Ever wonder what became of SunLikeStar? The Vancouver modern-rock band garnered decent airplay and considerable buzz with its self-released 2000 album, Inverse. After that, the group dropped out of sight, but it has recently re-emerged with a new name. This is not the first time the band has rechristened itself: before adopting the SunLikeStar moniker, it was known as Pan. The current incarnation, however, is called Art of Dying. "We just basically wrote for a year, and the sound kind of changed," singer Jonathan Hetherington told the Straight. "I mean, it's the same three core guys, but we have a couple new members now, too, so a name change just felt right." Hetherington admits that, at first blush, Art of Dying is a morbid-sounding name, but he says its inspiration was anything but grim. "The eventuality that we're all going to die is our inspiration for living fully," he says. "It sounds dark, but it's positive, which is really what our band is, too. It works, because we're kind of heavy on-stage, but the message of the songs is usually a wake-up call." For more info about the band, which performs at the Ocean Beach Hotel in White Rock on Thursday (January 20) and at the Roxy on February 1, visit www.artofdyingmusic.com/.