Star Card

After a daydream about throwing card decks out into the crowd at shows, Calley (vocals/guitar) began to seek bandmates, offering guitar picks and cigarettes to Elliott Smith at a fireplace altar. A week into the ritual, Calley met Brendan (drums) and they played together for the first time, coincidentally, on Elliott Smith’s birthday. Under the moniker Star Card, Calley and Brendan self-released an EP in May 2023 of Calley’s eerie lofi bedroom recordings, wrote full band arrangements, and became staples of NYC’s underground noise rock scene with Calley throwing cards out at shows, just as they envisioned: Go Fish, Civil War era playing cards, Christmas Angels, and Tarot cards. In 2025, their antics found them opening for Elf Power and Pains of Being Pure at Heart at Bazooka Fest. Their debut LP, Trash World, was self-produced and recorded at Headless Studios in Brooklyn and mixed and mastered by Andrew Gerard Nault (drab, Lesser Glow, Forn) in Boston. Star Card’s current lineup includes Calley Nelson (Receive, Glifter, Childless) on vocals and guitar, Jona Baron (Fear Not Ourselves Alone) on second guitar, Sean Porio (Dollar Tree) on bass, and Brendan Landis (Receive, Hey Exit, Glifter) on drums. Limited edition tapes are available for sale through Already Dead Tapes.