[1][2] The pair invited Caroline Kennedy (ex-Plums) into the studio to write melodies and lyrics over tracks of guitar music on the score they had recorded for a proposed short film, The Baby Bath Massacre.
[1][2][4] Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, described the album as a "mix of trashy pop and indie guitar rock [which] found a ready-made market.
There were plenty of loose arrangements in the songs, with Palmer's guitar and Kennedy's quavering, imperfect vocals laid down rough and raw".
[1][2] Stu Thomas had earlier been approached to join on bass but turned it down due to solid commitments in Kim Salmon and the Surrealists.
[8] Fellow deadstar members, Nick (on bass guitar, backing vocals and piano) and Jones (on drums and percussion), also worked on the album.
[1] In August that year they issued their second studio album, Milk, which Palmer co-produced with Kalju Tonuma (Nick Barker, The Mavis's).
[10] In the UK they issued "Sex Sell" as their lead single from Milk (titled Deadstar for the European market) on Discordant Records.
[11] Late that year Nick Seymour left Deadstar and was replaced on bass guitar by Pete McCracken – Kennedy's bandmate from Plum and her future husband.
[1][3][7] By mid-1998 Michael den Elzen (ex-Schnell Fenster, Rebecca's Empire) joined on lead guitar and Deadstar started recording their third album, Somewhere Over the Radio.
[2][3] McFarlane described their sound as "mixed strident guitar riffs with melodic pop roots" and Kennedy as "the band's focal point with her tough-but-graceful presence, opinionated views and emotion-charged, if imperfect, vocals".
[3] While a member of Deadstar she also had her own project, The Caroline Kennedy Conspiracy, with Goble and McCracken, joined by Ted Cleaver on guitar.
[25] Barry Palmer continued to write, record and perform with Hunters & Collectors during his time with Deadstar until that group disbanded in March 1998.