Atlanta glam-rock firestarters Starbenders have never been a band to sit still — stylistically, geographically or emotionally. Over the past year they’ve drip-fed singles from their fourth album The Beast Goes On, each accompanied by increasingly surreal visuals, stretching back to 2024’s neon-lit Tokyo. Now, with the full record out in the wild, the band sound energised, defiant and, somehow, more themselves than ever.
“It’s been a decade,” says vocalist and rhythm guitarist Kimi Shelter, half laughing, half wincing. “It’s gone by in a blink of an eye. A very painful blink of an eye! But we’re really excited. Four albums in ten years — that feels like something.”
Starbenders
From the outside, Starbenders’ evolution looks fearless. From the inside, it’s been forged through change, upheaval and creative restlessness — not least the departure of drummer Emily Moon in 2024 and the arrival of new recruit Qi Wei, whose presence has helped shape the spirit of The Beast Goes On.
But if there’s one thing Starbenders refuse to be boxed into, it’s a neat genre label. “We’ve always been that band who can sort of do both,” says Shelter. “You know that meme, ‘get yourself a girl who can do both’? For us it’s ‘get yourself a band who can do all fifty-million rock genres’.”
Bassist Aaron Lecesne shrugs. “We don’t know what to say either.”
After four records, Shelter believes the confusion might actually be the point. “I think we can stake a claim to our own subset now. It’s just ‘Starbenders’.”
A Scream, A Switchblade & A Sense Of Humour
If there’s a moment that encapsulates the band’s feral theatricality, it’s the closing scream on Summon My Heart — a full-bodied, glass-shattering exorcism.
“The voice is a strange thing,” Shelter says. “It’s only going to be what you’re given that day. You can’t force it. So I was grateful it came out like that.”
Lead guitarist Kriss Tokaji remembers the session vividly. “There was a strong presence in her that day. It was power, all the way.”
Shelter grins: “Like a Pomeranian with a switchblade. ‘Rarr! Rarr! Rarr!’”
It’s the kind of gloriously unhinged phrase that feels tailor-made for a future album title. Not that the band are short on those. “We’ve got a working list,” Lecesne confirms. One standout contender? A Reptile Dysfunction.
Covers, Curveballs & Creative Trust
The Beast Goes On features two unexpected covers: Bad Religion’s 21st Century Digital Boy and All The Damn Vampires’ Saturday. Both are given the full Starbenders treatment — swaggering, sleazy and laced with glam-punk bite.
“We wanted to throw some Stooges-type flair into it,” Shelter explains of the Bad Religion cut. “We’re that band you can throw different things at and see what happens.”
The same philosophy guided Saturday, originally written by Davey Oberlin. “We were asked if we wanted to try it,” Shelter says. “And we’re really happy with how it came out.”
That willingness to mutate material extends beyond studio recordings and into the band’s visual output. The cinematic strangeness of their recent videos — particularly Tokyo, with its alien-drenched fever dream aesthetic — has become central to the Starbenders universe.
“When I think of Tokyo, I only envision nighttime,” Shelter says of the song’s inspiration. “Lights, people, that weird time warp feeling. The video concept was entirely director Hannah Gray Hall’s beautiful, twisted brain. We always give directors full leeway. It’s exciting — their vision married with ours.”
Tokaji adds with a grin: “It’s not for anyone who doesn’t like needles. Or rats.”
Starbenders
Ancient Curses & Modern Chaos
Lyrically, Shelter continues to draw from unlikely wells. On Forever Mine, the chorus line — “I bind your thoughts, I bind your lies / I bind your dreams, I bind your thighs” — is lifted from research into Ancient Greek curse tablets.
“They’d carve all kinds of wild stuff into stone,” she explains. “It makes you feel connected to people from the past. Not much has changed, really. So it was my take on a binding spell.”
Provocative lines aren’t new territory for Starbenders — Shelter cites Seven White Horses and its unapologetic “suck me, fuck me, make it last” as another example of lyrical mischief. But beneath the shock lies something more reflective.
“I don’t think we’ve ever written a concept album,” she says. “It’s more like a chunk of time. Some songs were written years apart. I see them as siblings. They just end up together when the moment feels right.”
A New Chapter, A New Language
The emotional spine of The Beast Goes On is shaped by transition — particularly the band’s recalibration after Moon’s departure and Wei’s arrival.
Somebody Else became the first track completed during that uncertain period. “It was this weird moment of continuance and perseverance,” Shelter says. “Wrapping our heads around creating without that person in the band anymore.”
Wei would later put her stamp on the track — famously heading straight from a 20-hour flight into the studio.
“When she first joined, she wasn’t fluent in English,” Shelter recalls. “So we were purely communicating through music. It forced us back to the most original form of communication. That’s how our relationship was forged.”
Lecesne nods. “It was fresh. You can hear that shift in the song.”
For Shelter, that spirit of survival pulses throughout the record. “It was the first sign that we’re gonna live on. We’re gonna survive.”
On The Road & In Their Element
That resilience was tested and proven on tour, most notably during their run with Nita Strauss on the Call Of The Void tour — Wei’s first outing with the band.
“It was our first tour with Wei, so we hold it near and dear,” Shelter says. “Nita is incredible and very sweet. No drama. You get up there, you play, you inspire each other.”
With Diamante also on the bill, it became a celebration of women commanding the stage. “It was fun being around other girls who were throwing it down,” Shelter says. “That’s always a good time.”
Ten years in, four albums deep and newly energised, Starbenders remain impossible to categorise and uninterested in compromise. The Beast Goes On feels less like a reinvention and more like a sharpening of teeth — a band embracing their chaos, humour and bite in equal measure.
Like a Pomeranian with a switchblade? Absolutely. Just don’t expect them to sit still long enough for you to put a label on it.
Interview with Starbenders by Nick Pollard, February 2026.
White Lies Illuminate The Roundhouse On Night Two Of Their Hometown Return
Share Thing