Dust Star

Lame-O Records

Dust Star was born in the dead of night on Halloween, under the influence of a twinkling desert sky and two tabs of LSD. Justin Jurgens (Sirs) and Cameron Wisch (Cende, Porches) sat with guitars on the floor of the “Caboose”, a shipping-container-turned-bedroom, sharing songs they had written over the last few years. They played and played until their fingers melted, all-the-while seeing the potential of a powerful musical collaboration. They decided to join forces, and the “roll-your-windows-down power-pop” outfit Dust Star was formed.

For the next two years Jurgens and Wisch drove back and forth between Joshua Tree and LA rehearsing and writing songs. Eventually the chess-obsessed, violinist-savant Oliver Hill joined them on bass and an LP began to take shape. Jurgens had recently befriended Nick Norrman (Banshee, Male Nurses), a recording engineer with a notoriously “punchy-and-crunchy” production style utilizing chaotic nests of wires, dusty mixing boards, and scrounged tape machines. Over the course of a very hot desert summer, they recorded their debut LP, Open Up That Heart.

 Wisch’s pummeling drums explode out of the gate in the opening track “Nothing In My Head”. The unrelenting groove intertwines with Jurgens’ passionate vocal performance and raw punk guitars with a 60’s sparkle. The songs that follow resemble everything from a bootlegged copy of Neil Young’s Live Rust to a glowing Brian Wilson B-Side. Open Up That Heart takes a stab at finding hope and love in the face of recent heartbreak, outdated familial expectations, depression, and a world in turmoil.