30th March 2012
Highland rock band, ESTRELLA, is destined to make big waves in the coming months with the release of their debut album - "Come Out To Play" - on 21 May 2012.
An exciting time for these full time musicians, who are set to play a handful of Scottish dates, before heading out on a full UK tour in May/June. But for fans that can't wait until then, the tracks - "One Love" and "Party" - are available to download on iTunes now!
Thurso brothers, Paul (vocals), Luke (lead guitar) and Nathan (bass) Gunn along with Elgin's Leo McPherson (drums) make up the band and have built a solid reputation in Scotland from their live shows and tour of Scottish schools along with festival appearances in Aberdeen, Redditch and Malta.
In 2010/2011, the guys moved to the Aberdeenshire countryside to spend time working on new material for their debut album in collaboration with John T Sinclair (ex-keyboard player to Ozzy Osbourne and band member of Uriah Heep and The Cult).
Guitarist Luke recalls: "When we got in touch with John T Sinclair to ask how he would feel about coming on board to produce our debut album, he told us to take a year and a half out of gigs to really hone our sound. Along the way he gave us some song writing tips, advised us to have a really solid musical direction and clear idea of what we wanted to do. He also brought in British sound engineer, Ashley Howe, who has worked for bands such as Queen and Led Zeppelin.
We are really lucky to have such a strong team working with us. Between commutes from our base in Aberdeenshire, to John's studio in Inverness and then to London for final production/engineering on the new tracks, we were kept busy!"
The result is a sound which is primarily 70/80s infused rock - think Bon Jovi, Def Leppard and Aerosmith - awash with melody and riffs, thunderous beats and anthemic choruses - all the ingredients of a dynamic fresh new rock sound for today!
This is the culmination of a time that has seen the brothers' relocate in 2005 from their home town in Thurso to Aberdeen so they could pursue a career as musicians. Their first gig in the city was playing at Northsound 1 Radio's Free at the Dee live music event playing to 30,000 people! Over the following years, they gigged throughout the UK, released a self-titled CD, had a few tweaks in musical direction and then in 2010 they found themselves having to make a significant change to their line-up. Fortunately for the band, they unearthed their now drummer, Leo, who sounds as though he's been playing with the guys for years! Line-up complete the band knew the time was right to work on material for their debut album, calling in John T Sinclair and the move to their Aberdeenshire hideaway . . .
Now as a result of their irrepressible live performances, radio airplay and an ever increasing social media presence, these guys have steadily built a large UK and European fan base.
With big hair, big riffs and killer tunes - ESTRELLA - does what it says on the tin - PLAYS ROCK - something for everyone!
Current radio airplay for their tracks, include Jim Gellatly's shows on Amazing Radio and In:Demand Uncut which is aired across Scotland. Jim, who is credited for finding many new up and coming artists, has said "Party" is an "anthem"! Having seen Estrella play recently at Edinburgh's Hard Rock Caf�, he said "Estrella gave a stadium performance in a small venue".
The band also featured in Jim's New Music Column in the Scottish Sun on 25 November 2011, where he said "The anthemic pop rock stomper "Party" may sound like it's from any of the past 4 decades, but it was one of the freshest tracks I played that week", "Estrella have the seeds in place for worldwide success!"
Classic Rock, Reviews Editor, Jason Ritchie said "'One Love' is a perfect arena rock anthem with a big, catchy chorus and a nifty keyboard riff. The sound is not overly slick either, like Def Leppard meets Shy. Roll on the debut album release ..."
The double A side can be previewed here: http://www.estrellarocks.com/music