Doomed Confessionary: Arthur Desbois (Starmonger)
Photos by Cecile Corbois
Starmonger is a heavy psych/desert rock trio hailing from Paris, France.
Space rock, doom, desert, classic rock… Starmonger’s new album »Occultation« draws on the classics to compose their intergalactic epic soundtrack. This heroic stoner record with its charismatic vocals embarks its audience on an occult sonic journey. Built like tales, the seven tracks illustrate a limitless imagination where strange shamanic hallucinations rub shoulders with an interplanetary class struggle.
»Occultation« was released on November 29th, 2024 via Interstellar Smoke Records on vinyl, CD and digital.
Starmonger are Arthur Desbois (lead vocals, guitar), Mathias Friedman (bass, backing vocals) and Seb Antoine (drums, backing vocals).
Can you say a few words about your band?
Starmonger is a heavy psychedelic rock project from Paris, France, offering a blend of fuzzy riffs, spacey atmospheres and emotionally charged choruses. Our new album »Occultation« dropped on November 29th via Interstellar Smoke Records.
What was the biggest challenge for the band?
As for many bands around the world, we took a severe blow in the 2020 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns. We had important changes in the line-up, with me taking up lead vocals and Mathias arriving in the band (bass/backing vocals). This eventually meant reinventing the band from the ground up with new ways of working together, and figuring out our new identity, in terms of sound, lyric themes, and individual contributions.
What can you be most proud of so far?
Well, figuring all this out! It was a long way with lots of lessons along the way, but I think we can be really proud of this album. Personally, I had to actually learn how to sing, and rethink my whole way of composing and playing guitar parts along with that. And I’m pretty proud of what’s come out of this learning process.
We’re also collectively very proud of our last videos for the singles »Black Lodge« & »Conjunction«, both directed by Seb, our drummer, and filmed and edited in only 3 months. The two were very ambitious projects, as we wanted to make short movies referencing adventure flicks of the 70s/80s for the former, and horror/scifi mystery of the 90s for the latter. Results are beyond expectations!
What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
My personal favorite was at the Supersonic Club in Paris, in September 2023, opening for The Necromancers with Pelegrin. The audience had so much energy, everything just felt right.
What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
Not really a surprise, but I’m really pleased with how genres are blending recently. We’ve been seeing more and more bands include elements from prog, post-rock, psychedelia, etc. while keeping roots in the “stoner” vibe. This means quality and expectations are constantly being raised, which is amazing as a listener, and both exciting and kind of scary as a songwriter. So much talent everywhere!
What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
The last album by Sons Of Arrakis gets played a lot. Super efficient riffing and songcrafting, with top-notch production. Other personal favorites of the year are the last albums by And So I Watch You From Afar, REZN, Heavy Temple, and French sludge doomers Wormsand.
What was the best advice you’ve ever been given as a musician?
Practice practice practice. But the great thing with advice is you’re free to follow it or not (I don’t).
What are your guilty pleasures?
Never ashamed to say I really appreciate pop music. A good tune gets stuck in your head forever. I think there’s a lot to be learned from Lady Gaga, Madonna or ABBA, or older “pop” rock bands like U2 or Blur and whatnot.
Can you say something more about the current music scene in Paris?
Even with electronic music filling up 90% of clubs and venues (which I’m not criticizing!), the Parisian heavy scene is still wild and buzzing with activity, with a good number of established and emerging bands, and organizations of passionate people helping to set up dates, like Below the Sun or Almost Famous. Among bands I would cite our friends Qilin, Clegane, Dead Acid People, Slowbot, Decasia… And then there are many more in the psychedelic, post-rock and hardcore genres. But venues are scarce, with a lot having closed in the last years, others currently having difficulties, and it’s nigh impossible for them to keep up with the demand, meaning lots of bands struggle with finding gigs.
Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
We’re setting up some concerts around France in early 2025, with confirmed dates in Paris, Amiens, Nancy, and others still in preparation. Still can’t say much, but we’re trying to take our music out of Paris.
What are your plans for the future as a band?
At the moment, all the energy was focused on the release of our album with Interstellar Smoke Record in November. Then there’s gigging and touring in early 2025, then maybe (crossing fingers) some summer festivals. We’ve also got some recorded but unfinished material that was creatively linked to »Occultation« we’d like to see released. Then we need to talk about the 3rd album.
How can people best support your band?
Come to our shows! Buy our vinyls! Grab a beer with us and tell us about that song you like, that band you discovered, that festival you loved! There’s no underground scene without the support of you passionate people with weird taste in distorted sounds.
Do you have any message for your listeners?
We hope you’ll like »Occultation« as much as we took pleasure in making it come alive. Enjoy, space out, and be excellent to each other.
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well