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We here at the Sound Faction are very lucky to be able to work with some amazing people. One of them being Doug Weber, he helped us get our first onsite interview and since then he has been shooting us over some of the most amazing bands in the industry. Not too long ago I got to chance to be introduced to a band from Tulsa, Oklahoma. This bands music can soothe you on a sad day, pick you back up and put you on your feet and make you realize that sometimes you really don’t have anything to worry about.

Sit back and enjoy my interview with Michael Wittig.

“We don’t care about being cool or wearing tight pants or, we really are just about songs, writing the best songs we possibly can.”
Michael Wittig: Stars Go Dim

First of all for our readers who don’t know, can you tell us who you are and what you do for the band?

My name is Michael Wittig and I play bass for a group called Stars Go Dim from Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Awesome, now can you tell us how Stars Go Dim came about?

Its actually a crazy story, especially with me and some friends of mine that have been in other bands, we’ve known each other for ten years or so, playing in different bands and we started Stars Go Dim just as a side project about two years ago, just kind of for fun on the side and it just started blowing up. The songs started to develop and we’re like wow, we’ve got some good songs here you know, and the fan base started developing and it just kinda got out of hand so we’re all doing it full time now.

That’s awesome, now how did you guys decide on the name Stars Go Dim?

Honestly I just made it up, we actually were all coming up with names you know, making our list of names and I made a list. A lot of the names were really absurd, I can remember one of my names as Luxury Ride, I thought that sounded like a hip hop group so that didn’t work. But honestly it just came to me one day, I don’t know, Stars Go Dim and the second it popped in my head I kinda knew that was the name, that was the one I was pushing for and everyone else just really liked it. The idea when I was thinking about it, I had this idea of you know, stars they’re bright and stuff but when the sun comes out, you know when the sun rises, you don’t really see the stars anymore, they’re actually dim in comparison to the sun, to me the whole idea just kind of represents a new day, you know the stars go dim as the sun rises. New day to start over, new day to do something new and to start fresh.

That’s pretty awesome. Now when it comes to the lyrics for your songs what inspires them?

Love, we’re all about love you know all different aspects, and that’s basically it you know, they’re all just, we try to write stories that people can relate to, you know the stuff that every day people go through you know. All of us have some aspect of love going on, if you’re in love with somebody or you hate somebody or your relationship is just starting out or if it’s just ending you know, so a lot of our songs deal with all those different aspects of relationships and love.

Well that’s good because not a lot of bands do that these days.

Ya, they’re too scared to be wimps and we just don’t care, we like to write good music and you know. We don’t care about being cool or wearing tight pants or, we really are just about songs, writing the best songs we possibly can.

Awesome, now your EP came out actually in October, how do you feel about the songs that were released on that album?

I’m proud of everything we’ve done, you know when we started the group, it was ten months before we finished our first three songs, not like wrote them but had them where we could make them available to our fans, you know because we really just wanted to be right on and these first five songs that we released, we put a lot of work into them and we’re just real proud of them, and the response has been awesome. I mean honestly, we didn’t expect this thing to blow up as fast it has been, you know we just get a lot of love and a lot of support from people from all over.

Awesome, and I take it along the way you’ve gained a whole lot of new fans?

Ya, I mean you know we started this we had this idea of, you know we wanted people to know what we were doing but we didn’t have music to post and we’re really against posting you know, stuff that wasn’t ready. We started a My Space and website, and just started blogging and doing video blogs and everything we were doing for like ten months, so we had a huge, we had like 10,000 My Space friends before the first song came out, and then once we posted the song it just kinda got outta hand, things just started really building from there. So a lot of our fans really watched the songs develop, you know they watch, the first time we wrote it, or the first time we recorded it you know, our early versions actually didn’t make the EP and it make the album.

Ok. Actually I checked out your YouTube, I was checking out some of your videos.

Oh, there is a lot of goofy stuff on there.

Ya, it was actually pretty, it was good though because it’s easier for the fans to relate when you’re just yourself.

Ya, we try to make it fun you know, you have to have good music and then, we want people to be a part of what we’re doing in general you know, besides music, we’re out there just trying to make a lot of friends, not just fans, and that’s been real exciting for us because now everywhere we go we’ve got friends that come out to the show, people that really know us and, it makes it a lot more fun for us.

Good to see familiar faces in every city?

Familiar faces or at least familiar names if we’ve met them on My Space or on the internet. So we like to go out there because we’re still pretty new, there’s a lot of places we haven’t been yet, we’re getting ready to leave on tour pretty soon and going to a lot of new places but I know we already have fans in all these places because they met us on the internet, so we’re looking forward to meeting a lot of people for the first time you know, in person.

That would be awesome. Now like I said previously, all your songs are catchy and they actually help me mellow out after I’ve had a long day, was that a focus of your music, just to make it soft?

You know what, not really. When we started this we really had no idea, we knew we were gonna do pop music because we all come from hard rock bands and we just wanted to do something different you know, and the pop was such a huge genre I mean it could be anything, but as we started writing songs and doing stuff that fit our singer, Chris’ voice you know, because he has a really good voice. He’s amazing, it’s really soulful, so as we were figuring out what he was capable of, we started writing music we thought would fit his voice the best you know. We try to keep it so original, it’s hard to write original music nowadays, I know we definitely have our influences but you know, we try to put out something you know with a new spin on top.

Ok. Now I was reading on your My Space that you credit your fans with a lot of your early success, now what has been the most memorable thing that a fan has done for you so far?

Brought us a pumpkin pie at the radio station, we were doing an interview at a radio station, top 40 station in Missouri and some contest winners got to come into the station, they had like ten winners there. This lady brought a pumpkin pie, not just that, this will push it over the top, but she brought whipped cream.

Oh nice, you can’t have pumpkin pie without whipped cream.

No, that was pretty sweet, I mean there has been a lot of nice people that have done a lot of really nice things, that was one of the most recent I thought was real cool. We had a fan send my son some presents, I mean. He really likes Sponge Bob, he gets stuff in the mail all the time.

Oh that’s so cute, how old is he?

He’s four, I have a four year old and a two year old.

Wow, that must keep your hands full when you’re not working on your music.

Yes, for sure.

Now you guys are preparing to go on your tour, what has it been like getting prepared to head out on tour?

It’s hectic, honestly, because you have a big list of stuff, you’ve gotta make sure you don’t forget, your toothpaste, you know all the important stuff so we’re just kinda going through the checklist and getting ready, and doing stuff around the house and helping our families and, you know we’re gonna head out tomorrow and the first day we’re actually going to tour rehearsal. We’re just gonna set up and rehearse and kind of go over the set and just try some new ideas and then our first date in Kansas City on Thursday, we’ll be out for quite a while and just kind of hitting dates all over the mid-west, from St. Louis down to New Mexico and every little place in between.

Then you have to come up cross the border at some point.

We’re looking to do some east coast stuff later on this, late spring or early summer. I’ll get a hold of our booking agent and see if they can get us up there.

That would be really awesome, it would be really nice to see you guys perform live.

It’s cold up there though, hopefully

Now, see you can’t come in the winter, you have to come in the summer.

Ya definitely, what’s up there, that donut place up there that’s open all the time?

Tim Horton’s.

Ya, I’ll have to go up there and get some donuts.

Oh you do indeed. Now I’ve been talking about your lives shows, for someone who hasn’t been able to see you guys live, how would you describe your live show?

Well, I think and I’m kind of bias because I’m in the group but I think we do a pretty good job of pulling of those songs, there’s a lot of bands you hear or seen then you get to go watch them live and they don’t sound as good. Chris can really sing that good you know, I mean he pulls that stuff off live as a, I think as far as musicianship and just good quality songs you know, you’re gonna get that at a live show, it’s not gonna be all screeching and who in the world are these guys you know, there was no studio magic on our albums, we can pull this stuff off.

Awesome, what would you say about the reaction you receive from the crowd?

That’s the fun part of playing live, you know you play the same songs every night just about, and you know we like to change it up a little bit but what makes each night fun and new is the crowd, you know we feed off of them and it’s been awesome, we’re looking forward to it, we’ve been off for the holidays, haven’t played for a while so we’re all real excited to get back on the road and,

See the smiling faces again?

Yes and get some more pumpkin pies.

Now I understand for this tour that you guys have partnered with Invisible Children which is actually a charity us here at The Sound Faction are very familiar with, how did that come about?

Well actually I, I don’t remember their names because it’s been a long time, but two of the filmmakers that actually originally went over to Uganda to do the film project, they saw what was going on over there you know, basically Invisible Children is a non-profit charity, their mission is to bring awareness and support to people in Northern Uganda. They went over there, I don’t know if you ever saw the movie Blood Diamond, allot of what you see in that movie is what they do with the kids and they train them and train them to kill, and kinda brain wash them, that’s what these guys really witnessed over there like in real life, it kinda blew their minds you know, they had no idea this was going on so they went over there to film a movie or a project and they didn’t really know what they were doing but when they saw this they made that the focus of their film, and they came back over here and I met them actually a long, I don’t even remember, it was a long time ago, like right when they got back, and they were in the tour bus and they played us their film and they were just starting Invisible Children and we were like oh my gosh you know. When you see their film and you see what’s going on, it will blow your mind you have no idea. I’ve been a supporter with different bands I’ve been in for a long time, you know they’ve been out and toured with us so when Stars Go Dim was getting ready to tour it was definitely one of the first charities that came to mind and we’re definitely excited to help, to bring awareness about what they do so.

Which is really awesome. Ok now my next question is a very intense one for you.

Oh No.

Yes. If you could be in charge of the music industry for just one day, what would be the first thing you would change?

I don’t know if anybody could make any difference in one day.

Well, if you were in charge, what would be the first thing you would change?

What would it be. I would try to take the politic myth out of radio play, you know right now as far as, I don’t know if this would be the first on my list, this is what comes to mind right now. You know a lot of the stations are still commercialized and the play the same stuff over and over again you know, and I think that is a lot of the reason why the music industry is down now you know, you’ve got these people in their offices trying to tell the people of the United States what the next hit is going to be, they force it down everyone’s throats by putting it on commercial radio you know, people aren’t stupid you know, if they don’t like the song they’re not gonna buy it, they’ll just go on I-Tunes and buy the stuff they like. Sales are down real big because there hasn’t been great music being released, you know people haven’t really had a choice with it, they have to listen to what’s on the radio you know, and nowadays people are smart, they’ll go on the internet and find the stuff they like.

Exactly, well I know, I work in an office during the day and we have the radio on and in one hour one day I heard the same song ten times.

They’re trying to brainwash into thinking it’s a hit and we go buy it. It’s the worst though, that’s the thing, for a lot of people it works I guess in a way, you know there’s people in suits that are determining what the hits are, they make them hits. You know a lot of times it’s not really even good music.

No, exactly.

I would, if I could change that in a day I would do that.

That’s why we like our website because we promote music that we found that we’ve liked. Like one of the girls on our website actually goes on pure volume and searches out what music she likes and then promotes the bands.

That’s cool.

So that’s how we, well I’ve heard about you guys through Doug, he mentioned that and I was like ok, I want to see, listen to them and see what their about and I fell in love with it so, now here we are.

Well, I’ll have to thank Doug then.

Ok, so now 2009 seems to be starting off with a great success for you guys with an album release coming in the near future, now what more can we look for from you guys?

All kinds of crazy stuff going on, like just during the holidays we heard that our songs were being played on like most of the major airlines, I think it’s still going on right now, In-flight Air, there’s a store of chains here in the United States called Kohl’s playing our stuff in their stores, VH1 has a couple of reality shows that are gonna use our music like later this month or early February. Stuff will start popping up in a few different programs, there’s a couple others coming out too, lots of touring, you know we’re just doing this tour in the Midwest right now but we have a west coast and east coast tour coming out.

For when you release the album?

Ya, the album will be coming out in late March, it’s called Love Gone Mad, it’s our full length, first full length will be coming out, and we’re real excited. We’re doing a bunch of stuff at South by Southwest, we’ve been invited to a lot of showcases down in Austin, its just the start, I think this year is gonna be big.

Well, it started off with a bang, so let’s hope it continues all year.

Ya, that’s the plan.

Now, us here at The Sound Faction, we’re probably five of the most random people that you’re ever gonna come across. Now with each interview we try and ask five of the most random questions that you’ve ever been asked, so are you up for that?

Ok, boy this is gonna be all old stuff.

Well, we’ll see they’re pretty random. First question, if you were a Care Bear, what would be the picture on your tummy?

It would be a picture of, ya that is pretty random. It would be a picture of, let’s see, probably a hamburger.

And why is that?

Because I love hamburgers. It’s one of my favourite foods, I’m a hamburger conisouir. I can tell you in different parts of the United States where you get the best burgers.

Well, I’ll have to take you up on that someday when I start travelling this year. Now what has been your all time favourite classic movie quote?

You know what, classic movie quote, I’d have to say ‘there’s a fine line between clever and stupid’. I may be misquoting but I think that’s pretty darn close, ‘there’s a very fine line between cleaver and stupid’ and that comes from Spinal Tap.

Ok, now if you were a juice box, what flavour would you be?

I’d be purple.

Purple? You mean grape.

Nope, purple.

Just purple?

Yep.

Ok, now what board game did you hate as a kid, and why?

I really wasn’t a big board game player, you know I’d have to say the one I hated the most was the Ouiji Board. I never played one because I was just so scared hearing the stories about it so I stayed away, I had seen them in the toy store and not want to look at it because of the stories I’d heard.

What kind of stories?

Just crazy stuff, they probably weren’t true, just kids being silly. You know that scared me so I stayed away from it, I would have to say that.

Ok, now what male or female fashion trend do you just not understand?

Phew, uummm, let me think. I’m not really a big fashion person, I don’t even know what the fashion trends are. I don’t have no clue, I wear free t-shirts that I get from people. I’m wearing a shirt with Hulk Hogan on it right now. I don’t, it’s hard for me to say, I guess I don’t really get the tight pants, the ones that are so tight that it looks painful.

Like they’re painted on?

Ya, I guess I don’t get that, I understand fashionable, they fit nice, but the ones that are so tight that they just don’t look right.

Like how can you breath?

Ya, I wear clothes you know, hopefully they look cool but I want to be comfortable too.

Exactly, that’s the main priority, comfort. Ok, well that’s basically...

You got more? Give me more questions.

That’s it. That’s all I got.

Ok, that’s not bad, the Care Bear question was a tough one.

Want to hear this band? Go check them out at the links below!

Website: http://www.starsgodim.com
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/starsgodim