On May 21st 2009, Strand Books was filled with proper white-haired intellectuals. Eric Paul was not one of them. Locking eyes with a target, he shared in a thick New England accent how every time he sees the photo of the soldiers struggling to raise the American flag at the Battle of Iwo Jima he thinks of ‘all the nights he tried to fuck on cocaine’. Nervous coughs, “oohs” and “aahs” decorated the room. This event will not be forgotten any time soon.Imagine if you added a body consisting of drums, guitar, and synthesizer to that mind. This is exactly what the underground no longer owns. A pulse. Not a single member of The Chinese Stars has ever spent a day with clean hands. We all miss the highs and lows of rock ‘n’ roll and these can only be properly delivered with dirty hands. The Chinese Stars features Craig Kureck and Eric Paul formerly of Arab on Radar, a band that took the piss-dosed torch from Six Finger Satellite and further coated the world with their own blend of animalistic pheromones. J. Ryan from Six Finger once told a girl I was with that she looked like “Gary Numan on crack.” It’s always the next generation who’ll make you lock up your doors and daughters. Fast Forward to the future where the men have grown up, accepted all of their disorders and found the best means to utilize their disease. Eric further channels chemical urges through his typewriter. He has several releases on Heartworm Press while Craig continues to detonate realms with his smash-and-grab style. A patented ability that is not limited to his musical outlets but also his innovative film work.Together they turn out dance music for white padded cells, themes from porno films yet to be made, groans from checkerboard floors, glow-in-the-dark rhythms, and questionable thrusts. The pair are joined by Paul Vieira, whose mysterious noise outfit Sidewinder is still talked about in the most feared haunts of Providence, and local experimental music pioneer V. Von Ricci of Mahi Mahi fame. The menagerie of dangerous thinkers is complete yet each person is with their own ideas, so the result is usually volatile.In Providence Edgar Allan Poe met and courted a defining love interest. HP Lovecraft is buried there. It’s not surprising that The Chinese Stars are tethered together by mental illness and demonology. This is an American band and a quintessential fixture in the mechanics of Rhode Island.–Biography by Max G Morton, celebrated author of Indestructible Wolves Of The Apocalypse Junkyard, 23, and Looking For The Magic.