Dope Stars Inc.

Dope Stars Inc. are an Industrial Rock band from Italy founded in the spring of 2003 by Victor Love, Darin Yevonde, Grace Khold and Brian Wolfram. They are a fairly recent project that capitalizes on cyberpunk imagery in their songs and appearance.
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Dope Stars Inc. was formed on May 8, 2003. The band began with the line-up of Victor Love (vocals, guitars, synthesizers, drum machine), Darin Yevonde (bass), Grace Khold (designer, live keyboards) and Brian Wolfram (guitar).

Dope Stars Inc. also began working on their debut EP on May 8, 2003. The EP was produced and recorded by Victor very swiftly and cost nothing to produce. Multiple pressings sold out and it is currently out of print due to the fact that most of the songs were re-recorded for their debut album, ://Neuromance.

When Dope Stars Inc. chose to start production of their first full-length release. Also in February, Brian Wolfram left the band and was replaced by Alex Vega, previously guitarist for Klimt 1918.

In April, it was announced that Thomas Rainer, the man behind L'Âme Immortelle, would produce three tracks on the new album. It was also announced that John Fryer would act as a producer on the new album. The name of the album changed to ://Neuromance in June 2005. ://Neuromance is a reference to the William Gibson novel Neuromancer. William Gibson is credited with establishing the cyberpunk culture. ://Neuromance was released on August 22, 2005.

Throughout 2006 the band continued working on new material, and on August 4 they released the Make a Star EP. The EP featured four new songs produced by Victor Love himself and a new rearranged version of "Make a Star", again produced by Thomas Rainer. Make a Star EP sold out in less than 2 weeks.

During summer 2006 guitarist La Nuit joined the band for the live line-up freeing up Victor who started to perform only vocals on the live set. In the same summer the band plays at the most important alternative festivals in Germany playing at Wave Gotik Treffen 2007, Amphi Festival & M'era Luna Festival 2006.

After a full year of touring, Dope Stars Inc. entered Subsound Studio to record a new full-length album between July and September 2006. Gigahearts was released on December 5, 2006, straight after a tour of 11 dates in Germany supporting ASP. Back from the tour, because of personal reasons, Grace Khold left Dope Stars Inc. during winter 2006. In the same period guitarist La Nuit, joined the band as a full-time member. The band continue as a quartet with Victor Love taking care of composition, performing and programming of all synthesizers like he has done since the band's foundation.

On January 27, 2007, Dope Stars Inc. performed at the premiere of Saw III in Munich, Germany. A new song titled "Getting Closer" inspired by the movie was released on the European version of the film's soundtrack. In early 2007 Noras Blake joined the live line-up of Dope Stars Inc. to take care of synthesizers at their upcoming shows in Germany and the appearance at the Wave Gotik Treffen 2007.

Dope Stars Inc. has recently finished their German tour and second performance at the Wave Gotik Treffen. They performed during summer in Spain (Barcelona), Netherlands (Utrecht) at Summer Darkness Festival and in Uk at Infest Festival (Bradford).

In early October Alex Vega decided to leave the band for personal reasons. Now the band stays as a trio with Victor performing vocals and guitars on the live set. Few weeks after, the band jumped on tour supporting London After Midnight and Kirlian Camera from 27 October to 8 November around Germany, France, Belgium and Austria.

On 22 December the band performed in Italy at Tempo Rock for the 2nd edition of the Dark Fest. Dope Stars Inc. also performed at the On a Dark Winter Night festival together with Nightwish, Blind, Jesus on Extasy, Tarot and Van Canto in Salzburg (Austria - 28 Dec) and Oberhausen (Germany - 29 Dec).

Recently the band confirmed on their website they'll perform 2 shows in Finland on 19 and 20 April (Helsinki, Tampere) and 2 shows in Russia on 25 and 26 April (St. Petersburg, Moscow)

Band members

* Victor Love - Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards, Drum Machine, Producer (2003-Present)
* La Nuit - Guitar (2007-Present)
* Darin Yevonde - Bass (2003-Present)