Starling: He's My Big Brother.

Starling play the QUT Club at Gardens Point from 7pm Friday. Live @ The Corner is on at the Chardons Corner Hotel every Tuesday night.

There’s no way to escape the overwhelming media circus that is Big Brother. Admit it, if you’re reading this, chances are you’ve tuned in and have you’re up to speed with the current crop of housemates. For local band Starling, interest in the show operates on a different level. You see the band donated one of their guitarists, the first member of the house to be evicted, Damien to the Big Brother cause.

“We’re going to keep playing while he’s in the house,” Alex explained prior to Damien’s. “We’re actually undergoing a bit of a drummer change, so we’re going to spend a bit of time just practicing for a while. We’re going to be playing without him. We might get a bit of a cardboard cut out of him made, so he’s there with us in spirit.”

And now, once more, he’ll be there again in the flesh. Prior to Damien’s temporary departure for the land of nationwide television recognition, the Live @ The Corner favourites were working on their debut release.

“We’ve been working on an EP, and we just finished recording all the stuff. It’s a five-track disc called Matt & Jac Save The World. We’re working on mixing at the moment as well as getting our sound together as a four piece while he’s away.”

The tracks that will appear on the recording have been tested in the live arena.

“There’s a few tracks from the disc in our live set. Our opening track from the live set won’t be on the disc. I can’t remember all the stuff we do in our live set.”

While Damien may be basking in the limelight or reality TV at present, it’s somewhat ironic that the band was formed as something to do between acting gigs for a couple of the other members.

“Craig, the other guitarist, and myself are both actors. We were just jamming between rehearsals for a play we were both in, and we met our bass player and Damien, and that formed the core of the band. We got a drummer and before we knew it we were playing a residency for a while. It’s been all over the shop.”