I first discovered Starfox when she was @lady.zeppelin on Instagram, probably about 10 years ago. I thought wow, that girl is so cool; dressing up in fun costumes, dancing on stage, performing. I met her at Elements festival 2021, the week I had an epiphany that I needed to go “full send” into my own alter ego, doing crazy makeup and hair, wearing fun outfits, dancing on stage, performing. We recognized each other’s vibes and fashions and became friends. I watched her transform into Starfox and gather a Fleet.
Starfox and the Fleet welcomes you to the retrofuture rock ‘n roll renaissance, where past and future collide in an explosion of sound and color. If you caught them at our Summer Extravaganja party, you understand. Through psychedelic rock riffs, dreamy vocals, and immersive theatrics, the band calls upon you to awaken your senses and lean into your own main-character-energy. Their shows hinge upon your active participation—a reminder that you have the power to change the world around you. Yes, young fleetling… you, too, can be the sci-fi superhero of your own storyline.
These intergalactic travelers are on a mission to save rock ‘n’ roll—and perhaps humanity itself. Their performances blur the line between concert, theater, cabaret, and immersive world-building. This retrofuturistic art rock project blends glam rock, psychedelic rock, musical theater, sci-fi storytelling, and immersive performance into a cohesive fictional universe.
I’ve been lucky enough to be included in four of their music videos! Check out their music on YouTube and Spotify, follow them on Instagram @starfoxandthefleet, and catch a live performance in Brooklyn. I truly appreciate their impulse toward creating an experience rather than just a performance, where the audience is invited into a carefully crafted alternate reality.
Before Starfox, who were you creatively—and what parts of that person eventually evolved into Starfox?
Before Starfox I was a young psychonaut exploring how to integrate my creative passions with my academic pursuits. Losing my father to cancer set me on a path of biomedical research and healthcare innovation, but I frequently found that to be at odds with my interests in performance, fashion, and psychedelics. I constantly felt myself being pulled in 2 directions, trying to build a “serious” career while dancing, designing, and modeling to nurture my creative side. These endeavors had negative effects on my career that led me to hide myself in professional environments. It took many years of pursuing more and more progressive workplaces until I found one that accepted me in full and gave me the power and flexibility to be both.
I originally knew you as @lady.zeppelin. What did that era represent for you, and when did you realize you wanted to create something bigger than yourself as an individual performer?
I have been singing, dancing, playing piano, and expressing myself in loud and colorful ways since I was a child. In college I fell in love with psych rock through a string of recommendations starting from The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper to more modern explorations like King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. This turned my love of rock music into an obsession. Meanwhile, I began a career as a gogo dancer and began experimenting with costume design and DIY/maximalist fashion. After moving to New York I saw a subway ad for Alabama Shakes and listened to their album a hundred times, completely shook by the emotion in her voice. I had never heard anyone sing like that before. I developed my own vocal style by mimicking every little flourish Brittany Howard uses to unload an explosion of emotion that zaps the listener into presence. I dreamed of singing in a psychedelic rock band while lamenting that despite my musical training, I was unable to write music. A few more years in New York took care of that — the city dragged me through the depths of emotion and gave me plenty to write about. During a particularly harrowing time, my first song appeared to help me make sense of it. The dam had been broken! I challenged myself to write another, and another, until I had written 10 songs in 10 days. It was then that I knew I had everything I needed to start the psychedelic rock band of my dreams that combined all my interests in one.
What did becoming a “rock star” actually look like behind the scenes? Was it a gradual evolution, a conscious decision, or a little bit of delusion made real through persistence?
How to become a rock star: Go through hard times. Write some songs about them. Learn to make shitty demos. Get creative about where to send your shitty demos, and find a producer. Make some songs and release them. Learn how social media works. Make a thousand videos. Play your first acoustic set, fill in with some covers. Get creative about where else to perform: immersive theme parties, raves, festivals, psychedelic libraries, custom installations — the Burning Man community treated me very kindly during my early years. Write more songs. Get creative about finding people to join your band. Teach them all your songs. Play your first full band show! Invest in photo, video, and costumes to stand out. Start playing venues that inspire you and create unique, immersive experiences for each show. Take any opportunity to collaborate, support other artists, meet other artists, and make magic together. Try to get people to come to your shows and engage with your content even though they are overbusy and overstimulated. Spend multiple hours every day editing videos for social media. Have a mental breakdown. Remember your why. Keep going, keep going, keep going.
Where did the original idea for Starfox and the Fleet come from? Did the music come first, the character, the story, or the visual universe?
I have always gravitated towards math, science, and all things nerd. Especially after shifting my career away from biomedical research, I found myself missing scientific imagery, so I found a way to weave it into my visual world. My art honors all the things that I love: Ziggy Stardust, kid-core videogames, and retrofuture sci-fi, painting the picture of an intergalactic icon who came down from space with her formidable fleet of rock n roll missionaries.
Why rock ‘n’ roll? What is it about rock—especially glam and psychedelic rock—that gives you something other genres or art forms don’t?
Rock allows me to access the feral creature inside, breathing fresh air into my darker emotions. I channel the hyper-masculine, the hyper-feminine, the soulful and sentimental, the silly and experimental. With psychedelic rock I chase sonic ecstasy, unbounded by rules and structure. With glam rock I celebrate life and revolt against all things boring. Rock lights me up and allows me to channel my primal power in a way that moves others to discover their own fire.
You describe the project as a “retrofuture rock ‘n’ roll renaissance.” What eras, artists, films, fashion, or cultural movements have most shaped the Starfox universe?
Artists: David Bowie, Queen, Lady Gaga, The Beatles, Supergrass
Cultural movements: 1960s space age, comic books, videogames, superheroes, punk/goth fashion, Burning Man principles of radical expression and radical participation
Movies: Rocky Horror, Barbarella, The Fifth Element, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Your shows exist somewhere between a concert, theater, cabaret, and immersive experience. How do you begin designing a Starfox performance, and how much thought goes into the world beyond the songs themselves?
I am always pushing myself to deliver the show that I would most want to watch from the audience. And since I never want to watch the same show twice, I make sure to push myself to new heights and create a once-in-a-lifetime experience for every show. I craft my sets in a way that will take the audience on a journey through a rainbow of emotions and archetypes, sometimes curating around themes such as Pride or Women’s Day, sometimes incorporating a full narrative storyline and immersive audience participation. Always chasing what I haven’t done yet.
