Reviews

FEMALE FRONTED BANDS AT BACKSTREET BLUES
by Kate Donohue
Aural Fix Communique Magazine
October 2002 Issue

The state of local bands playing original rock music on Long Island is in good shape, especially that of female-fronted bands. Two of them Solstar and The Sara Brenner Band, performed Saturday night at Backstreet Blues at 60 Front Street in Rockville Centre.

Solstar, an original groove-rock band form L.I., is songwriter Lisa Itts (vocals & guitar); Anjanette Billings (vocals & percussion); Charles Held (drums); Mike Forgit (bass); and Chris Benvegna (lead guitar). Their music and style were reminiscent of Jefferson Starship with Grace Slick and the more recent band, the October Project.

The set, compiled of songs from Lisa's solo CD, Nature of the Sol, the current CD, Solstar (featuring Lisa Itts), and the upcoming CD due out in November, left enough room for Itts to chat in a friendly way with the band and the audience between songs. The opening song, "Illusion", featured the trio of Itts, Billings and Forgit. From then on it was full ensemble as Solstar showed why they are the band that lends the best support to the lyrics and clarion-like vocals of Itts.

From Nature of the Sol, they played "Let Go," a psychedlic, blues-rocker, "I Remember You", a rock ballad with soaring guitar leads; and "Butterfly," no relation to the Mariah Carey song, a rhythmic, rock ballad well anchored by Forgit and Held. These three songs are also on the current CD.

Also from Nature of the Sol, "The Love I Share" offered more guitar squalls from Benvegna as Itts lamented, "I remember days when we could have had it all...." Itts also coaxed us to "Feel the power / Crystal shower / Spirit in the night / Throw away your fear at last / Antique past" in "We Are There."

In "Life Chips Away (What It's LIke)," another lead guitar showcase, Itts' and Billings' vocals blended well to add texture the lyrics, "Tell me something / What it's like to feel like nothing".

From the current CD we heard the rolling, folk-rock of "Gather Round." And from Solstar's upcoming CD we heard "Wake Up" which had the band really into the music with vocals slicing through the air. "Don't Crawl," said Itts is "Mike's favorite song. It's a song about going to the wrong people for the right things." Sounding about like REM, the song had a lilting quality puncuated by jazz leads. In "Yeah," Forgit and Held once again set the rhythm; Benvegna played heavy lead guitar; Itts gave us a breezy acoustic guitar; and once again her and Billings' vocals carried over the wave of sound like a gull's cry. The current CD, Solstar (featuring Lisa Itts) is available at CDPimp.com and CDBaby.com. Visit the band at www.solstar.net

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From the LONG BEACH HERALD, MAY 23, 2002
by LAURA LANE

Lisa Itts has been a musician most of her life. The Long Beach resident started playing guitar when she was nine, and composed her first song at ten. She has worked with Dennis King (producer for Motley Crue and Chic), performed and recorded with both guitarist Larry Mitchell (of Tracy Chapman and Rick Okasek's bands) and bassmaster Schuyler Deale (Michael Bolton and Billy Joel).

Now in her early 30s, the singer/songwriter is about to release her third CD with her current band, Solstar.

Itts is both affable and attractive, a young woman who has been around the block in a tough business. She is a woman who has weathered the scars, and refuses to dwell on sexism in the music business. Itts is the consummate professional. She says that it doesn't bother her that the business is male dominated. She aligns herself with people she can trust, won't sign any contract without obtaining good legal advice, and is a strong believer in asking a lot of questions. And her energies stay focused on creating.

"I write songs to express myself and share with other people," she said. "If I may share this humble gift with as many others as possible, I feel this would fulfill what I am truly here to do."

The music she is creating with her band, Solstar, is what Itts fondly calls "groove-rock". "Our music is original and melodic, with a modern rock edge," Itts explained. "It's the kind of music you can bob your head to."

Itts was encouraged by her father at an early age to learn the guitar. Seeing talent in his daughter; he arranged for classical guitar lessons when she was nine. Her mother; an Off-Broadway musical theatre actress, and late brother also supported her.

"I think that kids under 12 need the motivation of their parents," she said. "Without it, kids don't understand the benefits of practice, what they'll reap in the end."

However, her family was not alone in seeing potential. Peter Yarrow of "Peter, Paul and Mary" also saw something special in Itts, when she was only 11 years old.

"I was on vacation with my family and sitting in a hotel lobby playing my guitar, and some guy came up to me and told me he liked the music," she recalled. "I didn't know who he was. He asked me if I wrote the music. When I said yes, he asked me to play it for him. He loved my songs and gave me his home phone number. My dad told me the man was Peter Yarrow".

Over the years, she has kept in contact with Yarrow who said that he wanted to follow here career. "He was the first person to acknowledge my music besides my father," Itts said.

Solstar recently performed at a showcase for a couple of record companies and has plans for future showcases. Itts would like to see the band open for bigger bands, similar to what bands like Creed have done to achieve success.

She and Solstar will be performing in Princeton N.J. at the prestigious Triumph Brewing Company on June 22nd, and will be at Long Beach's Turquoise on May 25.

In the meantime, Itts continues to write more songs. "I feel that my music has double entendres," she said. "The music says something that is vague enough to self-interpret, yet empowering enough to relate to. No matter what the song says, at the end the message is that I'm going to be o.k."

Lisa Itts and Solstar can be contacted at: www.solstar.net.

Copyright © 2002 Richner Communications, used with the permission of the author

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Printed in Good Times Issue No. 810
May 15 - May 28, 2001 - Record Reviews

Solstar featuring Lisa Itts
Solstar
Independent

Solstar is a local band from the Long Beach/Island Park area of Long Island. This is their debut CD as a band, although 2 years ago, front woman/songwriter Lisa Itts released a pretty fine solo CD entitled Nature of The Sol.

Solstar continues to mine the territory laid out in Nature, namely melodic rock in the vein of such artists as Sheryl Crow. And, as was the case with Nature, they pull it off very nicely.

Itts has a quality voice for this kind of music; she can rock when it's called for, and go soft when that's what the song requires. Perhaps the most impressive thing about her is her understatedness - she is confident in her songs as songs, and thus feels no need to engage in unnecessary vocal acrobatics. As a consequence, this is the kind of a CD that doesn't necessarily knock you over with the first listen, but rather grows on you steadily with repeated hearings.

The band basically does what Itts needs them to do, which is play the music and play it well, without getting in the way of it. No one musician necessarily jumps out at you (although Chris Benvegna does have a few good guitar solos), but all do a creditable job.

The standout cut on the CD is the first track, "Let Go". With a nicely double-tracked vocal, and a chorus with a definite hook, this is clearly a radio-friendly song. ("Line them up, your fears, and watch them all fall down / Break on through the tears, the flood gates tear them down / Suddenly something grabs you inside and takes hold / Think it's time that I let go!").

Also strong are the slow, dreamy "Butterfly", the funky "I Remember You', and the slow ballad "The Old Man Said". To find out more about Solstar, visit their website at www.solstar.net

-Richard Hughes