Burlington, Iowa-based rock band Stars In Toledo has announced their upcoming Sophmore album Ascendance and released the title track lead single. A group of experienced and accomplished studio and touring musicians, Stars In Toldeo plays what many have termed “New Classic Rock” with the heart of an American rock band featuring an eclectic mix of members from England, Argentina, and the United States. With diverse backgrounds and influences, it’s hard to pinpoint one specific genre for the band, but rock is their one true love.

We had a chance to interview Stars In Toledo as part of our Refrain Interview Series. Check it out below.

Refrain Music Blog: Thanks for taking the time to do this interview. You have a new single out now. What’s it called?

Stars In Toledo: The name of the song is Ascendance. It is the name of the upcoming
album as well.

RMB: What is the song about, in terms of lyrics? Any overarching messages or themes?

SIT: “Ascendance”, is a straight-ahead rocker that kicks off with an ever-building drum, bass, and guitar groove. The song is about being out down, bullied, discouraged from following your dreams. Ascendance rises above all that negative people and keeps going forward, never stop dreaming.

RMB: Is this single part of an album?

SIT: This is the first release of our second album title ASCENDANCE, we are planning to do five more single releases. The album will feature 12 tracks spanning the genres of rock, indie, and prog. The album will include 10 originals, as well as covers of Peter Gabriel’s “Sledge Hammer” and “Beautiful” by Christina Aguilera.

RMB: How does this single differ from your previous work?

SIT: I believe being the second album, we are starting to define our sound.

RMB: What’s the story on how it was recorded?

SIT: Our first album was recorded in our area (Iowa/Illinois border) and mixed in Nashville by up-and-coming producer and musician, Luke DeJanes. Luke mentioned “I want to track the next album” During covid, it was hard for the band to travel to Nashville, so Luke completely disassembled his studio and drove 9 hours with one of his recording engineers to track our album. We rented an old studio just across the Mississippi River in Illinois, and he set up his gear there, we track the instruments in 4 days, he came back a few weeks later and did all the vocals. He mixed the album back in Nashville and here we are, very happy with the product. The album was co-produced by band members Carlos Capdevila and Nick Knedler.

RMB: Tell us a little about the band.

SIT: We are a group of experienced and accomplished studio and touring musicians, Stars in Toledo plays what many have termed “New Classic Rock” with the heart of an American rock band featuring an eclectic mix of members from England, Argentina, and the United States. With diverse backgrounds and influences, it’s hard to pinpoint
one specific genre for the band, but rock is their one true love. We have been together for 4 Years now. Carlos Capdevila (Argentina) Drums, Daryll Bond Quad
(Iowa) Bass. Johnny Gram, Guitars (Birmingham, England) Nick Knedler, guitars (Iowa), and Joe Russel vocalist (Iowa)

RMB: Who are some of your biggest musical influences? 

SIT: Personally, Led Zeppelin, Yes, Queen, even Pink Floyd, But the band influences are all over the place, are age range and backgrounds are very wide, so we have been influenced by many artists and genres, Blues, gospel to Latin music.

RMB: What’s the one thing you are most proud of in your career so far?

SIT: I started touring and recording at age 15, in Argentina and South America, after playing for 10 years straight, I completely give music for 20 years, after losing my 18-year-old daughter, she inspired me to get back and do what I love again (Life is short) I am proud of what I have accomplished since back in the scene, I am proud that I did not give my dream up, and proud of my band and band members.

RMB: If you had to pitch your music to a potential fan in less than 10 seconds, what would you say?

SIT: We bring new rock to the classic rock lovers, we tell you stories, we WILL ROCK YOU.

RMB: What’s one piece of advice you’ve gotten that you think everyone needs to hear or that has meant the most to you?

SIT: “Stay true to your talent and your artistic instincts and your dreams.” There is so much B.S. in the music industry right now, record companies think Tick Tock is going to save the industry, or that 2 seconds impatience listeners are more important than talent. Maybe now, but in the long run, quality always wins.

RMB: If you could go back in time, what’s a piece of advice you would give to a younger you?

SIT: Don’t eat yellow snow.

RMB: What’s coming up next for your musical project?

SIT: We are looking to film videos for all our single releases and we have a full summer of gigs coming up, mostly in the Midwest.

RMB: Anything we haven’t thought of that you want to talk
about?

SIT: JUST THE GENERAL TYPE OF BAND WE ARE, Music nowadays seems to be defined by types or genres, as artists, it’s hard for us to put ourselves in a box, so, when you grow up influenced by the late 70’s early 80’s you probably won’t be writing synth-pop radio-friendly tunes. We wanted to keep ours hard-rockin’ roots but stray away from songs beholden to their libido and crotch. “Not that there’s anything wrong with that.” Lyrically we wanted to tell some stories, paint some pictures.

Musically we get to some straight-ahead rock songs occasionally leaving the path into the realm of prog/math rock for those with pocket protectors.

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