The Irish four-piece music group 'The Strypes' are on the fast lane to fame, fortune, and glory.
Formed in 2011, the rhythm and blues band is made up of childhood friends Evan Walsh (drummer ), Josh McClory ( guitarist), Peter O’Hanlon (bassist), and Ross Farrelly ( singer). If you haven't heard of them yet....just wait!
These County Cavan natives are kind of a big deal in the music industry right now.
The Irish lads already boast a number one EP on the iTunes blues chart, they have appeared on TV with David Letterman and Conan O'Brien, they have a major label deal, Rolling stone have written about their talent and some notable fans are Sir Elton John, Noel Gallagher and Jeff Beck.
Oh, did I mention their ages range from 18 and under.
The lads took time out from a hectic touring schedule to answer some questions for us at The Irish Emigrant.
Describe your music.
Rhythm and blues played loud and fast. Some people call it speed blues.
Who are the band’s musical influences?
When we started we were heavily influenced by British R&B groups from the mid to late 1960s like The Kinks, The Animals and The Yardbirds. That led us to the original blues artists like Willie Dixon, Howlin Wolf, Bo Diddley etc, and later on we got into Pub Rock and discovered Dr Feelgood and Rockpile. We also love punk and New Wave bands like The Clash, The Jam, Elvis Costello...the list goes on!
What has been the highest point of your career so far?
There's been so many it's hard to pick one. Playing the John Peel stage at Glastonbury sticks out and releasing our debut album Snapshot last year was also a great feeling especially as it went top 5 in the UK.
Where is your favorite place so far in the world to play?
Cavan. We love going home to play. We did three shows in our local town hall last Christmas and they were the best fun ever.
What song from the past would the band have liked to have written?
"Smokestack Lightning" by Howlin' Wolf.
Name-check a few of the people that you have met and who has left you the most starstruck?
To be honest we never really get starstruck. Obviously we've met lots of people we admire like Elton, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Paul Weller etc. but the closest we've come to being star struck was meeting two members of Monty Python, Michael Palin and Eric Idle.
With the success of the band will any of you be going back to secondary school in the fall? And if not, how easy a decision was this to come to?
We all left school when we got our record deal. We just couldn't juggle both. Our parents all agreed that we should give this thing our best shot so it wasn't really too difficult to make the decision. It just felt right. [Josh and Ross went to St. Patrick's College. Pete went to Breffni College and Evan went to the Royal School, all in Cavan town.]
Did you ever think that so much attention/popularity could happen in a relatively short amount of time?
Not at all. We had no big master plan. We were just trying to be the best band we could be and suddenly we had a record deal. We're still just trying to be a decent band and to enjoy playing music.
How do you friends and family in County Cavan react to all the attention you have received so far?
They've all been very supportive. It's been a big change for our families as we got signed so quickly but they've handled it really well. As we've said when we go back home to play gigs the support is amazing.
Where have you played in America? How are you all feeling about your upcoming tour in the States?
This is our third visit to the states. We had a short visit in January which included an appearance on Conan. We did a more extensive tour in March which included seven shows in three days at SXSW. After that we were invited to do Letterman and the rest of the tour sold out completely. We played in amazing places such as The Troubadour, in LA, and The Bowery Ballroom in New York. We were knocked out by the audience reaction wherever we went. We also appeared on the Rachel Ray show when we were in New York.
How do you unwind after a show?
We're normally on a tight schedule to get to the next show so invariably we'll be on the tour bus watching a movie or just reading. A lot more mundane than people think!
What are your 'must-haves' when traveling abroad?
iPods, iPads, chargers and adapters...which we usually forget!
Is their a down-side if any to the job?
Being away from home and hanging around. There 's a lot of hanging around!
What has been the key to your success so far?
Hard work. We've been gigging virtually non stop since we started.
What are the bands hopes/goals for the rest of 2014?
Hopefully we'll record our second album. That's the main focus after this tour.
Anything else you would like to add:
Thanks for having us!
The Strypes are scheduled to play shows in the cities of Boston, New York, Washington, Philadelphia between August 19-24. For more information, please visit TheStrypes.com.
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