Some of the material on Astari Nite's new forthcoming EP, Requiem Mass, may sound familiar.
Songs like "Astrid" and "True Romance" have become staples in the four-piece's repertoire over the past couple of years as the band has honed its reverb-laden, English-influenced sound.
What's new here, though, is the band's polish. While its past demo recordings have sounded almost lo-fi, a few developments for Astari Nite have made this effort its best yet.
This past winter, the band signed a management deal with Creator Entertainment, a new entertainment company headed by Danny Chasan, Ultra Music Festival's marketing director for the past eight years. This led to a slot on Ultra as well as a run of dates up and down the East Coast, another publishing deal, and, finally, more studio time. The end result of all that practice is a four-track release that's tied up a lot of the previous loose ends, with songs that are snappier, more concise, and better produced than ever.
Astari Nite celebrates its EP release this Saturday, May 28 at the Stage, with pals and local favorites the State Of. The evening is conceived as more of a dance night than has usually been found at the venue, with DJ sets from Chico Biscayne, Andrews Lorenzana, and DJ Vulgurth between live performances.
Below, check out a quick Q&A with frontman Mychael Ghost.
Crossfade: This past March you played at Ultra. How did that go, and did any new opportunities come of it?
Mychael Ghost: Performing at Ultra was a genuine experience for Astari Nite. We had just gotten off of our Politics of Love tour up the East Coast, so for our next show to be held in Miami was a pleasant surprise. For that we thank Danny Chasan who is the brilliance behind Creator Entertainment, which is our management company.
A dear friend of mine named Derek Sunshine flew in from California to perform on keyboards for that performance. This was very personal for me, he taught me so much in my life so I felt this was a way to say thank you for the lesson.
Then April approached us rather quickly and we found ourselves shaking hands with SESAC who now does our publishing. We have several adventures lined up this year.
What were some of the highlights of that tour for you personally?
Visiting Strawberry Fields in Central Park has to have been one of the most meaningful experiences I have ever had with everyone else in the band, Illia, Furey, and Grey. It was first time we were all silent -- it was the loudest sound and I will never forget it.
As for a favorite show, our performance at the Antigravity party at Rbar, also in New York, was a pleasant performance. The event was orchestrated by Bruce X. Wells, who is now a great friend of mine. We will be seeing him again in October for CMJ.
When and where did you record this EP?
Josh Rohe acted as the recording and mixing engineer for our Requiem Mass EP at his studio in Aventura. His work is being noticed worldwide. I can assure you that Astari Nite and Josh Rohe will work together once again. We began the process in late January and completed it close to Valentine's Day.
How has your sound changed on it, and what's your favorite song if you have one, and why?
We have been able to spend more time on our delivery and how we wanted it to sound. Learning from our previous experience with recording, we kept our ears open for how the sounds were going to mesh together, as opposed to individually on their own. This EP is also has a bit more grit to it. As a whole we are happy with the entire EP so it's kind of hard to pick one as we are all so attached to each song. I will admit that "Astrid" has been a lot of our friends' favorite, though.
Any plans for a full-length any time soon?
Yes, we plan on putting our favorites along with some new songs that we are currently working on for a full length. I think we will start the recording process by this fall. We will be also debuting one of our newest songs at our EP release show.
Now that you have a management deal, is there anything in the works related to that right now?
As you know certain specifics can't be spoken about due to contracts and agreements. I can assure you that winter in London and Paris looks very bright for Astari Nite and we really are looking forward to it. Creator has been so supportive of us and we are very thankful to be a part of their roster. Right now we are still in the beginning stages of it all so we are sure that in time some really great things will happen.
Astari Nite. 10 p.m. Saturday, May 28. The Stage, 170 NE 38th St., Miami. Age 21 ad up with ID. Call 305-576-9577 or visit thestagemiami.com.
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