User:JesusCPenney/sandbox/Star Commander

Star Commander was a band based in Denton, Texas. Their sound has been described as a take on emo music "definitely of the more ragged variety of the late 90’s, a sound that continued through about 2003 or so."

Early history
Star Commander formed in Arlington, Texas in 2009 after the demise of the folk punk band Kids of Cons. Wishing to continue writing and performing, guitarist and singer Christian Medrano turned to former Kids of Cons bandmate Donovan Ford and friends Zach Loose and Ryan Schefsky to form a new band. Medrano booked a show for the band before they had ever played together, leaving only a few days to prepare an entire set of songs. The original Star Commander lineup featured Loose playing a home-built lap steel guitar, but this configuration was short-lived; the band parted ways with Loose early on. In 2010, the remaining three members self-recorded and released a demo CD titled There Is History Here, Em, featuring four songs that would later appear as different recordings on their full-length album.

Debut album and breakup
Work on the album began that same year, with Fort Worth musician Alex Atchley producing and mixing the project. Star Commander's debut full-length, The World Was Sinking & I Was Hardly Surprised, was released by Denton's Gutterth Records on 5 July 2011. A review in D Magazine's Front Row blog disparaged the album's transparent emo influence while praising the band's raw nerve, writing "[the] group is at its best when it just tears straight-ahead, losing the weighted 3/4 rhythms and sniffling balladeer tendencies." Local music blog FUDFW dug further into the emo-derivative nature of The World Was Sinking, declaring the record to be "borrowed and whiny." The release of the album coincided with an ill-fated tour. In December 2011, Star Commander disbanded for somewhat intentionally unclear reasons.

After disbanding
On 27 June 2012, Star Commander and New Science Projects co-released a limited edition split tape on Gutterth Records, creating two versions with each band offering their own distinct album art. Star Commander's side of the tape featured three previously unrecorded songs, produced by Gutterth's Michael Briggs. On 20 October 2012, Star Commander briefly reunited to play Fort Worth volunteer-run, non-profit venue 1919 Hemphill's 10-year anniversary festival.

After Star Commander dissolved, Ford and Schefsky continued to play with Alex Atchley in Bad Times, as well as forming Square Business with friends Parker Lawson and Daniel Mitchell. In this time, Ford has also played in numerous other bands including New Science Projects, Flesh Born, Plunge, and Joy Sores. Medrano went on to form a pop punk band, Hate Your Friends, and continues to record and perform as a solo artist under the name Collections.