We were lucky to catch up with Starlite Lounge recently and have shared our conversation below.

Starlite, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?

I think we spend so much time analyzing the timing of things and when to do them. This is one thing that “we” all could embrace more! We live in a world where common phrases like “young person’s game” seem like it is all about getting started and doing things a certain way at a certain time, which will lead to the best result. They say timing is everything. If you stand too long at the threshold, questioning and dissecting, you never cross into the room. Creativity requires participation; don’t let the lack of momentary direction control your action.

Art doesn’t care about your age; it cares about your honesty. That is the conclusion we have come to. That’s exactly how our first album, If That’s the Way You Want It, came to life. We stopped dissecting what it ‘should’ be and just made it. That’s where the rebirth happened—by being here now.”

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Starlite Lounge is an Indianapolis-based five-piece indie/rock band. The group has played over 250 shows under the name ‘Carmichael’ — the band is road-ready and has opened for national and regional acts such as Airpark, Liz Cooper & The Stampede, River Whyless, and The Brother Brothers.

Our music has been featured on WFYI (NPR), licensed by television networks (MTV, NBS, NASCAR, Netflix), and played on college radio throughout the US.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

I think one of the biggest things we’ve learned is that we are our own resources when it comes to making art. There isn’t some hidden curtain to pull back, or a gold standard that somebody else sets and we all have to chase. Those are just stories we invent and repeat until we believe them. While local community resources, venues, and other creatives are vital to the lifeblood of what we do, it is really people that make it all work (including ourselves).

The truth is, all of us carry everything we need to create in our own ways. For us, it is about tapping into your own experiences, our own voice, contradictions—and trusting that. As Miles Davis said, “Sometimes it takes you a long time to sound like yourself.”

Make your art, your way, it doesn’t have to be made any certain place to give it merit or a certain dollar amount doesn’t have to spent to make it great, those are things we assign value to and place meaning on to help us make it feel legtimate to ourselves or whatever deeper need we are looking for. What you are making is amazing and we hope everyone can tap into their own creative impulses!

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

We started our journey as “Carmichael”, 11 years ago, did many things, playing all over, throughout the Midwest, opening slots for National acts. When we made a pivot to this new project in the spring of 2021, initially, it was challenging to find the new vibe or direction.

As we got started, things evolved. I thought identity was something you inherited: a sound, a scene, a role you were given. But the deeper I got, the more I realized that identity isn’t handed to you or anyone—it’s built, reshaped, and sometimes torn down just to be rebuilt again. Starlite Lounge is a rebirth of identity for lifelong friends who have been creating music together for over a decade.

That’s what our first album, “If That’s the Way You Want It, represents for us (coming soon). We recorded it at Postal Recording with Tyler Watkins, who not only helped shape the sound but actually gave us our band name.

Reinvention isn’t optional—it’s success. In this new season, Starlite Lounge has become less about fitting into a category and more about building a way of being—we don’t see identity as something fixed—it’s more like different rooms in the same house. Sometimes you step into one and it’s calm, sometimes it’s loud, sometimes it’s a part of you that surprises even you; that’s Starlite Lounge. That’s why people reinvent themselves with different names or different sounds. It’s not pretending—it’s just unlocking another frequency of who you already are and who you already were. Nobody ever dies; they just go by a different name.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://starliteloungemusic.com
• Instagram: starliteloungemusic

Image Credits

PHOTOS BY JAMIE MAHAN