Music like Northstar

Northstar is an American band formed in 1997 in Huntsville, Alabama.

Since the band's inception, they have had around five guitarists and three different bassists, have been a three-piece, four-piece, and a five-piece. Due to a lack of a dedicated music scene in the Huntsville area, the band decided to start touring the country in 2000. They booked their first tour, bought a van, and set out on the road.

After two years of booking, promoting, and producing everything themselves, the band signed a deal with Triple Crown Records of New York City in June 2002. By this point, the only original member in the band was drummer Gabe Renfroe. Their line-up solidified with Nick Torres on lead vocals and guitar, Tyler Odom on guitar and Shawn Reagan on bass. The band released their debut album Is This Thing Loaded? on October 22, 2002. Writing in 2022, Andrew Sacher of BrooklynVegan said it influenced the later work of Taking Back Sunday, and "remains one of the best and most underrated albums of the entire early 2000s emo boom". The album was promoted with a few headlining shows in October, before joining the All-American Rejects and Motion City Soundtrack on their tour in November. After this, the band went on tour with Taking Back Sunday and the Starting Line in November and December. In March and April 2003, the band toured across the US with Armor for Sleep, This Day Forward, and Breaking Pangaea, leading up to an appearance at the Skate & Surf Fest. They toured with Senses Fail in May, and contributed the track "To My Better Angel" to the soundtrack of Beer: The Movie. Following this, the band toured the US in June with River City High, and supported Rx Bandits on their tour in July. In September and October, the band supported Rufio and Motion City Soundtrack on a co-headlining cross country tour. They toured for over a year until Jake Fisher replaced Reagan.