WildeStarr hails from the San Francisco Bay Area, now relocated to Houston Texas in 2014. The band was Formed in 2003 by metal veteran and original Vicious Rumors bass player Dave Starr, and studio vocalist, songwriter and recording engineer London Wilde. The two were long time friends, going back to 1988 where they met at a local rock club in San Francisco called The Stone. Married in 2001 The two are a rarity in the field of Heavy Metal. A husband and wife team.
It wasn’t until 2003 when London was engineering Starr’s bass tracks for an upcoming Chastain album “In an Outrage” that the two began talking about forming a band together.
With Starr handling Guitars and Bass, and Wilde on vocals and keyboards, the duo released their first Demo single in 2007 called “Generation Next.” The tune quickly received over 20,000 plays on the band’s myspace page and encouraged the band to release a full-length album.
Joined by drummer Jim Hawthorne in 2008, the band began recording “Arrival,” a dark, atmospheric, powerful and driving ten song LP. The album was completed in Late spring 2009 and self-released on Furnace Maximus Records in August 2009. Arrival received world wide critical acclaim, and charted number 8 in Burrn! Magazine’s Japanese import list in Feb 2010. The band released a video to go with the albums’ single “Arrival” in January 2010.
The band returned to the studio late 2010 and began writing material for their next album, this time joined by drummer Josh Foster. The new album entitled “A Tell Tale Heart” was released October 2012 by Hydrant/EMI in Japan, and Scarlet records in the US and Europe, and ranked #11 in Rock Hard magazine’s top new releases staff picks. The band received great critical reviews, and garnered feature interviews in major metal magazines Rock Hard, Young Guitar, BURRN!.
Just as the band was preparing to write their third record, the tragic suicide of London’s brother hit an emotional chord for the band. He was a guitarist and musician frustrated by struggles in the industry, which was something everyone in the band could relate too. The inspiration resulted in a new ten song record called “Beyond The Rain.” Free download track “When The Night Falls” was released January 2016, album release date to be announced.
Dave Starr is a real Metal veteran with a career going back over 30 years, with numerous albums, MTV videos, DVD’s, and concert tours to his credit.
Known worldwide for his bass work with Vicious Rumors during the band’s glory years, Dave took up the guitar in 2005 after getting clean, and sober….and never looked back.
Dave writes all the music in WildeStarr and plays all the guitars and bass himself on the bands CDs. Having recorded albums with such guitar greats as Vinnie Moore, David Chastain, and Brad Gillis, Dave’s experience shows, and his guitar work and song writing is right up there with the many talented people he has worked with over the years.
Paired with wife and musical partner London Wilde handling vocals, melody, and lyrics, Dave crafted ten songs for the band’s debut album “Arrival,” which was released in 2010, establishing his signature style of soaring, dramatic harmony solos, and catchy driving harmony rhythms.
Taking it a step further with “A Tell Tale Heart” the band’s second CD released in 2012, Dave truly shines, showing that his writing and playing on the WildeStarr debut was no fluke. Among the many converts around the world was Japan’s biggest guitar magazine Young Guitar who did a feature story/interview with Dave in the March 2013 issue.
London has a world class voice that rivals that of the genre’s best male metal power vocalists. London’s voice has often been compared to the likes of Rob Halford, Ripper Owens and Geoffe Tate by critics and listeners.
Ranging from smooth operatic and sweet, to a powerhouse, peppered with searing, intense high screams. Layering harmonies over great catchy melodic themes is a trademark.
London writes the lyrics and melodies for WildeStarr and handles most of the recording and mixing for the band. London has engineered tracks for other artists, such as David Chastain, Crown of Thorns and Voodoo X.
Self-taught, London began to study vocals at age 14 seriously. London got her first professional experience working in the recording studio at her brother’s record company, Palace Records.
London began working with bands and musicians in her studio in the mid 90’s, where she recorded demos, assisted artists in song writing, and did studio vocals for local metal and hard rock bands.
London also wrote, directed and edited WildeStarr’s video “Arrival” released in 2010.
I saw Dave Starr w/ Vicious Rumours back in 1994 together w/ Metal Church, Killers & Zodiac Mindwarp & the Love Reaction; of course, I named my Metal radio show, “Vicious Metal Killers” after them; rock in peace, Carl Albert.