The Music Manual: The Strypes

AN exciting new wave of hypnotic rock'n'roll with potent bluesy tones has been making headlines recently, what's all the commotion about? An all rocking 4-piece hailing from Ireland, The Strypes. Consisting of Ross Farrlley, Josh McClorey, Pete O'Hanion and Evan Walsh, these five incredibly talented musicians are here to stay, proving that we can still have faith within the music industry.

They have been noted as NME'S one to watch, toured all around Europe and been signed to Mercury records all in the space of 3 months... With their debut album available for pre-order and the release of new single 'Blue Collar Jane' they're topped for chart success... How exciting.

Listening to Blue Collar Jane is such a pleasurable experience, you feel honoured to be hearing such genius projecting from your speakers. The full-pelt introduction sends your feet tapping instantly, already falling for the enticing pace with a beat that makes your hips swing. Farrlley's voice then begins to send a fantastic shiver down your spine, it has an indescribable power upon the music, making the audience crave the sound even more. An authoritarian guitar solo then begins, knocking your head off your shoulders. How can something so supreme be allowed to be listened to? We're lucky, I guess. As for the track, you want to hear more and more, you're hooked. The Strypes make music energetic, compelling and increasingly cool once again. Let us salute you.

Their influences explain a lot about their music whether it's from Dr Feelgood to The Animals, The Strypes have it all ahead of them. After becoming introduced to this rarity of a talent we need to find out more, I decided to catch up with the 5 Irish lads to gain a greater understanding about the faces behind the façade.

First of all, thank you for agreeing to this interview! I'll start off by asking how you all got into music, Was it from your parents?

The four of us all come from musical houses, with our parents being involved in various bands over the years to varying degrees of success. We were all aware of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones growing up and through reading books, watching documentaries etc we discovered the 1960s rhythm and blues boom: bands like The Yardbirds, The Animals, John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers, Small Faces, The Kinks, The Who, Manfred Mann, Them and so on. These bands all recorded their fair share of blues covers, so we delved deeper and got into the original blues/rock 'n' roll artists that influenced them: Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson, Jimmy Reed and Hound Dog Taylor to name but a few!

How is the music scene in Ireland?

The music scene in Ireland is very small but full of bands all the same. It was a great scene for us to start gigging and cutting our teeth on and we're still active in it. Ireland's scene is also great because it's large amount of festivals during the summer and there are some great bands that we have shared bills with at festivals and in clubs. The Hot Spockets and Raglans are two Irish bands that are really worth checking out - both great!

Is there anyone around now, in the music scene, that you would liken yourselves to?

Out of all the acts around at the moment, we would liken ourselves to artists such as Jack White, The Black Keys or even The Arctic Monkeys. Those are artists who are credible and taken seriously on a musical level, which fits with our ambition to be the best band we can be.

Where could you see yourselves in 5 years time?

That's a very hard question to answer as things are moving so rapidly. We're currently in the processes of sorting out professional management and have several record companies showing a strong interest in signing. So, it's hard to tell where we'll be in the next five years!

What plans do you have for the future? Albums? Tour dates maybe?

Exact plans for the band's future are very much up in the air. There are definitely rough plans for an album and a tour sometime next year.

If you could choose any era to have been around in, what would you choose and why?

Our era of choice would definitely be the early 60s (1963-64), when The Beatles & Stones had just broken through and Soho's Marquee Club was buzzing with the rhythm and blues sounds of The Yardbirds, Manfred Mann and Graham Bond.

How did you feel about being NME's 1st choice in bands to watch?

It was a great feeling finding out we were No. 1 and the Paul Weller quote made it even better! It was our second appearance in the NME, the first being when we were featured a piece about good live bands to see with a quote from Eugene McGuiness. They got the ages wrong though, the band's ages are 15-17!

Big fans of the mod culture? How was finding out about Paul Weller's interest in your music?

We're big into the mod look and we love mod bands like The Who and Small Faces. Finding out about Paul Weller's interest was fantastic and really exciting! We're big Weller/Jam fans and may be doing something with him in the future. . .

Where in the world do you think has the most 'chances', to break into the music industry?

It's hard to tell. England and America are obviously the two big markets to make it in, but that doesn't mean that a band should ignore Europe and elsewhere.

Finally, who would be your ideal Glastonbury headliner?

Definitely The Stones!