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<\/p>\nGuitar shredders are a dime a dozen these days. But the real guitar heroes are the ones who balance their musical artistry with finesse, melodicism and power. Jack Starr fits that description: for more than 40 years he has been bringing his distinctive style of heavy metal to enthusiastic audiences around the globe. His band, Jack Starr\u2019s Burning Starr, recently released its ninth album, Souls of the Innocent<\/i>, and is currently touring in support of the record.<\/p>\n
Starr comes from an American family, but he was born and grew to adulthood in Paris. \u201cMy father was working for the American government after World War II, and he stayed on for another 15 years,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m not sure exactly what he did<\/i> for the government,\u201d Starr adds cryptically.<\/p>\n
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Jack Starr\u2019s immersion in French culture had an effect upon him. When it came to music, postwar France took an insular approach to pop culture; preferring homegrown artists like Fran\u00e7oise Hardy, Serge Gainsbourg, Jacques Dutronc and Johnny Hallyday, known as \u201cthe French Elvis.\u201d But that didn\u2019t stop Starr from hearing \u2013 and appreciating \u2013 the music of his American forbears. \u201cI listened to Motown and [other] things that were allowed to seep into French culture,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Classical music played a large role in his early life. \u201cThey play classical music on regular rotation on major radio stations in France,\u201d Starr says. \u201cI listened to a lot of it growing up.\u201d And while the connection might not seem an obvious one, that music would eventually lead him to hard rock.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw that there really was a strong connection between classical music and hard rock,\u201d Starr explains. He ticks off a list of bands that explore that connection: \u201cDeep Purple and Led Zeppelin and Emerson, Lake & Palmer and the Moody Blues and Procol Harum\u2019s \u2018A Whiter Shade of Pale\u2019 \u2013 which was really something very similar to Bach\u2019s \u2018Sleepers Awake\u2019 cantata \u2013 all that made me see that it wasn’t such a leap for classical and rock to fuse, to come together.\u201d<\/p>\n
By the early 1980s, self-taught guitarist Starr had put together heavy metal band Virgin Steele. The group recorded a demo, \u201cChildren of the Storm,\u201d and the track was selected for inclusion on the influential U.S. Metal Vol. II<\/i> compilation, released by Mike Varney\u2019s Shrapnel Records. It would be Starr\u2019s first big break.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a pivotal moment for me,\u201d Starr says. \u201cI was just some young guy living on Long Island who had a bit of an ego, because everybody who plays guitar thinks they’re the next Jimi Hendrix.\u201d He recalls seeing an ad in the pages of Guitar Player<\/i>. \u201cIt said something like, \u2018Do you think you have what it takes?\u2019\u201d He was convinced that Virgin Steele\u2019s demo would be right for the proposed Shrapnel compilation, so he submitted a tape.<\/p>\n
Starr says that about a week later, his telephone rang. \u201cThe guy said, \u2018Hey dude\u2019 \u2013 or some California talk \u2013 \u2018you\u2019re on the album,\u2019\u201d he laughs. Starr was convinced it was a put-on by one of his pals. The caller insisted that no, he really was Mike Varney. Virgin Steele\u2019s track would indeed be featured on U.S. Metal Vol. II<\/i>.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was really the right moment for Virgin Steele,\u201d Starr says. \u201cBecause we needed something to hang our hats on. We had just self-financed an album, and it was really a calling card: now we could call up record stores and say, \u2018Hey, we’re a new metal band, just like the other 5000 new metal bands that got in touch with you this week! But our guitar player Jack Starr must be pretty decent, because we got on this compilation thing!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
American metal was still bubbling under at the time, but overseas, the scene was raging. The metal community in England was so strong that it developed a name: NWOBHM, or New Wave of British Heavy Metal. The Movement was spearheaded by groups like Iron Maiden, Def Leppard and Saxon, all of whom earned critical plaudits and chart success.<\/p>\n
And Jack Starr says that Virgin Steele felt a kinship with that British movement. \u201cWe were kind of firing a salvo back at the British along with other American metal bands like Manowar, The Rods, Riot, Sabotage, Jag Panzer and Omen,\u201d he says. \u201cWe were heralding this new kind of music, and unashamedly so.\u201d Virgin Steele didn\u2019t want to be mistaken for \u201cthe typical metal that was coming out of America,\u201d which Starr says \u201cwasn’t really metal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Virgin Steele\u2019s album cover art paid a subtle tribute to the British scene. \u201cIf you look very carefully on the spaceship, there’s aliens and all kinds of crazy stuff going on but, right on the side of the spaceship, it says, \u2018NWAHM,\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cNew Wave of American<\/i> Heavy Metal.\u201d<\/p>\n