An Interview with Starcrawler's Henri Cash
Henri Cash and I became friends when we were one year olds at Kids Klub in Pasadena, California. I was the subject of his first song, “Henri’s Blues” which he wrote at 5 years old and appears on his dad’s album with Henri singing backup. He’s now been touring with his increasingly popular grunge-glam-punk rock band Starcrawler for almost four years now, has been featured in TeenVogue and W, and just released his sophomore album, Devour You with Rough Trade Records. While the rest of us graduated, came to UChicago, and have been spending sleepless nights with Locke and OChem; Henri dropped out of high school, opened for the Foo Fighters, and released two records.
For those among us who don’t regularly attend rock shows, seeing Starcrawler play for the first time can be quite a shock. Their lead singer, Arrow de Wilde contorts her skeleton-like frame in a straight jacket and bejeweled tighty-whities while spitting blood into the crowd. Henri smiles maniacally at the audience in a hot-pink fringe cowboy button down and a custom Kelly-green suit. The guitar feedback doesn’t stop between songs.
The band is aggressive, confrontational, and wild on stage, but off, they’re just some down-to-earth, super chill, LA kids. It’s honestly the most maddening part about being friends with Henri. There’s a level of ease to him and his entire crew that’s aspirational. It took Henri two months to tell me that he’d had tea in London with Anna Wintour. I had to find out from his mother that both Elton John and Jack White are personal fans of his because at the end of the day the most important things to Henri are his music and his friends.
Starcrawler shows are nothing short of spectacle. Image via
K: Can you, like, say your name and, like, where you are so that it records on this?
H: Yeah I’m in Kansas City and this is Henri
K: Ok so…. How did the band start?
H: um the band started with Austin and Arrow they were jamming together and then they were looking for a guitar player. Arrow, at school she came up to me cuz she thought it looked like I played guitar and we started jamming and then we met Tim, and she (arrow) already knew Tim; we needed a bass player and once Tim joined the equation it was a done deal
K: for you specifically why music, like why are you into it, how did it start, you know?
H: ummm I dunno I’ve just always been into music and didn’t see it going any other way it just was kinda..it was always what I was drawn to. Kinda grew up around it. Kinda all did in our weird ways
K: How would you describe the genre of music you play and how did you settle on or like come to that sound?
H: I-I think it’s just rock music…I mean, we play a-a lotta- all of our songs are different, and they don’t really sound, like some of them don’t sound like anything. I don’t know about genre or anything but it’s rock music… and we just played what comes natural to us and we still do, so. I dunno we didn’t really try to play any sorta way it’s just what kinda came out
K: yeah cuz it’s a very like, I dunno, it’s a very unique kind of sound for sure
H: thanks, yeah
K: so, what instruments do you play? Besides guitar, which we know, cuz you’re amazing. (laughs)
H: so at school I played brass instruments, as you know, I play tuba. I was carrying a tuba case when I met Arrow. Tuba euphonium. I can kinda fake playing trombone um but I’m not really a good trombone player. Then I played percussion in school and in the first band I was in with friends I played bass and then I sorta fell upon guitar in this band. This is the first band I ever played guitar in
K: oh wow! I did not know that actually
H: yeah I always kinda played guitar but I never thought about myself as a guitar player because, I dunno, seems kinda generic
K: ju- guitar seems generic?
H: yeah but I found a way to make it feel right
K: Ok so how would you describe the band dynamics and like, its members? Like individually
H: I mean we’re all pretty unique people and I think that every single person affects the sound of the band but creates such an interesting dynamic on stage I mean we’re all kinda sorta, I dunno… well like your stage character is an extent of yourself in a way. I dunno how to explain it… but Tim’s a quiet person that sleeps everywhere kinda thing so he’s very calm on stage but he also plays very fiercely in a way and then Austin kinda just lays it down and- and he’s a bass player and like he makes it like a pocket kinda thing and then Arrow just has this crazy character onstage that kinda is a- it lets like the audience have something to watch and be captivated by. yeah I dunno does that answer the question
Starcrawler vocalist Arrow de Wilde shocks the crowd. image via
K: yeah thats good. so who are your biggest musical inspirations?
H: I don’t even know man there’s so many… um it changes like I keep saying different things every time cuz it’s a constant change. But uh yeah right now I really like- I’m listening to a bunch of country music but I really loved the white stripes as a kid and ACDC and a bunch of different things and we’re all into different types of music. And yeah its cool we’re influenced by so many different kinds of music and I think that’s what also makes it quite different is we all don’t listen to the same exact thing but we have mutual things that we listen to together and different things that we all have to ourselves kinda thing
K: yeah that’s pretty cool. But you’re all super into music, obviously
H: yeah we’re all music geeks I guess
K: ok so you’re from LA, so am I, it’s the best place ever…
H: yes. Same preschool, man
K: yeah, ACCC, that’s where it at!… so like how do you guys encapsulate like an LA sound? Like what do you think are aspects that like is an LA sound
H: I think again it’s like we never tried to sound like we’re from LA it’s just like where you’re from like you act like. Like people from New York sound like their from New York like their accents or whatever and I think just growing up and being absorbed in la music I guess our whole lives just kinda like positive vibes like I don’t even know its an interesting sound for sure
Henri Cash and the author at her 7th birthday
K: why do you dress the way you do and how would you describe it?
H: um I dunno I like to wear things that stand out kinda, things you can see from afar that’s why I really like western kinda clothes cuz they’re shiny and they have a bunch of things on it that like pop and i dunno my favorite designer I guess was Nudie, he’s a Los Angeles suit maker um that made suits for all these old western dudes like Hank Williams and his suits were really expensive. That gold suit that you see Elvis wearing is Nudie suit. I just like kinda shiny things cuz when you’re on stage if you have something that stands out its ya know I makes a difference . people hear what they see and if you look like you’re dressed to impress you probably will impress I dunno
K: right so I wanna talk about that friggin awesome pink shirt you have
H: oh yeah!
K: yeah so can you talk to me about how so how you got it where you got it from and then like why it is the way it is
H: so I wear a lot of vintage western clothes but I also kinda get some stuff made for me as well and that was one of those ones cuz I wanted something that kinda encapsulated the things that mean something to me and so I had a like, the lamb on it and some palm trees on it to make it like an la thing and California poppies cuz those are all things that were around me I guess so it just felt right and then that green suit that’s embroidered I found a suit in salt lake city and got it tailored and then I got it customized with all that embroidery and that’s all done by this lady named Jessica Owens. She also makes arrow’s like crazy white suits too , costumes and stuff and she’s just really good at what she does. Like she also makes these suits for Tenacious D when they dress up as devils and shit like that. She’s great
You can find Henri on Instagram @henricash. Image via
K: you have a pet pig.
H: yes I do.
K: can you talk about your pig? And why a pig?
H: I love pigs . Ive always loved pigs. My favorite animal as a kid was a warthog so I just always wanted to have a pig and then my parents would never let me get a pig but when I turned 18 I figured I would just get myself something that I wanted so I got myself a pig and and its kinda like a child, they’re a lot of work and it needs a lot of attention
K: who takes care of the pig?
H: (deep breath) uh when I’m gone my mom and brother do. They do a good job of it. Taking care of it and when I’m at home I do.
K: whats the pigs name
H: Beasley.
Beasley via @henricash
K: ok alright moving on back to music. Whats your favorite song to perform?
H: um I dunno I like performing these new songs. Theres a song called no more pennies that’s really fun to perform because its different than all the other songs so it-it’s a little bit more challenging to pull off I guess
K: how so?
H: its just more challenging because you have to nail the vibe right and with a lot of faster songs it’s a slower song so pulling out a slow song in the middle of a set of fast songs if you don’t execute it properly it can be a downer. A Debbie downer. but if you execute it perfectly it makes everybody feel really good. I dunno.
K: what’s the craziest thing that’s happened to you guys on stage
H: on a stage. Damn. So much crazy stuff has happened. In our last show in Denver our tour manager got punched in the face…
K: what why?
H: just this, they came to the show, this old lady and old man, probably in their like 50s or something, they came wasted already and this guy kept being obnoxious, the husband, and um he got knocked out because he was being obnoxious to some other people.
K: wait he got knocked out
H: well he got knocked out by someone else just another audience member so our tour manager and the doorman had to help carry this man outside and the the wife of this man kept sticking her tongue out at our tour manager for taking him outside for like two minutes or something and I guess she just walked up to him afterwards when he wasn’t looking and just punched him in the face and then after that she tried to punch him again but he just picked her up and put her outside and that was-that’s that.
K: that’s pretty crazy
H: um theres been crazy stuff um this guy once was smacking my ass really hard while we were onstage in japan
K: wait so he was onstage with you?
H: well yeah at the end of the show I invite people up onstage usually young kids who are in the audience and I let them play guitar but this guy rushed the stage and, well I was stage diving and he was smacking my ass, but then he came onstage and he started hitting his head against the wall until his head was bleeding and then he jumped out into the audience and started like fighting with people more like it was crazy cuz he was just getting super hurt he was bloody and like at the end of the night he was just on the ground barely breathing kinda thing.
Image via
K: so is that a typical audience? So you have young kids but then you also have these like 50 year olds so like what does the audience composition look like, like who comes to your shows?
H: our audience looks really different yeah its kinda half kids half adults
K: so when you say kids and adults can you clarify?
H: I’m gonna say probably 14-24 for when I say kids and then adults can range form ya know 25- 80
K: 80!
H: yeah but when we were in England people would come out in their 90s to see us.
K: what are those people like?
H: they’re in the mosh pit.
K: they’d be in the mosh pit?
H: yeah its crazy cuz they’re like I saw the Beatles when they were like playing clubs or something. It’s insane some people are just dedicated to music up there. Their whole life is seeing shows so it’s an honor when they come cuz I mean they’ve seen everybody so for them to give a shit about us means we’re doin something right
K: right and-and who does give a shit about you? Like you’ve been played on the radio a fair bit ya know.
H: yeah you know radio…
K: I’m asking you to brag a little bit about like who your fans are (laughs)
H: I mean my first favorite fan like when we were in high school I mean Elton John played us on the radio and he talked about us and that was pretty cool um there’s been so many I’m trying to think um… Jack White came to our show um…
K: and you’re a big fan of his as well right?
H: yeah so that made me feel really good . There’s so many and it’s really honoring but like yeah.
K: Can you tell me a little bit about what your day to day is like on tour
H: getting in the van in the morning, like at 6 am or 7am, driving for 6 hours, getting to a venue, eating somewhere in between at like some shitty place on the road and hoping that its good then tryna eat someplace before soundcheck, unloading a bunch of stuff, carrying a bunch of stuff, carrying a bunch of heavy shit. Also I’m really good at packing a van, just want to put that out there and we play the show, get out at like 2 am , go to bed and do the same thing all over again. Get like 5 hours of sleep a night. Five hours is actually really good
Henri being really good at packing a van
via Katherine
K: and you’re how old now?
H: nineteen
K: and school didn’t agree with you?
H: no it’s not that school didn’t agree with me, I liked school, I went to art school so it was pretty fun but the school district, it was a public school district and you cant be gone for too long and it just didn’t work out. They try to like fine you when you’re not there cuz it’s like a public school and they make money per day you’re there and so when it came to senior year it just didn’t make sense anymore for like me to be there when I could be doing my professional gig… I tried online school but they wanted me to do it for like 6 hours a day and that’s just impossible with the … with the schedule
K: ok my last question: What’s next for Starcrawler?
H: touring. Lot of touring, yeah.
K: right you guys just released an album
H: just a couple days ago so yeah a couple years of touring and then another album after that but we’ll be going everywhere with this one. More places than last time. We went to Norway and Sweden which was pretty cool. When we were in Norway it never got dark. We were there over the summer. It was just bright the whole day. Yeah its pretty crazy
K: but you like being on the road and you know going different places
H: yeah I like going to places and learning new things it’s like an education of stuff you wouldn’t learn in school um like you get to know every gas station stop of the I-7 in the middle of America or something or you just get to like go to cool museums, you learn a lot of history
K: what do you do when you’re back in LA?
H: work on records. It’s just as busy sadly but there was like a second of break when we were making this album but we were just making this album, that’s what we were doing which is still a lot of work but I don’t like not having anything to do so I like constantly working on something
K: ok I think that’s my questions so thanks so much for doing this! I’ll see you in a few days!
H: yeah see you on Thursday!
Image via @marqsutherland
