Chasing Fallen Stars a band on the rise
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One such group is Chasing Fallen Stars, a quartet of young musicians and songwriters who are making a regional name for themselves. The band has a show this Thursday, Dec. 8 at The Muse on 4th Avenue in Nashville. The show begins at 7 p.m. and will feature several other up-and-coming groups from around the area.
Brothers Greg, 18, and Steve Martenson, 21, on drums and guitar respectively, along with vocalist Travis Powers, 19, and bassist Mark Young, 19, make up the group. Steve says the band’s musical style is best described as just plain rock. He isn’t big on labels, but says the band is trying to have a positive influence.
“We’re not really a Christian Rock band,” Steve says, “but we do sing about morality. One of our biggest things is anti-suicide. A lot of our songs are about anti-suicide.”
Part of this philosophy comes from personal experience.
“Greg and I were in a band with Spencer Lively,” Steve said. Lively was a WCHS student who committed suicide last year. “We just think suicide is really ridiculous and that’s one of our things.”
“We’re all pretty clean-cut,” added Powers. “We don’t drink or do drugs.”
Steve says he came up with the name for the group.
“I came up with the name about three years ago,” Steve said, “and basically the name says that we’re always chasing our dreams, the fallen stars being our dreams.”
The group writes much of its material, with Steve usually coming up with the basic idea for a song. Steve said he pretty much handled the songwriting by himself at first, but as the band has evolved, it’s become a more collaborative effort.
“These days it’s a little bit different,” Steve said. “It’s pretty easy to write because they’re good enough to throw in their own stuff. Usually I come up with a riff at home on acoustic or something, and then they basically write their own parts.”
The band is working on releasing a CD titled “Before You Know What Love Is,” which will have around nine songs, three of which are pre-released demos.
The band has a full schedule for December, with several gigs in the works in addition to the Dec. 8 show. On Monday, Dec. 28 they will perform at “The Boro” in Murfreesboro at 6 p.m., which will be an 18-and-over show.
On Wednesday, Dec. 30 they will do a show at Rocketown on 6th Avenue in Nashville. And on New Year’s Eve, Chasing Fallen Stars will be performing at Lighthouse Ministries beginning at 7 p.m. here in McMinnville. For more information and show dates, visit the band’s Web site at www.myspace.com/chasingfallenstars.