Like many 21st century rock-n-roll legends, the story of Cleveland band Xanny Stars began on karaoke night.
That event – the All-90s Dennyoke at the legendary Mahall’s in Lakewood OH – is where Allie Mattis sang No Doubt’s Spiderwebs and Bitch by Meredith Brooks. Mickey Mocnik sang K’s Choice/I’m Not an Addict on that same night in late 2016.
“From then on, I think we were on each other’s radars,” Allie said.
(Amazingly, the story almost began in Japan earlier that year. Allie and Mickey both were there for far-flung reasons, with Mickey playing in the band Cancers, but the two just missed each other.)
Summer 2017 was when Allie “really started playing and writing music,” she said. By the end of that year, Mickey – a veteran of many Cleveland and Columbus bands – had ended a band called Nervosas and started The Missed and was looking to play bass in a band again.
Duly inspired, Mickey bought a Fender Jazz bass. “This is when things really started cooking and she asked me again about getting together,” Allie recalled. At this point, she had a handful of full songs written and in late spring/early summer 2017 “we started jamming, just the two of us.”
After jamming with a friend on drums for a while, Allie/Mickey realized they wanted to find a drummer that was in Cleveland full time. Another friend then hooked them up with drummer Devin Randazzo of The Village Bicycle, who had made a post looking to play in another band. By late summer/early fall 2017, Allie, Mickey and Devin officially became Xanny Stars.
The trio worked up eight songs and played their first show in April 2018, opening for Flasher at Happy Dog in Cleveland. They then recorded those eight in January 2019 at the Cleveland home studio of Paul Mac and released their first demo on 200 cassettes as well as digitally. That demo teasingly was titled WHAT NEXT?
From mid-2019 to mid-2020, Allie wrote 12 songs and by December 2021 that dozen had been recorded. That set was recorded and mixed by James Harris at Taxon Studios in Wooster and mastered by Adam Boose at Cauliflower Audio in Cleveland.
That was followed by what Allie pleasantly described as “more than a year of hell.”
At the end of that heated spell, drummer Sam Gottsegen – “a fresh, newly recruited face,” said Allie – joined Xanny Stars, replacing Devin.
Things continued to look up for the band, with their first full-length album – GETTING THERE – released at a show with the Beyonderers at Happy Dog in February 2023.
GETTING THERE is a 12-track collection of high-powered melodic guitar waves crashing against introspective lyrics. It’s an inspired effort that really makes you eager to see what the future holds for Xanny Stars.
The members of Xanny Stars all grew up in Northeast Ohio and have been involved with music since they were kids. Mickey began playing classical guitar at age 10, with Sam’s drumming efforts starting in grade school. Allie has sang “for as long as I can remember” and was part of the first wave of kids at the Cleveland School of Rock.
Xanny Stars is Allie’s first band and Sam’s second. Mickey “has played in more bands than I can count,” Allie said. Mickey also currently plays in her self-led band The Missed, with Sam also playing in newly formed hardcore punk band Grouch.
“Our music tastes are pretty similar, but my love for 90s alternative and femme-led music probably has the greatest influence on Xanny Stars,” Allie said. “Although some of my favorite bands that have formed in the 2000s are Bully, Hello Mary, Lemuria, Bleached, and GO!GO!7188.”
The next chapter of Xanny Stars hopefully involves more out of town gigs, Allie said. Mickey recently acquired a stylish minivan to make touring a little bit more comfortable and practical. The band also are working on three new songs.
“In the meantime, you can catch us playing around town this summer, with some fun cover songs in our sets,” Allie said.
The next show for Xanny Stars is July 14th at Little Rose Tavern in Cleveland with Paper Bee from Philadelphia and Columbus band Natural Sway.
