Baton Rouge, it’s time to get your party on.
Startisan, an up-and-coming Baton Rouge-based alternative rock band, is a group of seasoned musicians who have risen out of the ashes of former long-time bands from all over the country. From New York to Los Angeles and the space between, the five have come together as a united front ready to take over the local music scene.
The band is holding its first CD release party Friday night at the Roux House for its debut album, “Decade Array Vol. 1,” with guest players Adam Dale and Black Magnolia.
Mike Hogan, singer and guitarist for Startisan, said the band’s main concern is throwing an epic party and hanging with the fans.
“We’re just doing a big party here [at Roux House on] Friday night,” he said. “This album has been a year in the making, so it’s a big thing for us.”
New music has always been hugely influenced by the college scene, Hogan said.
“I grew up in New York, and the reason I play music now is because I fell in love with what was happening with college bands and the college circuit in the early ’90s,” he said. “That was a huge inspiration on us and definitely influenced the songs I write and we play, so in some way, what we do will resonate deeply with college students.”
Drummer Buck Langston said Startisan’s sound is versatile.
“We don’t have an extremely specific target market like a lot of bands do today,” he said. “I think we can appeal to more of an entire group of people.”
Hogan said the band “casts a wider net” because it has a feel-good sound.
“We do a lot of acoustic rock, and we do some jamming, but we’re not screaming,” he said. “We’re not overtly offensive, and it’s not like [there is] a whole lot of swearing in our songs. It’s music that a lot of people can relate to regardless of their demographic.”
Though he has lived in musical hot spots on both coasts, Hogan said he came to Baton Rouge because it has great potential to be receptive to original music and is “a great launch pad for a band.”
“This is a great place,” he said. “There are a lot of people eager and willing to find new music and a lot of venues that cater to local, original music.”
Startisan is mixing things up and throwing down at its CD release party in a less traditional way, Langston said.
“We’re playing in the middle,” he said. “We want it to be our party, so we’re playing and getting our thing done, then going out into the crowd and hanging out with everyone.”
Langston said the other musicians to be featured Friday night are out-of-this-world.
“Adam Dale from The American Tragedy, he’s opening with an acoustic set,” he said. “He’s a fantastic singer-songwriter from Shreveport, and then we have a band from New Orleans, Black Magnolia, that’s going come and play some of their tunes after us.”
Guitarist Derek DeBlieux said everyone in the band was once a part of another now broken-up band.
“We wanted to keep doing this. So we jumped together, and we’re kind of just getting started,” he said. “We were struggling to put this band together and find the right guys to do this, and it really is the right guys.”
Jon Scholl, Startisan’s keyboardist, said finding “the right guys” was a really big deal for the band.
“Big bands dissipate or crumble eventually because one or two guys are into it, and there are a couple of guys who don’t care so much,” he said.
Startisan is a group of guys who all want to make music a profession, Scholl said.
Bassist Chris Jones said Startisan is the most mature group of musicians he has ever played with.
“We know what we want, and we’re not just screwing around,” he said. “We practice like we have a purpose. We want to spread the music, get the word out about this band, and we’re all working toward the same thing.”
Hogan said the album is a culmination of the hardships each member of the band has experienced as a struggling musician.
“This thing represents what all of us have been trying to do for the last 10 years,” he said. “Its release is a celebration of all the trials and tribulations that we’ve made it through to get to this point, and we can finally share it with people and have something that we’re proud of.”
 
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Contact Cathryn Core at [email protected]