Nevada Daily Mail - Nevada's Newspaper


Starrfadu News:
Pay close attention the next time you see a Kleenex TV ad with a man asking random people to sit on a blue couch and "let it out." Listen to the song in the background, and you'll hear the music of a little-known band from the Ozarks.
The song is "Let It Out" and it's the creation of indie rock trio Starrfadu, whose members Austin Hartley, Brian Moody and Dave Martin live in Ozark and Springfield. The band specializes in a meld of acoustic and electric rock, tempered by Hartley's warm vocals and greatly influenced by Brit rock, indie bands and faith.

Indie rock in TV ads is all the rage the last few years, and there's huge potential for exposure in an international campaign like this. The irony is Starrfadu is probably the most low-key band in the area. Hartley, who sings and writes the songs, owns a business and is married with a child and another on the way.

None of these guys has really given a thought to doing anything beyond cutting an album (2005's "A Narrow Road to Silence") and playing a handful of shows at places like Borders Books and Music — where they will play a free show at 8 p.m. Feb. 3. No fliers, no street team, no headlining shows at clubs.
"We haven't cared about all that," says Hartley, 29.

Kleenex and its marketing team had already come up with the idea for a "Let It Out" campaign and went looking for a song to fit the ads. Hartley says they found Starrfadu via Google and iTunes, where the band's music is available for download. They contacted the band in April, and the ads began airing in the U.S. and Great Britain this month.

Yet the song almost went unrecorded. It was accidentally deleted after one recording session, and Hartley says the band didn't even want to put it on the album. But people had responded to it at shows, so they decided to re-record it at the last minute.

"Now we look back and say, 'Oh, man, who knew what a big decision that was at the time," Hartley says.

Of course, the band is getting paid, though Hartley declined to go into details. But the paycheck leads to another interesting story.

Last year, Hartley and his wife, Andrea, pledged money to a charity group that digs clean-water wells in Africa. Though such pledges aren't binding, the couple bit off more than they could likely chew.

"We knew that if we did it in faith, the Lord would provide and we'd go from there," Hartley says.

Within two weeks they received the initial e-mail from Kleenex.

"This hasn't been brought to us to make us wealthy or famous," Hartley says. "But it can be brought to us to help other people."

Hit my blog for more, including links to the song and video.