Starcastle was an amazing six piece band from Champaign, Illinois that released 4 studio albums for Sony Music, 'Starcastle', 'Fountains of Light', 'Citadel' and 'Real to Reel'. As a shining example of top notch Prog Rock they toured throughout the USA gracing arena stages as the opener for Styx, Boston, Rush, Jethro Tull, Heart, Journey, Uriah Heep and many other well known artists. The group experienced great successes but tragically would disband in 1980. 

 

A few years later, bassist/vocalist and founding member Gary Strater decided to relocate to Northern California and pursue his own musical aspirations. However this ultimately led to him reforming a brand new incarnation of the band with a fresh, more modern style.  Mark and Gary met in 1984 Starcastle and Mark's new band Now teamed up for a string of shows in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was an amazing dbl bill of emotionally driven, prog rock music and Mark really enjoyed what he was hearing from them. He and Gary along with Scott McKenzie were instantly drawn to each other both musically and personally and the connection between them was absolutely magnetic as if by some divine intervention. It was obvious to all of them that they should be working together and one night while backstage at the Cabaret in San Jose, Ca., Gary asked Mark to join the band. Ironically during this time, Now was starting to experience friction brewing between Bassist Devin Lacey and Drummer Mark Pena and for Mark as the songwriter and band leader this was discouraging to say the least. It was having a negative effect on the creativity and productivity during rehearsals and it had been weighing heavily on Mark. Ultimately he decided to disband his own project and join up with Starcastle.

 

Starcastle was now a 5 piece band with Gary, Scott McKenzie, the amazing George Harp on vocals and Bruce Botts and Mark on guitars. Mark was only 19 and Gary 33, yet the musical dynamic and chemistry was pure magic between them! Rehearsals began taking place in Concord, Ca at a warehouse studio managed by sound engineer Michael Oliver. Everything seemed to be going great as they worked up the music together and performed special showcase events. The response was absolutely stellar but apparently guitarist Bruce Botts was not happy with the new configuration and obviously preferred to be the only guitarist in the band. Suddenly Bruce didn't show up for rehearsal and without any explanation, abruptly moved back to the mid-west where he was from. This wasn't a professional way for him to handle his insecurities with the situation when a simple discussion may have brought some unity and common ground. Anyhow as the band was surprised and shocked by his actions, the only thing to do was move forward and continue creating more new music together. Shows kicked off in the Bay Area and the new music was intense, more experimental and more expansive than ever. For the next two years there were many shows performed, demos recorded as well as the addition of keyboard virtuoso, Jimmy Wagner. The music and the band was enjoying pure, free and unbridled creativity with it just pouring out of everyone! For Mark his period in his musical journey was one of the most special and cherished times that allowed him a platform to open up and experiment with musicians that weren't limited by their abilities or their musical tastes. However as with all things, time can pull you in different and unexpected places and things can arise that forever change your course. Then in mid 1986, following drummer Scott McKenzie's unexpected departure, Mark would also choose to move onward into new ventures.

 

Over the years following,  Gary and Mark's friendship remained solid but Gary and his beloved wife Sascha would eventually return to their roots back to beautiful Champaigne, IL. Gary's commitment to his art and his music remained steadfast as he released a solo album of New Age music. Soon he and some of the original Starcastle members as well as various music friends would assist in putting together a new Starcastle album. 'Song of Times' contains a combination of work from various incarnations of the band including some tracks from the 80's California sessions.

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Gary Dale Strater was a true musical genius, a deep spiritual being, awe inspiring, witty and kind hearted!

On Sept. 19th, 2004 he sadly lost his battle with cancer and is incredibly missed every single day by his family, friends and the entire music world. Fly with the angels maestro!!

(R.I.P.  01/14/53 – 09/19/04)