{{Infobox musical artist , name = Five Star Iris , image = 5SI 380AEW.JPG , caption = Playing for USAF troops in SW Asia , origin =

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, Georgia,

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, genre =

Alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

Hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

, label = Hooptyville Records , current_members = Alan Schaefer
Alex Winfield
Rob Schaefer
Dan Fishman , website = Five Star Iris is an American

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

band formed in

Georgia.

History

In 1997, lead singer Alan Schaefer and his bass playing brother Robert put together the band Groundscore with drummer Dan Fishman. They became Another Man Down after coming out of

CBGB CBGB was a New York City music club opened in 1973 by Hilly Kristal in Manhattan's East Village. The club was previously a biker bar and before that was a dive bar. The letters ''CBGB'' were for '' Country'', '' BlueGrass'', and '' Blues'', Kri ...

's in New York one night and witnessing a drunk tumbling to the floor. Another Man Down toured regionally, received some regional radio play with the holiday hit 'The Dreydl Song' and released three records. Some of the tracks on the third album (2001's 'Dangerous And Close') were produced by

Ed Roland Edgar Eugene Roland, Jr. (born August 3, 1963) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the lead vocalist and primary songwriter of the rock band Collective Soul. He is also active with his side project ...

of Collective Soul. Alan eventually met up with Dennis Matkosky and Dexter Green. Dexter wasn't producing anyone at the time, but he wanted to produce what became Five Star Iris. Once the band started recording their new music, they decided they needed a new name as well. The band decided on Highwire but soon discovered a band in Buffalo, NY had been using the name for some time. They eventually decided on Five Star Iris, a name suggested by Alan’s wife. The 2006 Five Star Iris album was co-produced with Sylvia Massy Shivy (

Tool A tool is an object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many animals use simple tools, only human beings, whose use of stone tools dates ba ...

, Red Hot Chili Peppers) and Rich Veltrop (

Tom Petty Thomas Earl Petty (October 20, 1950October 2, 2017) was an American musician who was the lead vocalist and guitarist of the rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, formed in 1976. He previously led the band Mudcrutch, was a member of the lat ...

) with additional production by Dexter Green ( Collective Soul). The album also includes a pair of songs Schaefer co-wrote with Collective Soul's Ed Roland; the band has also toured with Collective Soul.Debby Jennings, "Atlanta Band Goes for Five Stars". '' The Herald'', December 15, 2006. Available through Lexis-Nexis. After meeting with U.S. military representatives, the group embarked on a tour of military bases throughout the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

as part of the

Armed Forces Entertainment Armed Forces Entertainment (A.F.E) is the official United States Department of Defense (D.o.D) agency for providing entertainment to U.S. military personnel overseas. Armed Forces Entertainment hosts over 1,200 shows around the world each ye ...

program.Peter Gaston, ''Tours of Duty''. ''

SPIN Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

'', June 2008, pp. 35-36. Because the group was forbidden from selling physical albums on this tour, they saw a significant increase in the amount of traffic to their

iTunes Store The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...

as a result.

Tours

Tour (Jul 2004): Spain, Sicily and Italy *

Tour (Sep 2004): Iceland, Sicily and Italy *

Tour (Jun/Jul 2007): Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, UAE, Qatar, Djibouti

Discography

*''Five Star Iris EP'' (2003, Hooptyville Records) *''Five Star Iris'' (October 5, 2006, Hooptyville Records) *''Live Fools'' (December 4, 2007, Hooptyville Records) *''B-Sides the Point EP'' (2008, Hooptyville Records)

Awards

*The song "Let It All Out" won the 2005 United Kingdom Songwriting Contest.Debby Jennings, "Night Sounds". '' The Herald'', October 20, 2006. Available via Lexis-Nexis. *The song "Is There Something I Can Do" was a semi-finalist in the 2005 International Songwriting Contest.

References

External links

Interview with 5SI
Alternative rock groups from Georgia (U.S. state) Musical groups from Atlanta