Five Star Iris

History

In 1997, lead singer Alan Schaefer and his bass playing brother Robert put together the band Groundscore with drummer Dan Fishman. They became Another Man Down after coming out of CBGB's in New York one night and witnessing a drunk tumbling to the floor.

Another Man Down toured regionally, received some regional radio play with the holiday hit 'The Dreydl Song' and released three records, but never got to the next level. Some of the tracks on the third album (2001's 'Dangerous And Close') were produced by Ed Roland of Collective Soul.

Alan eventually met up with Dennis Matkosky and Dexter Green. Dexter wasn't producing anyone at the time, but he wanted to produce what became Five Star Iris. Both Alan and Dexter had the same idea of wanting to come up with a sound rather than just a record. Once the band started recording their new music, they decided they needed a new name as well. The band decided on Highwire but soon discovered a band in Buffalo, NY had been using the name for some time. They eventually decided on Five Star Iris, a name suggested by Alan’s wife.

The 2006 Five Star Iris album was co-produced with Sylvia Massy Shivy (Tool, Red Hot Chili Peppers) and Rich Veltrop (Tom Petty) with additional production by Dexter Green (Collective Soul). The album also includes a pair of songs Schaefer co-wrote with Collective Soul's Ed Roland; the band has also toured with Collective Soul.

After meeting with U.S. military representatives, the group embarked on a tour of military bases throughout the Middle East as part of the Armed Forces Entertainment program. Because the group was forbidden from selling physical albums on this tour, they saw a significant increase in the amount of traffic to their iTunes Store as a result.

Tours

Discography

Awards