Starcastle

From St. James to Starcastle

Starcastle began in 1969 as a cover band called St. James at the University of Illinois, founded by Herb Schildt and Steve Hagler with Gary Strater and the drummer Mike Castlehorn. By Wikipedia's account they played songs by the Grateful Dead, Dave Brubeck and Traffic. Castlehorn died in a car accident in 1972 and Steve Tassler took over the drums. Schildt bought a Minimoog, and a wish for original material led to a new name, Mad John Fever, in 1973.

Matt Stewart and the singer Terry Luttrell joined in 1974. After a single show as Pegasus the band took the name Starcastle and signed to Epic. How the name arrived is disputed: Wikipedia says Strater picked it after the Pegasus show, while Tassler told Music Street Journal it was drawn from a hat. One review calls Luttrell an original singer of REO Speedwagon, which no primary source confirms.

Four albums on Epic

Starcastle came out in February 1976, recorded at Golden Voice Studios in Pekin, Illinois, produced and engineered by Tommy Vicari, with Norm Kinney also engineering. It entered the Billboard 200 on March 13, 1976 and reached number 95. Fountains of Light (January 1977) was produced by Roy Thomas Baker at Le Studio in Morin Heights, Quebec, and remixed at Sarm Studios in London; it reached number 101. Baker later called making it fun but a complete disaster from the first day, and a car accident on the way to the studio sent Strater to hospital. Citadel (October 1977), also Baker's, was recorded at Chipping Norton Recording Studios in Oxfordshire and reached number 156.

The last, Real to Reel (August 1978), was recorded in April and May at the Record Plant in Sausalito with Jeffrey Lesser producing, and moved toward album-oriented rock; Wikipedia calls it a commercial failure. All four albums credit the songs to the band as a whole. From 1976 to 1978 the band opened for Jethro Tull, Gentle Giant, Fleetwood Mac, Kansas, Boston, Rush and Journey, and were strongest in St. Louis.

After Epic

Epic dropped the band in late 1978; Schildt and Luttrell left, and Ralph Goldheim joined in 1979. Tassler recalled recording in Atlanta with Jeff Glixman without a label signing, and he left in September 1980, which ended the band. Strater re-formed a group in northern California from 1982 to 1986 that made demos only. In 2001 came Chronos I, recorded in 1976 and 1977, and in 2002 solo albums by Strater, Tassler and Steve and Carol Hagler on Sunsinger.

Strater was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2003. A benefit reunion took place in Champaign on April 25, 2004 (Tassler remembers 2005), and Strater died on September 19, 2004. Alive in America: Live 1978 followed in 2006, Song of Times in 2007, and an archive release, Alchemy, was announced in 2018. A reunion with Oliver Wakeman on keyboards played in April 2007.

Sound and comparisons

The comparison with Yes is constant. Reviewers cite Strater's bass, Schildt's Moog and Luttrell's high vocals, and one hears a Squire-like bass with Anderson-like singing, plus traces of Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Camel and Gentle Giant. A Music Street Journal reviewer argues they made their own version of the style. Tassler counts the Allman Brothers, the Grateful Dead and Crosby, Stills and Nash as equal roots, and says the band had never heard Gentle Giant before touring with them.