Roaring in from the shores of Chesapeake Bay, Maryland-based hard rock quintet Signal 13 has unburdened itself from it’s past as a cover act, fully embracing their ample creative energies to revitalize and relaunch themselves as an all-original act with the release of their powerhouse debut five-song EP, Destination Unknown.
Comprised of vocalist/frontwoman/songwriter Vicky Starr, lead guitarist/songwriter Jonathan Lassiter, bassist/songwriter Pat Jenkins, guitarist Chris Starr and drummer Johnny Sexx, the band has been one of the top draws in the Mid-Atlantic region as a cover act since 2017, earning a reputation for high octane live shows, superlative musicianship, and the badass charisma and vocal talents of Starr herself. It is a wonderful and crowd pleasing blend of the best of 1980s hard rock and metal, with a contemporary tone and tenor.
Destination Unknown was produced by the band, with Lassiter, a veteran producer/engineer who has worked extensively in Nashville and elsewhere leading the charge. The record was mastered by industry veteran Greg Lukens. It marked the first time that Starr, who has been singing on stage since childhood (although she took a number of years off to be a mom), ever worked in a recording studio.
“Everyone but me has recorded before and has done albums in various other projects. But this was our first time in a studio together and my first time ever. And I realized pretty quick that’s it’s a lot more different than singing on stage. The first time that I ever saw that microphone in the booth, and somebody told me it was time to go, that moment when the light went on and they point at you it was like I got a hairball. After we did that first take, I realized that this was my job. We changed out different microphones to find the right one and that first session was a little intense. But after that it was all good,” she said
“I learned that I also love to write in the studio. I think that is the most fun part of everything, because you just don’t know what’s going to come out of one of us, even though we have a lot of riffs written and a lot of lyrics written already. All of a sudden nothing will fit for the song we want to do and then we will just run tape, trying out different things until it clicks. For one song, Stay With Me, that tape ran for 17 minutes and 28 seconds, and then the next 20 seconds is where the song actually starts. It really gives you a sense of the creativity we have during this process.
“The principal songwriters are John Lassiter and myself and Pat Jenkins, the bass player. After we get the basics down, then we add in the drum parts, because we’ve got to get a melody and a hook first before we write the drum parts into it, because it can be kind of intense with drums. And then we really get going from there and the songs come together pretty quickly.”
As raunchy and riff-heavy as the band’s lead-off single Dirty comes across, it was actually inspired more by the culture and lifestyle of the Baltimore region in which they all grew up, with the song morphing into one that has multiple meanings.
“It was originally written about hard working, blue collar people. Baltimore started out with big companies like Lever Brothers, GM, and Bethlehem Steel as the biggest factories here. They sort of dominated everything around here and so many people worked there, for generations. When we started thinking about this song we wondered, what makes people work hard. So that was the beginning of the song. But then we also had to deal with some unusual business practices that a couple of people that were former members and worked with us committed. So, we added some of that to the song. And then, probably most obviously, we added some sex appeal,” said Starr.
“We had been kicking around some ideas and then one morning I woke up with this great idea. I called John, my songwriting partner and said, ‘this his how I hear the song.’ And he said, ‘oh wow, I hear that too.’ And then I called Pat and he said, ‘hey, I hear it too.’ And that weekend the three of us put the song together. When we decided to do a video for Dirty, I wanted to really honour the hard working people of this state that have worked all their lives, for generations, and whose families are still here.
“And we found a pipe-bending facility that was built in the 1860s and that’s where we shot the video. It was a stone’s throw away from Bethlehem Steel. All of us who live here, whether you live on the eastern shore, whether you live in western Maryland, where Kelly Tire used to have a plant, places like that and GM and Bethlehem Steel all went away and kind of devastated the area. But there is still that real blue collar ethic and people still believe in working hard. This is our foundation and the foundation of Signal 13. That’s what drives us every day.”
All Fired Up is a badass, energetic anthem about stepping up to the plate and deciding that moving forward is a lot better than moving backwards in life, in love and in music.
“Are you going to step forward or take a step back? You’ve always got to be moving; you can’t be in one position all the time. We were in the process of making some pretty big decisions about this band in terms of were we going to move forward and focus on doing original music or not. And it was a tough call because we were so far in as a cover act. We were pretty popular. We did 84 shows as a cover project last year. But because when you turn the corner into doing originals, there’s no turning back,” Starr explained.
“And this song came about because of those conversations. We were at a crossroads in life and the song came from the choice between putting one foot forward or stepping one foot back. We just had to move forward, and we talked about what it’s like being in a band and having to make that kind of decision in the song. And it’s interesting, because you don’t realize how many friends you don’t have until you cut over into this original music side of things. We were okay with it because we believed in what the song says that we’re either going to move forward and we’re going to step back – there is no middle ground. As a band there’s no way we can try to fit into both worlds. You’ve got to go for it, and that’s what the song is about. It’s about those decisive moments in life.”
Make it Rain started our as a tongue-in-cheek jam slapped together by the four male members of Signal 13, but which Starr added her inimitable sass and melodic charms.
“I was late coming to the studio one day. I was stuck in traffic and the studio we go to is across the Bay Bridge. Everybody else was already there and I walked in and the guys were having the best time in their lives playing around with this song. It’s about a strip club, and they were having the best time. And Johnny our drummer had a lyric idea of ‘I see the clickety clack as she walks that track,’ and also ‘she’s a princess wearing glass slippers, who’ll go around to all the big tippers.’ And that’s where that came from. They were all dying laughing as we were working out the song, like four little boys all in their clubhouse,” Starr said.
“Honestly some days I feel like the mother or the wife of all these guys. I have to take care of them. This one likes this, this one likes that, this one has an allergy, this one needs a certain energy drink, this one needs water. I am like a den mother. But that’s how the song came about, and they were like, ‘are you going to be upset with us for writing this.’ And I said, ‘no, we are going to write a lot of different songs in our lifetime.’ And I had actually ended up writing a lot of lyrics that fit in with that vibe anyways.”
With a level of energy and an uncompromising mandate to put on a truly kick ass show each and every occasion, Signal 13 is a band best appreciated in a live setting – hopefully sooner rather than later once the social distancing and self-isolation protocols from the Covid-19 pandemic are relaxed.
“We bring it all. We bring it all for whoever is there, whether we’re playing for five people or 5,000 people, because we want to win over one fan at a time, one show at a time. We put everything we have onto that stage. Anybody having a personal problem, or has a cold or something else bothering them, you leave it at the side of the stage. Once you are up there, it’s all about the show and those people, because you’ve got to win them over. That’s what it’s all about, we put everything we’ve got every night,” Starr said.
“We try to make it fun; we are there to put on a show and elevate everyone’s mood. So, while they are there, they are not feeling sad, or not feeling lonely; we give them something to he happy about, and they’ll want to come back and see us again. We want to change their outlook for at least a couple of hours.”
For more information about Signal 13 and Destination Unknown, visit https://signal13band.com.
- Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and author based in Napanee, ON, who has been writing about music and musicians for 30 years. Besides his journalistic endeavours, he now works as a communications and marketing specialist. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
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