Formula Indie Sessions : Interview with Stärnehagel oni Xang

Introduction of the project “Stärnehagel oni Xang”

What is your earliest memory associated with music?

My father played the accordion and on Saturday evening we sang Swiss folk songs with the whole family. I also like to remember records with music by Edith Piaf and also one with the “Thieping Magpie” by Rossini, which I listened to so often until I knew it inside and out. I then learned to play the trumpet and in my youth I reached for the guitar and practised passionately and improvised.

How did your passion for creating music begin?

With the purchase of a second-hand spool device from Philipps with which 4 tracks could be traced. With it I specially made soundscapes, similar to the band “Yello”, in which my brother worked as a sound engineer. Later, as a member of the semi-successful Swissband “Triibsand”, I was also the one who was active for recordings and the publication of our sound carrier.

What is the story behind your current music project?

“Stärnehagel oni Xang” is one of three music channels that I operate on “mx3” – an Internet portal of Swiss radio stations. Here I publish instrumental pieces that I have composed in the last 30 years and recorded for memorisation. In SUNO V5 and V5.5 there is now the possibility to feed in your own song and reproduce them in a new and professional sound – usually I give the instruction not to change anything about the composition at all SUNO 5.5 is very good in this regard. I try, command and then edit until an appealing and interesting sounding version is available, which I then publish on “mx3”.

How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your music?

This is an unable question, as I am travelling in very different styles. Since my instrumental compositions are mostly characterised by my guitar playing, many newly generated pieces are also characterised by agile guitar playing.

What have you learned that has completely changed the way you make music?

Cubase with which I have been on the road from the beginning and now this fantastic function in SUNO, which allows you to implement your own music pieces professionally sounding and with the many possibilities to realise my ideas – but which also offers surprises that add new colours to the piece.

What tools, instruments or software are essential for your creative process?

Guitar, piano, vocals, Cubase, band in a box, logic, plugins from UAD and Waves, good microphones

Which indie artist or song do you love right now?

It’s embarrassing, but until your request I didn’t know what indie music is. The Internet then enlightened me. At the moment I like to hear the voice of my niece Denia Weber who made it almost to the final in the TV show “Voice of Germany”. With her I also recorded a musical song of mine in the studio. It can be found at this link:

https://mx3.ch/t/22iD

How have your personal experiences influenced your musical and artistic vision?

In the past, as a member of a successful band with many concerts, I dreamed of great success. Today I have my pleasure in our Stärnehagel acoustic band – with which we perform from time to time. But above all, I am looking forward to my second channel on mx3 with the title “Stärnehagel Cover Band” on which I have been publishing my own songs – or rehearsal recordings with vocals (with Xang) since December 2025. Songs that I have covered with SUNO and can now be heard. Until recently I thought, with my 71 years, most of my approximately 350 pieces would disappear without singing and sound in the eternal sinking. After 4 months of diligent work and re-publication of well over a hundred of my own songs – which I have been improved in terms of sound with the help of SUNO – I have already reached 7200 listeners on the channel *Stärnehagel Coverband”. I’m very happy about that.

What emotions or messages do you hope the listeners take away from your work?

With the instrumental pieces, above all, beautiful feelings and aesthetic charms could convey. With my songs and lyrics I try to address very different needs. There are very socially critical, ironic, spiritual and poetic songs but also love songs, funny songs, folk songs, children’s songs…

What is the most important lesson that music has taught you so far?

There is hardly anything more beautiful than being able to receive new music from the universe, improvising, rehearsing and playing with others.

What is a dream place or festival you would like to perform at?

I prefer to perform in churches where a contemplative atmosphere prevails – where no one talks to the other and no one looks at his mobile phone and almost everyone is full of recording the music and the lyrics and going along with the music.

If you could work with an artist, whether in the past or in the present, who would it be and why?

With my highly gifted hardly known friends, who unfortunately play in other bands, because they have very specific preferences – which I can move from time to time to record my songs with me in the studio. These can then be heard on my third and actually first mx3 Stärnehagel channel with the name “Stärnehagel” where I only publish recorded pieces myself. An example of how this can sound can be heard in a medley with different songs under the following link: https://mx3.ch/t/a0Y

Where can our listeners follow and support your music? (Website, Spotify, IG, Links)

By visiting my pages on mx3 and listening to my songs and thematically sorted playlists/albums:

1. “Stärnehagel oni Xang”(since April 2026):

Https://mx3.ch/robiweber and here for example the very dreamy

Album “Guitar Dreams”: https://mx3.ch/p/12061y

Or if inclined listeners do the same on my other two mx3 channels:

2. “Stärnehagel” (all self-played music since 2008):

Https://mx3.ch/staernehagel

And here, for example, listen to the musical song “Silence – not one Word” with my niece:

https://mx3.ch/t/22iD3.

3.” Stärnehagel Cover” (cover of my own songs since 2025):

Https://mx3.ch/thea