Meet the Band: Helen Stellar

Published: April 23, 2009, 7:25 pm ET
Helen Stellar
Collegian Staff

Jordan Trippeer speaks to Jim Evens who does vocals and guitar for Helen Stellar.

Q: How does your band approach music?
A: We have our first full-length album coming out in late August or early September. We’re just getting better and more tuned in. We just have a vibe that’s our common denominator. We’re a different band, but we have the same basic philosophy, which is: Play what you feel.

Q: Why did you name your band Helen Stellar?
A: The name was a joke. We weren’t a real band. We had this show opportunity come up. We got a drummer. A month later we played our first show. Our old bass player chose the name and our shows were really good and then our next shows were even better and the name just stuck.

Q: What was the creative process behind “Io” [a song that appeared on the “Elizabethtown” soundtrack]?
A: We were recording our second EP, “Below Radar” in a studio. I kind of wrote the piano part and that song wasn’t even going to be recorded, but the studio had a grand piano and I went up and started playing that part. Then everyone contributed with their instruments. It was a mistake. “Io” wasn’t an accident – it was meant to be then and there. It’s not like we were doing something and we messed something up and were like, “Hey, that’s something.” I guess you can say it’s accidental, but it was also meant to be. Songs are not accidents. Sometimes they don’t come out the way I hear them in my head, but that’s just what happens. That’s what art is all about. There are no mistakes. Things can start out as one thing, end up as something else and be just as impactful.

Io

Contact reporter Jordan Trippeer at jordan.trippeer@richmond.edu

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  • Steven Bishop

    Hey, I’m glad I found this. As a matter of fact, Jim handed me an artistic photograph of a beautiful short-haired woman standing before a shimmering blue curtain of velvet or something. He told me he found that picture in the alley outside his old place in Chicago. I remember her face was blurred a bit because she had moved suddenly. I sat with that picture for some time. I used to see it everyday. We talked about coming up with a space-sounding name, and I named the girl in the picture Helen. Helen Stellar. The joke is I wasn’t at all considering the Helen Keller implication at the time.

    Peace.