The Killjoys Starry

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of their debut album, Record Record Label has teamed up with influential Canadian rock group The Killjoys for a vinyl reissue. The album will be in stores on July 26.

In the words of singer and guitarist Mike Trebilcock, "We recorded Starry over the span of a few months. The songs were written fairly quickly, drawing on influence from The Ramones, The Raspberries and Cheap Trick. Of course, that’s not exactly what came out. Whenever our schedules would align we would meet at Tim Hevesi's Soho Common Recording House above Paul’s Shoe Repair on John Street in Hamilton, Ontario.

We recorded loud to a Tascam 38 8-track 1/2” tape machine, like really loud – so loud that the “bad kind” of guitar feedback was always threatening to intervene, often succeeding, ending an otherwise pristine take. There was no automation, so when we mixed, we gathered around the mixing board and effects rack, each having our carefully timed job: fader moves, mutes, reverb splashes and echo removals.

We totally missed the vinyl era on both ends. So, The Killjoys never released anything but CDs and cassettes. We all still cherish the vinyl collections we’ve lugged from apartment to apartment for so many years, and it’s a huge thrill to finally have something out on this format. The two new tracks, recorded just a few streets East of John Street, sound like we've improved over the years, but not much."

The vinyl version of the album was mastered by Noah Mintz at Lacquer Channel and will be available on translucent sun drop green vinyl. It also features two brand new tracks recorded in 2023 and mixed by Siegfried Meier that were recorded just a few streets over from where the band recorded Starry.