Star of the Starboard
It’s another summer Sunday night in Dewey Beach, and that means Kristen Kwolek and her band—Kristen & the Noise—are warming up at the Starboard, where they serve as the de facto house band and bona fide icons of the party town. Nearly 30 years into a high-octane musical career, the ponytailed Kwolek still struts, scoots, and dances across a Delaware beach club stage like few others have. Her voice—a powerful, pliable, chameleonic instrument that allows her to take on songs ranging from Dua Lipa to Metallica—has echoed into the nights and across the waterways of Dewey Beach countless times. Kwolek’s natural exuberance is supplemented by Celsius energy drinks these days, but as she says, “when you’re playing a crowd and love what you do, the adrenaline takes over. Some nights, you feel every bit of it because you’re working the crowd.” And few can work a beach crowd quite like Kristen & the Noise. As one of the area’s most popular cover bands for the last few decades, they’ve played to packed crowds at every imaginable hotspot from here to Atlantic City. “
Kristen and her band have grown with us here at The Starboard as family over the past 10-plus years,” says Steve “Monty” Montgomery, the Starboard’s longtime owner. “We jokingly call them our house band because they’re a huge part of this outstanding Starboard family. She is a total rock star, always the most professional on every given night. Kristen takes every single show to be the very best, to ensure every single person in the crowd is getting what they came for.” That means a vocal range that can oscillate from forceful and theatrical to sweet and melodic at the drop of a hat. “She’s a superior singer. She could sing a phonebook and it would sound amazing,” says Steve Miceli, guitarist for Kristen & the Noise since 2019. “Kristen has a knack for being able to give a crowd exactly what they want to hear at the time. She’s super energetic, and when you have that combination, people see her and they’re just mesmerized. She has discipline and genuinely cares. She’s not happy with going out there and being an average band.”
Even ESPN anchor Scott Van Pelt, a Dewey Beach regular, recognized Kwolek hasn’t lost anything on her fastball. As Montgomery relays: “During one of her breaks, Scott Van Pelt tells Kristen, ‘After all these years of being on stage, it’s obvious you still get up for each and every show and are just phenomenal. How do you do it?’”
Early Years
For Kwolek, a Scranton, Pa. native, the love of performing developed early. “I’ve been singing ever since I could speak, according to my parents,” she says. Kwolek’s father, a high school football coach, would hoist his young daughter atop a table to sing for the entire team at the postgame dinner. Her mom would let her skip school to drive up to New York City to take in a show or audition for a commercial. At age 17, she appeared on the hit CBS show “Star Search,” and won the singing competition against a reigning seven-time champion. (She lost in the next round after performing a cover of Pat Benatar’s “Fire and Ice.”) In her 20s, Kwolek joined her first band—Tin Pan Alley—with childhood friends. The cover band gained steam around the region, playing in venues that included the Delaware beaches, but also clubs in New Jersey, Philly, and Northeast Pa.
At 27, she took a hiatus to give birth to her daughter, Zoe. But by 2001, Kwolek began missing the mic. Her management—Media, Pa.-based Midnight Sun—called one day and described a band of talented musicians searching for a singer. Kristen & the Noise was soon assembled and born.
High Energy and Versatility
The band quickly developed a reputation for their high-energy shows, plowing through 40 or more songs a night, with Kwolek pouring every molecule of her being into her vocals and showmanship. Even today, the singer rarely stops moving during a set. She sways, skips and jumps around constantly, like some blend of Gwen Stefani, Mick Jagger, and a Peloton instructor. Musically, the band proved extremely versatile. From hard rock to pop, R&B, Top 40, and beyond—everything was fair game, thanks to Kwolek’s unique range.
“I started my career right at the time where there were all these strong female [frontwomen like] Gwen Stefani, Alanis Morissette, Natalie Merchant,” she says. “And I did all that kind of stuff, but I also didn’t want to just do female songs. I wanted to sing men’s vocals, too. So, it was Pat Benatar, No Doubt, and these others. But I was also doing Rage Against the Machine, and I was doing Pearl Jam. I was like, ‘Well, why can’t I? So what?”” Few other vocalists can transition from “My Girl” to Metallica without missing a beat, or mash together Whitney Houston and Rihanna. “I love to watch people’s faces when Kristen starts singing lyrics like [Metallica singer] James Hetfield, Miceli adds, “she can put herself into any song and do it respectfully and great.”
“Kristen has a knack for being able to give a crowd exactly what they want to hear at the time. She’s super energetic, and when you have that combination, people see her and they’re just mesmerized.”
— Steve Miceli, guitarist for Kristen & the NoiseRocking the Beach Towns
As Kristen & the Noise became one of the area’s most in-demand cover acts, playing not only bars and nightclubs, but private events, weddings, and more—her parents, Bill and Josette Kwolek, continued their unwavering support. Essentially touring with the band, they spent weekends at the Delaware beaches, watching Zoe at nights, and dancing and singing along during matinees. The beach towns, especially Dewey and Ocean City, Md., provided a perfect backdrop for Kristen & the Noise. Sunsoaked audiences—from rampaging college students to retirees—fell under Kwolek’s spell at places like Bottle & Cork, Northbeach, Rusty Rudder, the Lighthouse, and Seacrets.
“Dewey especially is such a great place for music and it’s crazy to think about this two-mile span that’s congested with all this music—but it just works,” Miceli says. “It’s been the perfect combination for us.” Along with the likes of Mr. Greengenes, Love Seed Mama Jump, Burnt Sienna and others, Kristen & the Noise provided the summer soundtrack for generations of beachgoers and fans. For many, they share the same kind of association with the Delaware beaches as Funland and Grotto Pizza. “We’ve been through so much together with Kristen and her band,” Montgomery says. “Even back to the Covid days when we’d have them in here on their own playing on our stage and broadcasting virtually for the world to enjoy. She’s played our staff parties, and if she’s not singing, then she’s attending as one of our own. Kristen is the star of our biggest charitable event of the year in Dewey Goes Pink, and our biggest social event of the year in our annual Running of the Bull.”
Adapting to Change and What Lies Ahead
As new scores of bar-hoppers flock to the Dewey hotspots each summer, Kristen & the Noise have had to adapt to changing times and tastes. “Twenty years ago, it was easier to keep my finger on the pulse,” jokes Miceli. “It’s not like I’m normally listening to Dua Lipa in my car.” From their early days of grunge and hard rock, through the dance and electro-heavy sounds of the 2000s to Taylor Swift, curating a setlist in 2024 is a delicate balance of art and science, the band says. “It’s a little more guesswork,” Miceli asserts. “You can look to see what’s trending, what’s popular, but we decided recently that instead of trying to jump through hoops, we just play good music that we like.”
In recent years, Kwolek has begun inviting her talented daughter Zoe onstage to lead the band. With her curly red hair, Zoe Kwolek bears a certain resemblance to the singer Chappell Roan. “So, the band learned ‘Good Luck, Babe!’ for her, and she got up and she crushed it,” Kwolek says. “One day, it’s just going to be Zoe & the Noise up there.”
As Kwolek ponders the future, she knows that one day, that bottomless well of energy might dry up. But for now, that time seems long away. “Eventually there’s going to be a time to not do it anymore,” she says. “I think about that too, but it’s just like, I don’t want to stop. I don’t want to. Sometimes it’s awkward when I’m singing to 21-year-olds, but mostly they’re awesome. Every once in a while, I’m like, ‘Oh gosh, I think I’m getting too old for some of this.’ But I love it still. I would choose it over any other thing.”
Kristen’s Local Faves (with a little help from the band)
Beach: Dewey
Restaurant: Tie between Starboard Claw/Starboard Raw
Sunset Spot: The Lighthouse/Hyatt Beach
Lunch Spot: Fifer’s Farm Kitchen (to go)
Meal: One of my guys said wings lol. We’re often starving after a gig, so we usually grab after hours “dinner” at Wings To Go.
Beach Activity: Volleyball
Beach Read: The Current/ Cape Gazette, of course (Honestly, I usually just close my eyes and listen to the waves and ocean/beach sounds or music. It’s relaxing)
Ice Cream: Vanderwende’s
Live Music Venue: Starboard
Breakfast Spot: Starboard (especially the raisin bread French toast)
Shop: Dewey Beach Surf Shop
