For those who haven’t heard of you yet, can you please tell us about yourselves? 
A sound that slaps you in the face and drives it home from the first listen. Heavy and melodic guitar driven hard rock. The band was originally conceived as a writing project.  We started demoing material and posted some of the songs online.  We were just writing music we love.  We had no idea where we were headed or what we would do with it at first.  Then people really started to dig what we were doing so it pushed us to do more!  Unexpectedly, we also got a lot of exposure on a bunch of Internet and college radio which brought us some new fans as well.  It just sort of snowballed from there!  

How the band formed?
Brent and Derek reconnected after a few years, over the spring of 2010, and began writing again.  Then a post on facebook saying we needed a vocalist brought Purple to the table.  Derek and Brent had played together in a couple bands previous and had done a lot of shows with Purples old band, so we’ve all known each other for years.  After a few months we decided to try some of the songs out live so we called up a couple guys we knew (Josh Gray-Drums, Jay Coates-rhythm Guitar) to fill out the band. 

How did you come up with the Name Kill Star?    
When we started posting tunes online, we needed a project name and without a great story, Kill Star was born!  We tossed around a few other ideas, but Kill Star just seemed to fit with the music we were writing best.

What makes you different/unique?
None of us live in the same city, we do our writing via email.  Derek Dufresne lives in Victoria, BC.  Purple-Winnipeg, MB.  Brent Andres- Selkirk, MB.  We email tracks back and forth and Derek mixes them in Victoria, BC in his home studio.  So this is how we write and demo tracks!   

I’ve read that your first live show together, you did without a single rehearsal? How was that?
Our first show was in Winnipeg in November.  Due to flight delays and other complications, we didn’t get together as a band until little more than a few hours before the show.  We had a quick photo shoot with Dave Swiecicki and then on to the show, where he also photographed us live also.  We went up and kicked ass.  We won first place out of 12 bands and proceeded to the city finals.  It was hard, but everyone knew their parts and we just did it.  This was the first time we had even been in the same room together in years!  It was a great experience and a lot of fun!

Your debut album comes out spring 2011. That must be exciting?
It’s very exciting!  We did most of the recording in Winnipeg at Platinum/Gold Studios with Shane Ward at the controls and some in Victoria, BC at Derek’s home studio, and it will be mixed in Vancouver.

Can you tell us about the album? What inspired it? Is there a Theme to the album?
It all came together very quickly.  What inspired it is just a want to get our music out there for people to hear and fans pushing us to do it!  We are very happy with the way its turning out and cant wait for it to hit the street! There are 12 songs on it .  The only theme really to it is kick ass rock n roll!!

Will you be touring to support the album?
We will be doing some touring this summer to promote the album.

Who is your inspiration? 
Derek - The guys in this band inspire me everyday to become a better musician and songwriter 

Purple - Eddie Vedder ,Raine Maida, Maynard James Keenan, Layne Staley, Scott Weiland.

Brent - Inspiration, for me comes from everywhere.  The guy who cuts me of in traffic to the unconditional love i receive from my spouse.  It all inspires me.

What was the band or concert that made you decide to be in a band? 
Derek- I remember seeing bands like Aerosmith, Motley, Guns n Roses, Anthrax… etc when I was a kid.  These were all big influences and pushed me to want to play great music.  

Purple - W.A.S.P,in my early years I really liked the way they dressed up and at the time they're music was killer, the first time I saw Devon Townsend play in Vancouver with a band called "Grey Skies",I knew I really wanted to pursue this strongly.  Saw Pearl Jam at the plaza of nations in Vancouver along with Tool at the same venue.  Tool really blew me away as a musician, so aggressive and so fascinating musically and visually. Pearl Jam was really cool cause he sings and writes such great material, and is one of my favorite bands live.  They're are so many more but I have been singing and writing for such a long time, I love to get new music and edge my way around it and come up with something cool and that hopefully delivers as far music goes!!

Brent - The very first day I met Derek D, he wanted to throw me down an escalator right then and there I knew I wanted to work with this guy!!  Lol

Kill Star band members
Purple - Vocals
Derek Dufresne - Bass, Guitars, Programming, Vocals
Brent Andres - Guitars, Vocals
Josh Gray - Drums