The Strays

Forming a band isn’t what it used to be. Reality shows dedicate weeks to finding the perfect members for boy bands and pop groups. It can be disheartening to fans, and even the industry behind them, that so few bands are rolling up their sleeves, pulling out instruments, going to shows, getting drunk, getting into fights and deciding to kiss and make a record. Fret not. It hasn’t all changed for the worse.

It might seem unlikely that The Strays did it all the old-fashioned way -hitting the road in a car (not a van or tour bus), with no money of their own (let alone a label’s bankroll), no groupies or roadies, and covering American territory to play the songs that they wrote and sell the t-shirts that they made by hand. But kid you not, they did. And out of it came three men and a baby: lead singer Toby Marriot, guitarist Jeffrey Saenz, bassist Dimitrios Koutsiouris, and their dirty, raucous British-Greek-American baby Le Futur Noir, their debut full-length being released on TVT Records.

“Most of us didn’t even have money to eat,” Marriot recalls of the bands first tours, “We had to hope club owners would feed us. But touring got the job done, we had to do it, we couldn’t just wait for the record labels to come knocking down our door.”

Recorded at Hollywood Sound Studios, Le Futur Noir is as close to a mind-blowing modern day phenomenon as one could hope for. It literally forces a jolting physical reaction, and at times an emotional one. It’s a smart record, with equal parts pop sensibility and fuck-it-all juxtaposition. All part of the beauty of The Strays’ rock and roll: it isn’t limited to head bobbing or shoe gazing, or even fist pounding and moshing --although all is permissible at their shows. Le Futur Noir has the perfect mix of politics and pleasure, punk rock chanting and the ska-reggae-roots of The Clash. Mix in their love for The Replacements, Oasis, and Toby’s own rock royalty roots (he was sired by the late Steve Marriott, singer of mod gods The Small Faces, and later of Humble Pie) and you have something inexplicably good, and more importantly indefinable in terms of “indie rock.”

“I think where as a lot of bands are claiming they have their roots in bands like the Clash,” explains Saenz “We have more of an actual D.I.Y. punk ethic and draw a lot from the ethos of the 70’s punk bands, as well as 70's Jamaican dub and reggae artists who manufactured and distributed their own records.”

Songs like “Block Alarm” are the perfect example of The Strays affinity for the hip pump of ska, rock roots mixed with darker modern rock à la Nirvana. “Wake up/This is the CIA/Wake up/No need to sleep all day/What are you waiting for?” screams Marriott, while the boys layer pop rock concrete foundation beneath it. Other songs echo anti-governmental political sentiments, such as “Geneva Code” and “Start a Riot,” hinting not only at their dedication to the DIY punk ethic, but also the eclecticism of their own backgrounds.

Koutsiouris played rock and roll throughout Greece until he realized the territory’s limitations for a musician and migrated to Los Angeles four years ago. Saenz grew up in the nearby suburbs of Orange County, and Marriot, originally from the UK, bounced back and forth between England and New York before moving to Atlanta, GA and eventually the smoggy city where he and his band mates now reside together. Despite a record deal and a spanking new full length, the group is taking it all in stride. Again, they are grateful that they get to wake up every day and do something for their music.

“This is us,” declares Marriot. “This is who we are, and hopefully that translates to people’s record players and the crowd in front of us each
night.”