Starcastle

Starcastle
Starcastle
Origin	Champaign, Illinois, United States
Genres	Progressive rock
Years active	1969–1987; 1997–2007; 2018–present
Labels	Epic Records
Members	George Harp; Bruce Botts
Past members	Gary Strater; Matt Stewart; Steve Hagler; Steve Tassler; Herb Schildt; Terry Luttrell; Ralph Goldhiem; Mauro Magellan; Scott McKenzie; Mark McGee;
Website	starcastlerocks.com

Starcastle is an American progressive rock band from Champaign, Illinois, United States. Formed in 1969, the group played many shows under the names Pegasus and Mad John Fever before eventually settling on Starcastle. They signed their first record deal with Epic Records in 1974,^[1] and received extensive airplay and frequently played in the St. Louis area. The original lineup included former REO Speedwagon vocalist Terry Luttrell and computing author/programmer Herb Schildt. They released four albums on both the Epic^[1] and CBS labels. The band's debut album Starcastle sold well, garnering worldwide airplay.^[1]

Their later albums Fountains of Light, Citadel, and Real to Reel did not sell as well as the first and they were often criticized for sounding too musically similar to Yes.^[1] They were opening acts for such bands as Jethro Tull, Gentle Giant, Fleetwood Mac, Kansas, Boston, Rush, Journey, and others. After several line-up changes, the band went on a ten-year hiatus from 1987.

In 2002, Gary Strater, Steve Tassler and Steve Hagler all released solo albums on the band's own Sunsinger label. This led to work on the band's final album Song of Times, before Gary Strater's death on September 19, 2004, from pancreatic cancer. Song of Times was released in 2007.^[2]

In November 2018, the band's official website announced the release of Alchemy, an archive release of studio and live material from the band's 1980s line-up. Additionally, their website announced a new line-up of the band consisting of George Harp (vocals) and Bruce Botts (guitar), both of whom were in the 1980s line-up.

Players

Past

Gary Strater – Bass, Moog Taurus, Backing Vocals (1969–1987, 1997–2004; died 2004)
Matt Stewart – Guitar, Backing Vocals (1969–1981, 1997–2006)
Steve Hagler – Guitar, Backing Vocals (1969–1980, 2006)
Steve Tassler – Drums, Backing Vocals (1969–1980, 2006)
Herb Schildt – Keyboards (1969–1978, 1997–2006)
Terry Luttrell – Lead Vocals (1973–1978, 2006)
Ralph Goldheim ("Caribou Ralph") – Lead Vocals, Keyboards (1979–1981)
Bruce Botts – Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals (1982–2019)
Scott McKenzie – Drums, Backing Vocals (1982–1987)
Mark McGee – Guitar (1985–1986)
George Harp - Lead Vocals (1982–1986, 2015–2019)

Timeline

ImageSize = width:1000 height:350 PlotArea = left:100 bottom:80 top:10 right:20 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1969 till:12/31/2020 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy

Colors =

 id:vocals   value:red        legend:Vocals
 id:guitar   value:green      legend:Guitars
 id:bass     value:blue       legend:Bass
 id:drums    value:orange     legend:Drums
 id:keys     value:purple     legend:Keyboards
 id:lines1   value:black      legend:Studio_albums
 id:bars     value:gray(0.9)

Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:1 BackgroundColors = bars:bars ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:2 start:1969 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1969

BarData =

 bar:Terry    text:Terry Luttrell
 bar:Ralph    text:Ralph Goldhiem
 bar:George   text:George Harp
 bar:Herb     text:Herb Schildt
  
 bar:Gary     text:Gary Strater

 bar:Matt     text:Matt Stewart
 bar:SteveH   text:Steve Hagler
 bar:Bruce    text:Bruce Botts
 bar:Mark     text:Mark McGee
 bar:SteveT   text:Steve Tassler
 bar:Mauro    text:Mauro Magellan
 bar:Scott    text:Scott McKenzie

PlotData=

 width:3 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4)
 bar:Ralph    from:01/01/1979 till:01/01/1981 color:keys
 bar:Gary     from:01/01/1981 till:01/01/1987 color:keys
 bar:Bruce    from:01/01/1982 till:01/01/1985 color:keys
 bar:Matt     from:01/01/2005 till:01/01/2007 color:bass
 bar:SteveH   from:01/01/2005 till:01/01/2007 color:bass
 bar:Bruce    from:01/01/2005 till:01/01/2007 color:bass

 width:7 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4)
 bar:SteveH   from:01/01/2006 till:01/01/2007 color:keys
 bar:Bruce    from:01/01/2006 till:01/01/2007 color:keys

 width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4)
 bar:Terry    from:01/01/1973 till:12/01/1978 color:vocals
 bar:Ralph    from:01/01/1979 till:01/01/1981 color:vocals
 bar:George   from:01/01/1982 till:01/01/1987 color:vocals
 bar:Terry    from:01/01/2004 till:12/31/2006 color:vocals
 bar:George   from:11/01/2018 till:end        color:vocals

 bar:Gary    from:01/01/1969 till:01/01/1987 color:bass
 bar:Gary    from:01/01/1997 till:12/31/2004 color:bass

 bar:Herb    from:01/01/1969 till:12/01/1978 color:keys
 bar:Herb    from:01/01/1997 till:01/01/2006 color:keys
 
 bar:Matt    from:01/01/1969 till:01/01/1981 color:guitar
 bar:SteveH  from:01/01/1969 till:01/01/1980 color:guitar
 bar:Bruce   from:01/01/1982 till:01/01/1985 color:guitar
 bar:Mark    from:01/01/1985 till:01/01/1986 color:guitar
 bar:Matt    from:01/01/1997 till:01/01/2007 color:guitar
 bar:Bruce   from:01/01/1997 till:01/01/2007 color:guitar
 bar:SteveH  from:01/01/2004 till:12/31/2006 color:guitar
 bar:Bruce   from:11/01/2018 till:end        color:guitar

 bar:SteveT  from:01/01/1969 till:01/01/1980 color:drums
 bar:SteveT  from:01/01/2004 till:12/31/2006 color:drums
 bar:Mauro   from:01/01/1980 till:01/01/1981 color:drums
 bar:Scott   from:01/01/1982 till:01/01/1987 color:drums

LineData =

 at:02/01/1976 color:lines1 layer:back
 at:01/01/1977 color:lines1 layer:back
 at:10/01/1977 color:lines1 layer:back
 at:10/21/1978 color:lines1 layer:back
 at:01/01/2007 color:lines1 layer:back

</timeline>

Discography

Year	Title	Notes	Album Type
1976	Starcastle	First studio album.	Studio
1977	Fountains of Light	Re-issued on CD in 1998.	Studio
1977	Citadel	Features cover art by the famous Brothers Hildebrandt. Re-issued on CD in 1998.	Studio
1978	Real to Reel	Re-issued on CD in 1998.	Studio
2001	Chronos I	Archive release featuring demos and unreleased tracks.	Studio
2002	Eleven to the Fourth Twice	Gary Strater. Synthesized electronic ambient music based on fractal equations.	Solo
2002	Alive Beyond Recognition	All compositions, performances, programming and production by Steve Tassler.	Solo
2002	Echoes of Light	Steve & Carol Hagler.	Solo
2006	Alive In America: Live 1978	Also released as Shine On Brightly and Concert Classics Volume 5	Live
2007	Song of Times	Final studio album.	Studio
2018	Alchemy	A compilation of songs written while based in San Francisco, taken from demos, live shows and rehearsals.	Multiple

References

^ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 Colin Larkin, ed. (1995). The Guinness Who's Who of Heavy Metal (Second ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 338. ISBN 0-85112-656-1.
^ "Starcastle: Song of Times". Seaoftranquility.org. Retrieved November 23, 2019.

External links

[LarkinHM-1] 1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 Colin Larkin, ed. (1995). The Guinness Who's Who of Heavy Metal (Second ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 338. ISBN 0-85112-656-1.

[2] "Starcastle: Song of Times". Seaoftranquility.org. Retrieved November 23, 2019.

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