CINEMA STAR
Boonton, New Jersey, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2001 | SELF
Music
Press
Juliana Salinas
(excerpt from another review).....
While here, I chatted it up with a couple of well-dressed men in black. They asked why we were taking notes (honestly, the only people to do so thus far). We told them about Randomville, and they told us they were playing Kaldi’s that night at 12:30 a.m., and again at Neon’s Saturday at 10:00 p.m. At this point, we decided that (other band name here) weren’t bad, but there wasn’t anything attention-grabbing about them either, so we moved on.
Cinema Star - New Brunswick, NJ
(Kaldi’s)
So yeah, the well-dressed duo suckered me in. I ran down to Kaldi’s to catch their acoustic set. It was packed. Not that it takes much to do so, but I had to sort of crouch on the floor and balance my notepad on my knee for a bit, until a table came up empty.
The vocals were great. The guitar and steel guitar playing was simple and clean, and also served to showcase the group's singing and playing abilities. The Heim brothers claim not to be acoustically strong, but this simply isn’t the case at all. They promise to be ten times better in their next set, so go catch them if you can at Neon’s (inside, downstairs) at 10:00 p.m. Saturday.
- www.RANDOMVILLE.com
June 13, 2001
CINEMA STAR, LONG MAY YOU TWINKLE!!!
We caught the Bayshore/Middlesex based answer to Pop's Passioned Prayers recently where else but at Wayne's Playroom, aka "The Broadway", as this 4 man unit celebrated their 1st CD release 'WideScreen' with a stinging set of their brand of Thinking Man's Pop, and the club was so packed that you could barely walk 10 feet beyond the door.
Cinema Star IS: Kenny Heim,guitar, vocals, Randy Heim, Rhythm guitar, vocals, Keith Shapiro, Bass, and John Crocco, drums, and the boys tell us their influences run a gamut from Social D & The Ramones to New Order and Depeche Mode.
And with hardly a pause the band deftly slashed their way thru a 45 minute set that included gems from their CD like the heart-racing, hope-tinged lyrics of 'Widescreen', a hookily textured ditty about knowing Love on its arrival; This band displays a solid set of chops and musical purity, with a clean and crisp urgency that coats each song without 'sugaring' it. The crowd surged closer to the stage on the harder-riffed 'Diamond', as its swiftly building riffs and urgent vocal danced around basshooks straight into a hooky climax; Like the following 'Clone', which asks the question about a lover missing and then making 'Not just another You'..Like 'In The Moment,{The last cut on the disc} their repertoire just hums with an FM-Ready snap, and like fellow Shore Pop Legends Evelyn Forever, Cinema Star comes pre-loaded with a tight Pop Sensibility and overall accessibility and character that just screams to a wider audience..
Catch them & get a free T-shirt Sat june 9th at LoveSexy in Hoboken, showtime 10 PM, and the following Saturday the 16th, they're doing a special outdoor concert at BoundBrook High School, on the football field in Bound Brook'…The 'Widescreen' CD's currently available at Curmudgeon Records in Edison, and for further Star-Data tune to www.cinemastartheband.com .
- NJ Coast News
"Cinema Star's roots go back to various New Brunswick combos where the pop buzz was always lit. It saw members of The Blakes cross paths. One of these days, one of these bands will put it all together and break through. Right now these guys are poised to do just that. Their live show improves with each outing. Their self-released debut Stay gold is a solid mix of anglo-tinged alternative pop. Their devotion for shoegazer pop gives their sound depth. "Lead You Home" is one of their strongest examples of great hummable power pop for the modern world. "
Pat Pierson - YEAH YEAH YEAH magazine
- YEAH YEAH YEAH
From 2016, please enjoy Cinema Star...
...aka the pride of Boonton, NJ, and their fiendishly catchy new single"Attractive."
These guys have been rocking out along those lines since 2000, but I have to confess they had gone under my radar until the other day, so I'm making up for lost time. You can -- and should -- download or stream more of their stuff at iTunes, Spotify and all the rest of the usual suspects. - Steve Simels
Discography
Cinema Star - Gallery EP 1998
Cinema Star - Widescreen 2000
Cinema Star - Stay Gold 2004
Cinema Star - ENEMIES 2011
(hear clips from every song on Stay Gold @ www.cdbaby.com/cinemastar)
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Photos
Bio
Cinema Star has existed in the NJ music scene since 1999. The band's vision has always been that the music itself was the most important: without good songs, a band is nothing. Early Cinema Star consisted of Ken Heim (Guitar, Vocals), Keith Shapiro (Bass), and John Crocco (Drums).
The band started out playing many bars and clubs in the New Brunswick college and shore areas of New Jersey. After the recording of their first demo, "Gallery" in 1999, Kenny's twin brother Randy (guitar, vocals) joined the band. This added more prominent harmonies, fatter guitar sound, and more song writing resources to the band. In 2000 Cinema Star recorded and self produced their second demo entitled "Widescreen E.P." One of the songs on the disc, "Clone", won a runner-up award in the 2001 John Lennon Song Writing Contest, a contest judged by many famous songwriters, performers and industry insiders. Due to a wide range of influences- (everything from Teenage Fanclub and Buffalo Tom, to New Order and Depeche Mode) Cinema Star's sound has always been rooted to catchy indie rock with an uncommon serious tone to it. The band's music has been branded by one reviewer as "thinking man's pop". Within this Cinema Star has always maintained a dark, artistic quality to their overall sound and image.
In 2003 the band self produced its first full-length album entitled Stay Gold.
The CD received airplay on 105.5 WDHA's "Homegrown Spotlight" and glowing reviews in some NJ music publications.
The band has shared the stage with Remy Zero and South from the UK and played countless NJ and NJ venues.
The band completed their 2nd full length album ENEMIES on MAY 17th 2011, available on itunes.
LIVE AT THE BITTER END, recorded live at the legendary Bitter End in NYC, available on iTunes and cinemastar.bandcamp.com
ATTRACTIVE, the new single available everywhere digitally. Check out the video for ATTRACTIVE on youtube. Here:
Band Members
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