Five Star Iris: Atlanta's Collective Soul-Linked Rockers Who Toured the Bases
Photo: U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Omar A. Dominquez / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Public_domain). Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US_Navy_070716-N-1226D-130_The_band_Five_Star_Iris_arrives_aboard_amphibious_assault_ship_USS_Bonhomme_Richard_(LHD_6).jpg
Five Star Iris are an alternative rock band formed in Atlanta, Georgia. U-Rock® has logged 3,806 plays of their song "Hi-Fi Connection."
From Another Man Down
According to Wikipedia, singer Alan Schaefer and his brother Robert, on bass, started a band called Groundscore with drummer Dan Fishman in 1997. They renamed it Another Man Down after leaving CBGB's in New York one night and seeing a drunk fall to the floor. Ed Roland of Collective Soul produced some tracks on their third album, 2001's Dangerous and Close. Producer Dexter Green then took on what became Five Star Iris. The band first chose the name Highwire, found that a Buffalo band was already using it, and settled on a name suggested by Alan's wife.
On tour for the troops
The 2006 album Five Star Iris was co-produced by Sylvia Massy and Rich Veltrop, with extra production from Dexter Green. It includes two songs Schaefer co-wrote with Ed Roland, and the band has toured with Collective Soul. Through the Armed Forces Entertainment programme they toured bases in Spain, Sicily, Italy and Iceland in 2004, and in Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, the UAE, Qatar and Djibouti in 2007. The photo here, a US Navy picture, shows the band arriving on the USS Bonhomme Richard in the Persian Gulf in July 2007. Their song "Let It All Out" won the 2005 UK Songwriting Contest.
Why it matters on U-Rock®
Five Star Iris took Atlanta rock to US military bases overseas, and "Hi-Fi Connection" is regularly played on U-Rock®.
U-Rock® play data: 3,806 plays logged across the BROADCAST and CORE histories (2026-07-02 to 2026-10-12), using the higher of the two logs.
Sources 1. Wikipedia, "Five Star Iris" — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Star_Iris 2. Wikimedia Commons, "US Navy 070716-N-1226D-130 The band Five Star Iris arrives aboard amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard" (public domain) — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US_Navy_070716-N-1226D-130_The_band_Five_Star_Iris_arrives_aboard_amphibious_assault_ship_USS_Bonhomme_Richard_(LHD_6).jpg 3. U-Rock® BROADCAST (AzuraCast) and CORE (airplay_spins) play logs
