Strfkr (a
disemvowelment of "Starfucker"), stylized in
all caps
In typography, all caps (short for "all capitals") refers to text or a font in which all letters are capital letters, for example: "THIS TEXT IS IN ALL CAPS". All caps may be used for emphasis (for a word or phrase). They are commonly seen in ...
, is an
indie rock
Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...
band from
Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
* Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States
* Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
,
Oregon
Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...
. It began in 2007 as a solo project of Joshua Hodges.
History
Members include Joshua Hodges of
Sexton Blake
Sexton Blake is a fictional character, a detective who has been featured in many British comic strips, novels and dramatic productions since 1893. Sexton Blake adventures were featured in a wide variety of British and international publications ...
(vocals, keyboards, guitar, drums), Shawn Glassford (bass, keyboards, drums), Keil Corcoran (drums, keyboards, vocals), and Arian Jalali (Guitar, Keyboards)
Prior to forming Starfucker, Hodges released a solo album titled ''Sexton Blake'' and followed up with an album released under the band name "Sexton Blake" entitled ''Plays The Hits!'' Both albums were released on Expunged Records. During this time Corcoran was the drummer for Vegas-based grindcore band The Weirding Way.
The name Starfucker started off as a joke by Sam Norris, an early patron of the band, but the band's success under the name grew rapidly. In response to this success, and with the guidance of an ex manager, they briefly changed their name to Pyramiddd, before quickly changing their name back.
In 2010, Starfucker announced that they would be signing with
Polyvinyl Records
In polymer chemistry, vinyl polymers are a group of polymers derived from substituted Vinyl group, vinyl () monomers. Their Polymer backbone, backbone is an extended alkane chain . In popular usage, "vinyl" refers only to polyvinyl chloride (PVC) ...
, releasing a two-song EP, and a full album in preparation for March 2011. On August 2, 2011, Starfucker announced that Ryan Biornstad would be leaving the band. The group shortened their name to STRFKR in 2012.
On February 10, 2016, the band released a single titled "Never Ever", while the album ''Being No One, Going Nowhere'' was released in November of that year.
On September 6, 2019, the band released a new single titled "Fantasy", and the band's sixth studio album, ''Future Past Life'' was released on April 10, 2020.
Use in media
Strfkr's song, "Rawnald Gregory Erickson the Second" (2008) was notable for its use in
Target
Target may refer to:
Physical items
* Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports
** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports
** Aiming point, in field artillery, fi ...
's "Pink Pepto" commercial in 2009 created by the Portland ad agency
Wieden+Kennedy
Wieden+Kennedy (W+K; earlier styled ''Wieden & Kennedy'') is an American independent global advertising agency best known for its work for Nike. Founded by Dan Wieden and David Kennedy, and headquartered in Portland, Oregon, it is one of the l ...
. The promotion was selected as the ''
AdWeek
''Adweek'' is a weekly American advertising trade publication that was first published in 1979. ''Adweek'' covers creativity, client–agency relationships, global advertising, accounts in review, and new campaigns. During this time, it has cover ...
s'' "Ad of the Day" on September 4, 2009. "Rawnald Gregory Erickson the Second" was also featured in the TV series ''
Weeds'' in a scene where Andy and Audra are in a minivan, as well as their song "Biggie Smalls" in the final episode of the series (episode 12 of season eight). "Rawnald Gregory Erickson the Second" also was featured in the TV series ''
The Blacklist
''The Blacklist'' is an American crime thriller television series that premiered on NBC on September 23, 2013. The show follows Raymond "Red" Reddington (James Spader), a former U.S. Navy officer turned high-profile criminal who voluntarily sur ...
'' near the end of episode 14 of season 1 in 2014.
Their song "Bury Us Alive" was featured in the 2012 film ''
Chronicle
A chronicle ( la, chronica, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and lo ...
''.
Strfkr's cover of
Cyndi Lauper
Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper Thornton (born June 22, 1953) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and activist. Her career has spanned over 40 years. Her album ''She's So Unusual'' (1983) was the first debut album by a female artist to achi ...
's "
Girls Just Want to Have Fun
"Girls Just Want to Have Fun" is a song written, recorded and performed by American musician Robert Hazard, who released it as a Single (music), single in 1979. It is best known for the version of American singer Cyndi Lauper, who covered the s ...
" from ''Jupiter'' was featured in a Juicy Couture ad directed by Terry Richardson starring
Candice Swanepoel
Candice Susan Swanepoel (; ; born 20 October 1988) is a South African model and philanthropist. She is known for her work with Victoria's Secret. She became a Victoria's Secret Angel in 2010. In 2016, she was listed 8th on the ''Forbes'' top-ea ...
in 2012, and in the pilot episode for the MTV series Faking It in 2014. Brazilian soap opera “
Todas as Flores
''Todas as Flores'' (English title: ''All the Flowers'') is a Brazilian telenovela created by João Emanuel Carneiro. It premiered on Globoplay on 19 October 2022, and ended on 1 June 2023. The telenovela stars Sophie Charlotte, Regina Casé, ...
” used the song as one of the main tracks for the show, in 2022.
The song "Millions", off of the album ''Reptilians'', was played on the American version of the television show ''
Skins''. The song "Mona Vegas", off of the album ''Reptilians'', was played in the 2013 film ''
21 & Over''. "While I'm Alive", from the album ''Miracle Mile'', is featured in the film adaptation of ''
The Fault in Our Stars
''The Fault in Our Stars'' is a novel by John Green. It is his fourth solo novel, and sixth novel overall. It was published on January 10, 2012. The title is inspired by Act 1, Scene 2 of Shakespeare's play ''Julius Caesar'', in which the noble ...
''.
The songs "Rawnald Gregory Erickson The Second", "While I'm Alive" and "Bed-Stuy (Super Cop)" were played in the 2014 film ''Two Night Stand'', starring Miles Teller and Analeigh Tipton as main characters, Jessica Zohr, and Scott 'Kid CuDi' Mescudi.
“Open Your Eyes” was played during the opening title of Trinkets on Netflix, in the third episode of the first season “P*ssy Palace”
"Boy Toy" from the album ''Jupiter'' was played during episode 8 of
Apple TV
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...
's show "Echo 3"
Style
Further explaining the band's name, Josh Hodges said: "I was around all these people who were kind of douchey, the kind of people I would never hang out with, and one of them bragged about being a 'starfucker.' I thought, 'Who are these people? What is this world?' That's why I chose the name: because it represented all I didn't want to be a part of, all I didn't want to do. So it does hold us back, but that was the point, originally." They have also explained it is to keep themselves from taking themselves too seriously as a band and get involved in social politics in the music industry: "I got kind of sick of the idea of success through music or something, so that’s how STRFKR was born. I had this other band and the label it was on had this vision for it and I wasn’t that into it. So I just kind of quit doing that and I was still making music in my basement. It’s just something I always will do whether I’m showing it to other people or not and that’s what STRFKR was. I was like, let’s just do this at house parties. I was trying to remove myself from that rat race or whatever."
Hodges describes the goal of the band's music as "dance music that you can actually listen to, that's good pop songs, but also you can dance to it.". Another defining characteristic is their lyrics, which often discuss death, mortality, and the end of the world but doing so over upbeat and popular dance music. Samples from lectures by
Alan Watts
Alan Wilson Watts (6 January 1915 – 16 November 1973) was an English writer, speaker and self-styled "philosophical entertainer", known for interpreting and popularising Japanese, Chinese and Indian traditions of Buddhist, Taoist, and Hindu ...
are spliced into several of their songs, including "Florida," "Isabella of Castile," "Medicine," "Pistol Pete," "Mystery Cloud," "Golden Light," "Hungry Ghost", "Interspace" and "Quality Time".
The band, notably bassist Shawn Glassford, has earned a reputation for wearing women's clothing during live performances, as was prominently displayed in the band's music video for the song "German Love", directed by Rebecca Micciche. This is used in harmony with their "anti-fashion" approach to music. However, most of their music videos are not made with much of the band's actual involvement or appearance.
Discography
Studio albums
Extended plays
* ''Starfucker'' (2008
)
* ''Burnin' Up'' (2008)
* ''Jupiter'' (2009)
* ''B-Sides'' (2010)
Singles
* "Julius" (2010)
* "Happy Fucking Holidays" (2010) (Soundcloud Release Only)
* "Dragon Queens" 7" Split w/ Champagne Champagne (2011)
* "The Wisdom of Insecurity" from ''Japan 3-11-11: A Benefit Album'' (2011)
* "While I'm Alive" (2012)
* "Golden Light" (2014) 12"
* "Astronaut" b/w "Little Lover" (2015) (Record Store Day release, 400 copies)
* "Never Ever" (2016)
* "Amiee" (2017)
*"Fantasy" (2019)
*"Never The Same" (2020)
*"Deep Dream" (2020)
Other releases
* ''Heavens Youth (Reptilian Demos)'' (2011)
* ''Mixtape 1''
* ''Vault Vol. 1'' (2017)
* ''Vault Vol. 2'' (2017)
* ''Vault Vol. 3'' (2017)
* ''Being No One, Going Nowhere (Remixes)'' (2018)
* ''Live From Brooklyn Steel'' (2019)
* ''Ambient 1'' (2020)
References
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
2007 establishments in Oregon
American synth-pop groups
Electronic music groups from Oregon
Electronica music groups
Indie pop groups from Oregon
Indie rock musical groups from Oregon
Musical groups established in 2007
Musical groups from Portland, Oregon
Musical quartets
Polyvinyl Record Co. artists