Astari Nite

“Until the End of the Moon” is the most mature music written by Astari Nite to date. In fact this is our second LP – the prior being Stereo Waltz,” says Astari Nite vocalist Mychael Ghost. “In our earlier years it seemed a bit like High School if you will. I did enjoy my prior band mates but as time goes by, things change. Illia Tulloch and I needed to explore as well as find like-minded individuals who believed in each other.”

Adding Monch Sallons on bass to round out the rhythm section and guitarists Michael Setton and Howard Melnick has taken this band into a new and exciting facet of their existence. While Ghost and co. might think that they’ve had a reset of sorts, Astari Nite, formed in 2008, has long held been the torchbearer for dark, New Wave-ish, post-punk in South Florida.

Ghost, who admittedly was not a part of South Florida’s Gothic/dark music scene of yesteryear, has grown to embody the perfect frontman for this type of group, an anomaly of sorts in this landscape of tropicalia. And maybe it’s a good thing to be an anomaly, not just within a musical scene in general but in the previously mentioned maturity the group has attained.

“I’ve never had so much to say ever before in my life,” he explains. “Many expected something dark and gloomy which are our key elements but you can hear the happiness which tends to shine a bit more than the color grey.”

Signed to Germany’s Danse Macabre Records, Astari Nite is coming off a strong year in which the band headlined the Wave Gotik Treffen in Leipzig, Germany and performed with the Psychedelic Furs – all catalysts for the completion of this album, which was produced by Melnick.

With an East Coast Tour underway, a pair of local album releases and a return to Europe in 2017, Astari Nite is taking this reinvigorated spirit with utmost energy and sincerity. Theirs is not a shtick or nostalgia, it is a genre of music done well and appreciated. “We tend to get told that our music is the last of that genre here in South Florida, I don’t know. Perhaps we are and that makes me smile a bit brighter.”

Astari Nite play June 3 at Revolution Live with She Wants Revenge, Raw Fabrics and July 22 at Kill Your Idol in Miami
~ Abel Folgar