you noticed, it was definitely a mixed bag of live tracking and studio punch-ins to achieve very specific ideas we had for some key moments." **H: Do you have influences that have shaped your live sound, not just the studio sound?** S: "It’s not very often that we pull a specific reference when we are rehearsing for live shows, or even in the studio. But we are always in flow with the inspiration that sparks with whatever we are listening to or the shows we are going to and watching online lately." **H: On that note, “See the Water” features a pretty cute guitar reference to Talking Heads’ “Naive Melody” to start, is that an Easter Egg or accidental? And what does that say about the way your group approaches writing or arranging material?** S: "It’s definitely not a reference to 'This Must Be The Place,' but no hate to the Talking Heads, we actually all just went and saw David Byrne together last month. I think we got that for the first time months after we started playing it live, but we definitely do get it frequently and totally hear it." What we get most often is people comparing it to Modest Mouse. Someone thought it was a Strokes cover. So it is kind of something that everyone identifies in something they have heard before because it is such a specific sound. Gitai wrote the part and what he has to say is there wasn’t anything conscious he was referencing in the moment." But the first thing that came to him was a possible subconscious reference to the 100 Gecs live performance on Fish Center of 'Small Pipe.' We generally do not like to reference certain things when writing because clearly our subconscious does that enough." > *"Once per tour Kasha is allowed to pull the van over to serenade some cows."* **H: How do you keep healthy on the road?** S: "We eat most of our meals from grocery store items. Microwave rice, tinned fish, boiled eggs, oatmeal, avocado, grapes. Stuff like that. Usually on a show day, we have one meal a day that we eat out together that is fresh and hot. None of us really like fast food." We also try to go for walks every day, and bring a yoga mat to stretch our weary muscles after a day in the van. For mental health, we all do our own thing, including meditating or journaling or taking the time to call a loved one." **H: You’re about to embark on a pretty extensive national tour. What’s the most irrational rule your band has developed on the road? Like the non-negotiables for your band every time you walk out on stage?** S: "Once per tour Kasha is allowed to pull the van over to serenade some cows." **H: Which member of the band would survive longest if the van broke down in the middle of nowhere, and who would be dead meat?** S: "After a brief discussion we have found no consensus." We all think Gitai would die by eating poisonous berries or mushrooms. Erik thinks he would die second but I personally disagree. We all kind of think we would survive longest. Gitai agrees me (Kasha) would survive longest. Erik thinks Grace would leave and come back riding a bear with a bunch of elk and deer following behind." **H: What’s something you’ve learned by spending time on the road? About music, life, yourselves?** S: "It has sparked curiosity about the places we have passed through. We watch a lot of history videos about the cities we visit." > *"A Shakespeare super fan once collected all of the birds ever mentioned in his plays and released them in America. Starlings were mentioned one time, and now are a highly invasive species in the midwest; a farmer’s enemy."* **H: Does being from Los Angeles mean something to your band when you’re on the road? For better or worse?** S: "When we are at shows it doesn’t really make a difference. I think when people ask us where we are from at a bar or gas station we can get some pretty strong responses both ways. For us it is just where we were raised." **H: What’s the strangest place you’ve ever had a genuinely great show?** S: "Lubbock, Texas." **H: When things are “on” and you’re really feeling it during a show, what does that look like?** S: "Interacting a lot with a crowd, sometimes getting in it during the performance. It is literally what it’s all about so what it looks like is the reason we do any of this in the first place." **H: Where does the band name come from?** S: "The bird. There is a story to it. A Shakespeare super fan once collected all of the birds ever mentioned in his plays and released them in America. Starlings were mentioned one time, and now are a highly invasive species in the midwest; a farmer’s enemy. But they have beautiful black feathers that can be iridescent and they sing a starling song." So we were just fascinated by all of this and it felt like a good fit. It is NOT ‘star darling’ and certainly has *nothing* to do with Starlink." **H: What’s your favorite post-concert food to eat?** S: "Pho!!! Vermicelli bowl… so, Vietnamese. Nourishing and delicious." --- ## [**Starling Tour Dates**](https://www.bandsintown.com/a/15573513-starling?utm%5Fsource=hypebot&came%5Ffrom=900)