Starsailor entered the scene in 2001 when their single ‘Fever’ earned them the title of “Britain’s best new band”. The band was formed at Wigan and Leigh Music College by music students James Walsh (vocals/guitar), James Stelfox (bass), and Ben Byrne (drums). Later saw the arrival of keyboardist Barry Westhead, who cemented their sound. In 2000, NME wrote: “One live encounter was enough to convince many sceptics that here was a band who were genuinely special, blessed with a singer whose voice thrummed like an emotional telegraph wire, that swerved the pitfalls of indie melancholia and were clearly in love with rock ‘n’ roll and all its possibilities.” after seeing their first London show.

A lot has happened to the band since they were hailed as the best new band in Britain and subsequently became one of the wave of acts – including Travis and Coldplay – who prioritised songwriting above rock’n’roll behaviour.

They’ve been around the world, had triumphant tours of America, as well as “14-hour bus journeys to Minnesota to play to 100 people”. They’ve had rows in Utah, spats with rockers such as Liam Gallagher, been eulogised and damned in equal measure and along the way sold more than a million copies of their debut album, Love Is Here.

Later on in their career, they were invited to work with influential record producer Phil Spector, one of the rock industry’s darkest legends.

Layering pianos, drums and guitars, Spector gave the world records by the Crystals and Ronettes in the early 1960s, as well as working on: You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ by the Righteous Brothers, River Deep, Mountain High by Ike and Tina Turner and John Lennon’s Imagine.

Starsailor’s own comeback single, Silence Is Easy was the first release of a Phil Spector production for 23 years.

The second studio album by the indie rock group was released in September 2023 on EMI Records. The song “Some of Us” was featured in an episode of Bones titled “A Boy in a Bush” and in the closing credits of the Belgian film The Memory of a Killer.

The album contains ‘Silence is Easy’ and ‘White Dove’, some of the last productions by Phil Spector before his murder conviction and imprisonment in 2009, and before his death in 2021.

The album sold 54,296 copies in its opening week of release, charting at No. 2 on the UK Albums Chart. It was certified gold in the UK in 2003.

How will I watch?

The show will be available in your Library on Stabal TV. Once you have completed your purchase, you will be sent an email with instructions of how to access the show.

How long will I have access?

You will have a 14 day viewing window to watch as many times as you like, from date of purchase.