STARSET

About STARSET

STARSET functions somewhere between a rock band and a conceptual art project, though frontman Dustin Bates would probably prefer you think of it as both. Bates, who has an actual background in electrical engineering and worked for the Air Force Research Laboratory, formed the band in 2013 with a premise that sounds like it came from a particularly ambitious sci-fi novel: they're supposedly the public outreach arm of the Starset Society, a fictional organization concerned with communicating messages about humanity's future through music and multimedia.

The whole thing could have been insufferably pretentious, but Bates backed it up with actual songs. Their 2014 debut "Transmissions" introduced their signature approach—cinematic rock with electronic elements, soaring vocals, and lyrics preoccupied with space, technology, and existential questions. "My Demons" became their calling card, a melodramatic but undeniably catchy track that connected with the same crowd who grew up on Linkin Park and 30 Seconds to Mars. "Carnivore" and "Halo" showed they could write hooks without abandoning the conceptual framework.

"Vessels" arrived in 2017 and proved the debut wasn't a fluke. The production got bigger, the concepts more elaborate, and songs like "Monster" and "Satellite" demonstrated Bates had figured out how to balance radio-friendly choruses with the band's sci-fi aesthetic. The album came packaged with a graphic novel because of course it did. But again, the ambition felt earnest rather than calculated, which matters when you're asking people to buy into a fictional society while listening to your rock songs.

The theatrical element extends beyond the studio. STARSET's live shows involve projections, LED screens, spacesuits, and enough visual spectacle to justify the higher ticket prices. It's prog rock theatricality retrofitted for the streaming era, and their fanbase—calling themselves the Starset Society—seems genuinely invested in the mythology.

"Divisions" dropped in 2019, continuing their trajectory of bigger sounds and denser narratives. "Stratosphere" and "Diving Bell" leaned further into electronic textures while maintaining the anthemic quality that had become their trademark. Bates kept developing the overarching narrative about technology, connection, and human evolution, which at this point spans multiple albums and transmedia content.

Their most recent album, "Horizons" from 2021, came in two flavors—the standard version and "Horizons Deluxe," which added acoustic reimaginings. Tracks like "The Breach" and "Infected" showed a band comfortable enough in their identity to experiment within their established framework. Bates brought in symphonic elements and continued pushing the production toward something closer to film scores than traditional rock records.

They're currently still touring and expanding their narrative universe, still wearing the spacesuits, still treating album rollouts like multimedia events. Whether you find it visionary or over-the-top probably depends on your tolerance for concept albums and fictional framing devices, but Bates has managed to carve out a genuine niche for intelligent space rock in an era when that shouldn't really work.

Starset shows are precise, with Bates commanding the stage through subtle presence rather than theatrics. Crowds are attentive and mostly locked in, singing along to hooks. Production is genuinely elaborate without feeling like a distraction. Sets build momentum effectively.

Known for My Demons, Starlight, Monster, Satellite, Infected

See STARSET Live