WHEN a band like The Strypes come around, everyone wants to be there from the beginning. Think back to the hype of Arctic Monkeys in 2006- everyone loves a wonderfully-young band that grab the music scene by the horns and shake it to shatters. The Strypes have created a strong hype, but what’s hype without the ground-breaking music to back it. And the music they have, with a strong backing from Paul Weller and Sir Elton John, it seems the sky isn’t even the limit for these Irish lads.
And when we say young, we mean it. The band are averaging 16 years old, but captivated by mod culture- in their sharp suits and shades they perform a franticly brilliant rendition of music created by the likes of Chuck Berry and The Rolling Stones before they were even born. But we’re not here to dwell on their age, although fascinating, there is no taking away from the talent these guys have. Talent that sees them sell out King Tuts in Glasgow putting the city in a frenzy over getting hold of the hottest ticket in town.
“The album is going to feature songs that we have made our own over the course of time.”
Thanks to the touts, the small amount of last minute sales on the street mean the venue is at capacity and the crowd were witness to what will go down as a memorable gig for The Strypes and Glasgow. There are people ranging from 16-60 in the venue to watch the band, with loads of Glasgow’s infamous mod-scene there throwing themselves into the music. When Tenement TV sit down with the band backstage, their musical-maturity is ever-apparent. The band were reminiscent of the young Rolling Stones as they sat chilled out and suited-and-booted. We find out that sometimes a really great band are simply born when they switch from playing computers to guitars.
“We spent a lot of time together in each other houses playing games when we were wee. Then playing games turned into playing music.
“Bands like Dr Feel Good become a big influence in the early days and Chuck Berry was a huge influence too.
“As we got a bit older, we started discovering different bands ourselves, not just the obvious ones. We would get into a band, then find out who they were influenced by and then discover new music that way. We became little researchers in music.”
Coming together through mutual friends and their parents friendships, The Strypes formed in 2011. They discovered each other’s talents through their search for their sound, and what we have today is a result of 18 months of solid rehearsals. Sir Elton John has said The Strypes knowledge of rhythm and blues is what he has gained from his sixty-odd years around. A breath of fresh air for the music industry.
“We have been writing for 18 months now. It started off with Josh doing most of the writing, but now it’s more collaborative with us all throwing in ideas or a whole song can come from a riff. It depends.
“Each track comes together in a different way, there is no set formula for our process. But Josh is the main lyrical writer.”
With only the EP in existence, The Strypes album is due out in late September: “It’s a 70/30 split of originals and blues covers. In the live set, we are trying to capture the atmosphere that Dr Feel Good set with the Down By The Jetty album.
“We take influence from The Stones first album too, and the rawness they created with their reinterpretations of some blues pieces.
“The album is going to feature songs that we have made our own over the course of time.”
The Strypes collaborated with the almighty Paul Weller to celebrate Record Store Day in April- putting on an awesome performance at Rough Trade Records. With such a great collaboration under their belts, who could top it: “Jack Whyte, The Black Keys, Jake Bugg, Miles Kane…. We are all massive fans of all of them and it would be great to work with any of them.”
The Strypes, a band who are eclectically brilliant and endearingly optimistic.
By Nadine Walker
