Sometimes setbacks become the catalyst for something greater. For FRIEDA STAR, losing the rights to their former band name could have been a devastating blow, wiping out years of hard-earned momentum and a loyal following overnight. Instead, the Black Country quartet channelled that frustration into a fresh identity and renewed purpose. Built on longstanding friendships, shared experiences and a collective love of music that refuses to sit neatly in one genre, FRIEDA STAR combine jagged indie energy, sharp storytelling and working-class heart. We caught up with the band to talk about starting over, musical influences, pub quiz failures, questionable French cheese, and why staying connected to ordinary people remains central to everything they do.
Tell me about your name FRIEDA STAR, is it a person? What does it reference? and were there other names in the mix before you settled on it?
Garran: “We were under another band name before we got into a lawsuit and lost the rights to branding, 3k followers, loyal engagement across all socials and lost commercial rights to the name. It was similar to what we"re called now. It was a choice from three names and this name made the most sense to us, sounding similar to ‘free the Star’ with that being relevant to the legal situation.
Take us back to the very beginning: how did each of you first cross paths, and what was the moment you realised this wasn’t just a jam session but the start of FRIEDA STAR?
Scarlett: Everybody in the band is connected in some way and there was never a time where anyone was a complete stranger. Garran and Xav met through a mutual friend, James, and started a band called Headshrinkers. Scarlett knew Xav from school and later joined Headshrinkers as their drummer. When Headshrinkers came to an end, FRIEDA STAR came to fruition and Garran invited college mate Jord to play lead guitar…and here we are now!
Was there one artist or album that united you all — the shared reference point that made you think “yeah, this is the sound we want to chase”?
Xavier: It was less a single artist or album but an accumulation of different sounds that we took inspiration from. I think at the heart of it, FRIEDA STAR is a band you can have a dance to but also a band you can listen to when you’re feeling down and a bit glum!
Your music feels rooted in working‑class storytelling but also noisy, jagged indie energy. Which artists shaped your sound individually, and which influences overlap across the band?
Jordan: We’ve all got quite different influences which I think is what makes FRIEDA STAR sound like FRIEDA STAR. Scarlett is heavily into Pixies, Xav takes a lot of inspiration from Interpol. I’m influenced by bands like Cage the Elephant and Garran brings a lot of his love for rap into the band, which I think you can hear in the fast-paced lyrics of our new song Micky the Drink. There are definitely influences that overlap, but we like having those different sounds coming together, rather than all listening to exactly the same thing!
Before FRIEDA STAR existed, what were your earliest musical experiences — first instruments, first gigs, first moments you felt music was yours?
Jordan: Before FRIEDA STAR, Scarlett, Xav and Garran were in Headshrinkers and I was playing in another band. Our paths crossed a few times, and we’d been on the same bill at a couple of gigs so we knew of each other before the band came together. FRIEDA STAR was really the point where those different experiences and backgrounds came together and started to feel like something of our own.
For readers discovering you for the first time, who’s in the band, and what does each person bring to the creative chemistry?
Scarlett - Drums. Scarlett brings the energy and keeps everything moving, from tight rhythms to moments where things get a little more chaotic.
Xavier - Bass. Alongside Scarlett, Xav is part of the glue that holds the whole band together. His basslines lock everything into place and give the songs their feel.
Jordan - Lead Guitar. Jordan brings the riffs, hooks and jagged guitar sounds that give FRIEDA STAR its edge.
Garran - Vocals. Garran brings the attitude with his story-telling, switching between sharp rapid-fire lyrics and softer melodic moments.
It’s your turn on Come Dine With Me: what are you serving for starter, main, and dessert — and which band member is most likely to burn something?
Xavier: First course, a hearty French onion soup.
Main course, a good medium-rare steak.
Dessert, Jelly Babies.
Most likely to burn something…me, I often burn toast!
You’re curating a three‑day festival and can pick any act, dead or alive. Who headlines each night, and why do those artists matter to you?
Garran: Friday night, Neutral Milk Hotel. Saturday night, The Pogues, and Sunday night, Fontaines DC.
Tell us one strange, amusing, or completely unexpected fact about the band — or about one of you individually — that fans wouldn’t guess.
Xavier: We do a weekly pub quiz together! Our best position record to date is second to last…not because we’re rubbish, but because the quiz is really hard!
Looking ahead, where do you see FRIEDA STAR in 12 months? What’s the ambition, the scale, the version of the band you’re building toward?
Garran: ‘I see us creating better art, and that’s through having the freedom to be entirely expressive to our current state of emotions and environment. We want to become to biggest band we can be but remain ‘the people’s band’, for working class people especially upcoming bands and kids across the country to say ‘“them lot are one of us, if they can do it, we can”
Important final question: what’s your favourite cheese, and which band member has the most chaotic cheese‑related opinion?
Xavier: When it comes to cheeses, we all have differing opinions. If we’re talking about chaotic cheese stories, there was a time we played a festival in France (not as FRIEDA STAR!) where we were offered a cheeseboard. We accepted it out of kindness but did not expect some of the cheese to be quite so funky! I tried Roquefort for the first time and the smell is something I simply cannot describe. For some reason, I let the rest of the band egg me on to actually try it, BIG mistake. After this, it was all I could smell on my hands and every time I took a sip of my pint I could still smell this stinky cheese!
What emerges from this conversation is a band with their feet firmly on the ground and their eyes fixed on the horizon. FRIEDA STAR may have already faced challenges that would have derailed many young acts, but their response has been to double down on creativity, community and authenticity. Whether they're blending influences from Pixies to rap, chasing bigger stages, or simply finishing second-from-last in the local pub quiz, there's a genuine sense of togetherness that runs through the band. If the next 12 months bring the artistic freedom and growth they're striving for, FRIEDA STAR look set to prove that some of the most compelling voices in modern indie music come not from privilege or hype, but from ordinary people determined to make extraordinary noise.
Keep up to date with the band via INSTAGRAM