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Van McClain Interview
(Shooting Star)
Virgin Recording Artists, Shooting Star, are in the spotlight. Serving as the opening act for Robin Trower, Shooting Star is on a 35 city tour that will take them from one end of the country to the other. This six member group is getting a lot of attention, especially from the FM stations in major markets.
We talked with Shooting Star's Van McClain.
Q. How's the tour going?
A. It's going really well. By the end of the set people are fans of Shooting Star's music.
Q. Why on your first tour out did you decide to play major concert venues rather than showcase clubs and smaller halls?
A. That decision was made at a management level. The major markets offer visibility on a bigger scale. I believe every FM station is playing our album.
Q. When you say to people 'Shooting Star is on Virgin Records,' do they think you’re a new wave act?
A. Yeah, in fact, one of our managers went into a Houston record store and saw our albums in the new wave section.
Q. How many years did it take you to reach this point in your career?
A. Oh, about ten years. I'm 24 years old and the other guys range from 21 to 27. So we're still young.
Q. By showcasing the group at CBGB's one night, you were able to land a record deal?
A. No, we got a management deal that way. We feel that a good business organization comes first. John Kostick, one of our managers, worked for Leber-Krebs (Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, Beatlemania Show) and Greg Kimmelman has a lot of experience in record production. When we showcased the group at Trax (a club in New York), then we got record offers and went with Virgin because it was the best.
Q. What age did you start playing guitar?
A. I started playing when I was eight and joined my first group at 10, when the other guys were 17 in the band. I played pretty good for my age.
Q. Why should someone buy a Shooting Star record?
A. It's a rock ‘n’ roll album. It's fun music. You can jump around and have fun. That's the stuff people want to hear. It's a conglomeration of music for a lot of different people.
Q. What does the future hold?
A. There's a chance we’ll be going out on the road with Heart.
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