Front man for band Minor Stars turns job loss into a musical opportunity

Hard rock and getting fired — it’s an obvious combination.

Few things accompany the “stick-it-to-the-Man” fury that often follows a dismissal better than a tortuously distorted guitar and a well-timed kick drum.

But for Chapel Hill’s Eric Wallen blasting riffs is more than just hard-edged therapy. It’s the next step.

 

SEE MINOR STARS

Time: 10 p.m. Saturday
Location: Local 506
506 W. Franklin St.
Info: www.local506.com

 

As he stares down a layoff at UNC’s soon-to-be-closed Tar Heel Temps office, Wallen is taking the opportunity to fully pursue his life’s driving passion: music.

“This is what I’m meant to do, and this is what I love doing,” he said. “And when I don’t do it, I start seeing manifestations of unhappiness or whatever in my life.”

Up to this point Wallen has pursued music consistently if not doggedly. He is the guitarist for Ben Davis And The Jetts, and from 2000 to 2006 he was the frontman for My Dear Ella, a psychedelic Carrboro band that he said sometimes partied more than it played.

In the ashes of Ella’s collapse, Wallen formed Death Of The Sun, a harder rocking band with clear cues from the ’70s. Through more than two years of shelling new songs and a revolving door of backing players, Wallen whittled his project down to a sharply refined trio.

Tired of the constant expectation of death metal produced by the band’s name, Wallen re-dubbed the trio Minor Stars and prepared to release the band’s debut album.

“I’m really, really fortunate to have these guys around and wanting to play music because the band right now I think is pretty awesome,” he said. “All three of us are really into it.”

The appropriately titled The Death of the Sun in the Silver Sea, which will have a Saturday release party at Local 506, is the result of Minor Stars’ two-and-a-half year gestation, and it dives right into the harder rock Wallen has always wanted to explore.

“I’ve always liked heavy music, but I didn’t really play it,” he said. “It gave me a little bit of freedom to rock out again — guitar solos, big crunchy riffs.”

But as Wallen points out, Minor Stars is more than just a fully cranked shot of guitar-powered angst. Fleshed out with sweet harmonies and other more pop elements, the band’s pallet is pulled from all over the rock ’n’ roll map. It’s a sound with which Wallen strives to push the boundaries of what heavy-minded music can do.

“There is a physicality to it that evokes different feelings,” he said. “There’s really heady music. There’s really ‘heart-on-your-sleeve’ kind of music. And then there’s just raw power in it.”

With a new record and fresh band in tow, Wallen thinks he has tweaked his product to the point where it will strike a chord with listeners. It’s a belief he intends to put to the test.

“Bottom line is a good band is just a band with good songs,” he said. “I think the songs are good, and they express something real that might resonate with people.”

For Wallen the timing is great. Newly released from his nine-to-five chains in Chapel Hill, he is prepared to take his band on the road and put his full weight behind promoting the trio’s new record.

“This is just the right time for this to happen,” he said. “I feel like I deserve a couple of years of ‘OK, now this is my full time job, and what can I do to step it up to the next level?’”

Contact the Diversions Editor at dive@unc.edu