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Stardog Champion and their new EP, Exhale will have you craving more and more! You might have been hearing a buzz recently about a new band, Stardog Champion. Well their musical roots are definitely not new and are now stronger than ever. You have two former members of Breaking Benjamin; Aaron Fink and Mark James. They then reunite with their old bandmate from Lifer, Nick Coyle and completed their band with the addition of Josh Karis. Together you are treated to a great rock band that everyone will soon be talking about.
We had the chance to talk with Aaron Fink and here is that interview:

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Music Junkie Press: Hi Aaron, Thank you for talking with us here at Music Junkie Press. We are very excited about your new band, Stardog Champion. I understand that you and Mark teamed up with your band mate from Lifer, Nick Coyle. During your time with Breaking Benjamin, did you see yourself playing with Nick in future endeavors?

Aaron: Well, I didn’t rule it out. At the time I was doing my thing. I didn’t rule it out by at the time I was doing another thing. It wasn’t on the back burner. Nick and I remained friends over the years and kept in contact. I wasn’t dating while I was still married if that is what you mean. We were really friendly and didn’t put this together until the other thing kind of crumbled away.

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Music Junkie Press: I am glad you guys stayed in touch. How did you guys meet up with Josh?

Aaron: Josh played in a cover band over the last couple of years, just for fun with Mark. They had the greatest band name ever, they were called ‘The Best”. The three of us; Mark, Nick and I had begun writing and getting songs together. We didn’t really feel we needed the drummer to help us to figure the songs out. We wrote a bunch of songs just to see if the vibe was there and the chemistry was there before we brought on another component and wanted to bring the songs to life and play them as a group. So he came on about a year later. I actually didn’t know Josh but Mark suggested him and how he kicked ass in this other band with him.

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Music Junkie Press: I know that you guys had a CD Debut show back in April but you recently played at Pointfest this past weekend. How was it playing the Pointfest and I am sure seeing many Breaking Benjamin fans and old friends?

Aaron: We did that on Sunday. We just kind of got back early this morning. It was a lot of fun. I we had A thousand people and it was good to get out in front of that sized crowd again. It has been a while for me and it felt fun to get back on the saddle again. I think people are still kind of, as far as the Breaking Benjamin fans, I think people are still finding out about this band. We are trying to get the word out there. Part of the idea now is to connect the dots. I mean this is Mark and Aaron from this other band and here is a new singer. I think there was a couple people there that knew what we were doing. I think to a lot of the fans it was a fresh band and hopefully they will investigate a little bit of the history of what is going on and kind of put two and two together in the future but we are kind of still working on that aspect of what we are doing. All in all it was fun.

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Music Junkie Press: Where will you be playing next?

Aaron: There isn’t too may shows on the schedule. We are finding a booking agent (May 15 – Stardog Champion just announced they have joined M7 Agency!) and talking to other bands about opening up for them and things of that nature. I don’t have a good answer for that question. I wish my answer was better. It literally has a bunch of leads that are coming in as we speak and we are just solidifying those things. The little record we put out just came out a couple weeks ago so we are just kind of basically getting started here. Seeing what happens and trying to get some interest in the band and spread the word and all that jazz.

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Music Junkie Press: The EP Exhale is now out and I myself have it on my daily playlist. I love it! You have me wanting more and more. Is there plans for a full length album, did you write more songs?

Aaron: Yah, We wrote quite a few songs and it was just a matter of picking five at the moment. It wasn’t like that’s it, we’re done! It was just a time constraint, budget constraint thing and we are not signed at the moment so it was kind of like let’s put out a couple of tunes and get some sort of fan base going here and then we can work from there. It is hard for the label’s point of view to come to them and try and pitch a band that doesn’t have a product or is just an idea. You kind of have to dumb it down. You have to be like: “This is the product, these are the guys, they are playing shows”. You can’t just be like, “We have this idea that we are going to be this great band.” I mean that is kind of a harder sell. We are just starting out at this point.

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Music Junkie Press: Where did you guys record and who produced the EP?

Aaron: We did the record out in Hollywood with this guy named Neil Avron who is associated with Switchfoot, Disturbed, Linkin Park. It took a couple days, went in banged them out and it came out nice. It sounds good.

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Music Junkie Press: It does sound great! We love every song on it! How old were you when you first started playing guitar?

Aaron: My Mom bought me a guitar for my 13th birthday so I think I started playing slightly before that. Like in music class when you are sort of forced to play an instrument and I played it and took to it right away.

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Music Junkie Press: Can you remember the first song you completely learned to play?

Aaron: It was probably like Purple Haze. It was like a good starter song. Then I jumped right into metal stuff right away and learned how to play fast and learned a bunch of Metallica songs, Iron Maiden, Suicidal Tendencies and stuff like that. I kind of taught myself how to play. Obviously, there was no Youtube back then. Kids can kind of cheat now, they can go on and see how everything is done. Anyone could have a private teacher now at home. I had to press Play/Pause on the tapedeck over and over again. I kind of did it the old fashioned way but I think that helps because I learned from listening to it as opposed to having someone showing me how to do it. I think in the longer run it is the better way to do it that way, but I think most 20 year olds today might disagree with me. I did it old school.

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Music Junkie Press: Do you remember what the first concert you ever went to was?

Aaron: Yes, it was Tesla and Firehouse. It was at Hershey Park Arena. It was great. I still to this day, I swear it was the loudest concert I have seen but I might have just not had my big boy pants on at the time. I don’t know. It was wicked loud and I actually really like Tesla a lot. It was an Epic day. They wore well with time for me. I mean they had a lot of success but they kind of never, really, really broke into the stratosphere. Their whole catalog is really good, great songwriting, great singer. I am not that embarrassed by that one. It wasn’t something like New Kids on the Block. I think my second concert was Black Crowes.

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Music Junkie Press: If I could take a peek into your Ipod, what artist or song might I be most surprised at finding on there?

Aaron: Ya, a lot of stuff. I mean it is not surprising to me but I guess I am kind of known for doing harder rock but I am passionate about so many different kinds of music and I am really open minded to everything. I will give everything a chance and not have one set genre so I mean it is everything from Beethoven to Pantera and everything in between. I like Bjork, I like Tori Amos, I like all kinds of stuff. Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers, Pink Floyd. I like anyone who is good at what they do and is really passionate about it. That for me, if you can get those kind of feelings and if you can get them on tape, and present them to the public, that is the kind of stuff that draws me in. And of course, good songwriting draws me in.

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Music Junkie Press: Who were some of the most influential bands for you growing up?

Aaron: As a guitar player, David Gilmore from Pink Floyd, Jimmy Page from Led Zep, James Hettfield of Metallica, the Edge from U2. Those are the kind of guys that I have like a, maybe I do or don’t but I try to blend their styles. I like real riffy stuff and I also like dreamy type, fluid 70’s guitar parts as well. Those are I guess what my style is like now.

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Music Junkie Press: Do you think we might get to hear some Lifer songs when you guys out our performing?

Aaron: I wouldn’t hold your breath on that one. Not that there isn’t anything wrong with that stuff. We just kind of like feel that was in the past and we are just kind of leaving it in the past and focus on this stuff and new material. I think we all kind of feel like, been there, done that, leave it as it is.

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Music Junkie Press: If Stardog Champion could take any song from any other genre and turn it into your own, what might it be?

Aaron: Well, we have been playing some interesting covers. We haven’t recorded anything but we have been doing “Helter Skelter” by some group named the Beatles, ha, we have been doing “Bullet the Blue Sky” by U2, and we have been throwing in Living Colour’s “Cult of Personality” which is kind of a curve ball, but people seem to enjoy it when we play it. We haven’t recorded anything but we plan to. If we can throw a couple other people’s song into a set, especially at this point when not everyone is familiar with all of our songs, you have to give them a freebie like “ya,ya, I know that song”. It takes the edge of listening to a lot of songs they have never heard. Even like for me personally, when you go see a band, it could be the greatest song in the world but if you don’t know it before you get to the concert, sometimes they get blurry and they are like, ya a new song. So you kind of have to give ‘em a couple bites on the line.

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Music Junkie Press: We are all anxious to see Stardog Champion out on tour!

Aaron: Ya, we got to get out to Cali! We are going to be doing stuff all summer. Nothing is locked in at the time of this interview but we are not just sitting around waiting for lightning to strike. We are working on it.

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Music Junkie Press: We are going to share all the links to your media site so everyone can stay up to date on your show dates and also where they can buy the EP, Exhale. Lastly, is there anything else you would like to share with our listeners?

Aaron: I just like I said before, are just trying to get the word out on this band and I guess if I could be selfish for a minute, ‘If you like the band, tell your friends about it, spread the word, help us out a bit”.

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You can check out their video for their new single, “When We Fall” right here:

When you take a listen, you will definitely like what you hear and by all means, make sure to tell your friends. We are excited to announce that Stardog Champion has joined the M7 Agency. I am sure we will be getting a list of those tour dates soon, so visit their social media sites to stay up to date so you can make sure to not miss them when they come rolling through your town.

~ Play it loud, Marisol