The Strypes: Rock Is Alive And Kicking!

On 4 September 2014, Gene Simmons of Kiss claimed in an interview with Esquire that rock was finally dead. Having seen The Strypes live I can tell you the present and future of rock is very much alive and in great hands!

About a month and a half ago (5 May) I had the pleasure of going to see Irish Blues Rock four piece The Strypes at the Portland Arms in Cambridge. I had wanted to see the band, made up of Ross Farrelly on lead vocals, Josh McClorey on lead guitar and lead/backing vocals, Pete O'Hanlon on bass and Evan Walsh on drums, last Summer when they were touring their first album, 2013's Snapshot, however I missed their final East Anglian gig by a couple of weeks. This time around I was going to make it my mission to see them on their Flat Out tour in support of their upcoming album, Little Victories, which comes out on 21 August 2015.


Little Victories album cover

The Strypes' debut album, Snapshot

In interviews they've said they take most credence musically from Dr. Feelgood and The Yardbirds, which is easy to tell when they play their hard paced, aggressive, 'speed blues'.

It's hard to pin down exactly what genre The Strypes fall into, but to give just a few examples of who they sound like, it's a fusion of Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Jam, Jimi Hendrix, Canned Heat and The Sex Pistols. This long and diverse list of musical royalty should give an idea of just how much range these four teenage Irishmen have, and it's a credit to their elasticity as musicians that they are able to resemble such bands in the space of just a few songs.

Unbeknownst to me (having not read the tour poster in much detail) the warm up act was a young, 1960s styled pop band called The Red Faces all the way from Sheffield. They looked no older than 14 or 15 years old but had the stage presence of men twice their age, strutting around the stage with as much swagger as the mods they were replicating had done during the height of 60s mod culture. I wouldn't say they were my cup of tea, in the same way as I'm not a big Beatles fan mainly because I prefer 60s rock over 60s pop, but they certainly have the charisma and talent to take them a long way in the music industry. The Red Faces were only on for 30 minutes or so but definitely left me intrigued.

The Portland Arms only takes 200 people inside it's venue (located outside the pub itself) but this just added to the atmosphere and meant we were all packed in like sardines just feet from the bands. I managed to get a spot right next to the technician desk (see picture below).

Portland Arms music venue

It's always tricky to adjust equipment in anticipation for the sweltering conditions that occur when you cram 200 people into a small room, and as I suspected might happen, The Strypes seemed to have problems during and after their first few songs. At first it was Ross' harmonica microphone which wasn't cutting through the other instruments, then Josh's microphone wasn't loud enough to accompany Ross', followed by Ross requiring another towel, as the frontman exclaimed, "I'm fucking melting up here!"

The Strypes start the show in front of a packed venue

There was a very friendly, laid back vibe at the gig which was made clear whenever the band had to stop due to technical problems. On a few occasions Josh would give his tech that stare which means "help me it's not working", and it would be left to Pete and Ross to keep us and the audience entertained. In one particularly awkward silence as we waited for Josh's rig to be set up properly, Pete turned to us, leaned into the microphone and asked, "has anyone seen the new Avenger's movie? I have. It was OK. Not as good as the first one though. You guys look a bit too old for that kind of thing though, right? Oh well, just chat amongst yourselves until we get our shit working. That's the problem with a room that's fucking insanely hot, strings and guitars warp, sweat gets into the electronics and the amps decide not to work, all part of the fun I guess..."

As for the gig, the set list consisted of classics off the Snapshot record such as Blue Collar Jane, You Can't Judge a Book By The Cover, What a Shame, Hometown Girls, What the People Don't See and I Can Tell. They added to these by playing a few songs off the new record, three of which are on the new EP, Flat Out; Scumbag City, Eighty-Four and Kick Out The Jams. Scumbag City is a song that starts slowly with a single strumming guitar intro that builds into a thumping, guitar screaming climax that no doubt will become a live favourite and have crowds shouting the chorus back at the lads in a live situation. Eighty-Four is a track which is more rock driven than the previous song, with driving bass and drums that barrels along like a locomotive to produce a slobber-knocker. The final single is Kick Out The Jams, a 1:27 blink and you'll miss it thrash of rock 'n' roll that has a hint of heavy metal to it with the pounding bass, screeching guitar and shrieking vocals. It was on this number that The Strypes finished the main part of the gig before the encore, leaving their amps turned up to 11 and walking straight through the crowd with the throbbing feedback of their instruments ringing in our ears and reverberating through our bodies!



Left to right; Josh, Evan, Me, Dan, Pete, Ross

The lads told us afterwards this gig was part of a tour visiting small venues to prepare them for their big festival tour over the summer, and in the process get rid of the cobwebs that build up having been in the sanctuary of a recording studio for months beforehand. I took by this that they didn't feel bothered about having the problems they did, seeing as it was in front of a crowd of 200 rather than of tens of thousands.

I should have guessed, them being Irish, that they would be incredibly easy to talk to and friendly but I didn't and was blown away when after the gig, my friend Dan and I asked Evan's father if we could have our LPs signed and the band duly obliged, and also asked if we wanted a photo! I suppose they are used to this kind of thing, having toured all over the world and taken pictures with thousands of people, but to meet a bunch of young musicians who are clearly only in the industry for the pleasure of playing music and not the money is very refreshing.


My signed copy of Snapshot