The Strypes – busy and buzzing as they prepare for Big Top

The Groove Tube with Jimi McDonnell – tribunegroove@live.ie

Back in 1965, The Who declared that ‘the kids are alright’ and 58 years later, that’s still very much the case as The Strypes come to town for this year’s Galway Arts Festival. The Cavan quartet, whose are aged between 15 and 18, will be opening for Grizzly Bear at the Festival Big Top this Friday.

The Strypes are Ross Farrelly (lead vocals/harmonica), Josh McClorey (lead guitar/vocals), Pete O’Hanlon (bass guitar/harmonica) and Evan Walsh (drums). As this interview takes place, the band are in Sussex where they are recording their debut album with veteran producer Chris Thomas, who played on The Beatles’ White Album and produced the Sex Pistols’ iconic Never Mind The Bollocks. How did Thomas hear about The Strypes?

“We did a show in Brighton in a really tiny pub, and he came along to that,” says the affable Pete O’Hanlon.  “I think Mercury [the Strypes’ record label] said ‘do you feel like producing this band?’ so he  watched us and said ‘yeah, I’d love to work with you’.”

The Strypes have a deep love of the blues, citing artists like Howlin’ Wolf, Chuck Berry and Slim Harpo as influences, as well as early Beatles’ and Rolling Stones’ material. This knowledge was acquired from music-loving parents and The Strypes’ manager, Niall.

“We got bitten by the blues bug and just completely fell in love with that kind of music; how versatile you can be in being simplistic, but being extremely profound and prolific,” Pete says. “It’s such a varied style of music; with blues, there’s such a landscape that you can fill.”

It’s been a hectic 12 months for The Strypes since they came roaring out of the traps last year. A few weeks ago, they made their first appearance at Glastonbury. How did that go?

“We played the John Peel Stage on Saturday, the day the Stones played,” says Pete. “We didn’t expect the crowd to be as receptive and as big as it was. We didn’t actually get to see the Stones; we had to do an acoustic song for BBC 2, which is a shame. We got to see a bit of it on telly but it’s not the same as being there.”

Though they ended up playing to a crowd of 6,000, Pete admits to some pre-Glasto jitters.

“On the bus journey up were all going ‘what’s it going to be like, is the weather good?’. There’s a lot of anticipation and expectation. I think it went well; a defining moment, a real highlight for us over the past few months.”

The Strypes announced their arrival with the song You Can’t Judge a book by the Cover, a re-working of a Bo Diddley song. Even though the Stones first few releases were covers, The Strypes have been criticised in some quarters for still having some in their set.

“A lot of bands that start when they’re 14 or 15, they start out playing covers and when they hit their  early twenties, they start writing their own stuff,” Pete explains. “But we got picked up [by Mercury] earlier on, and we didn’t have that many originals going at the time we got picked up by the label.

“And we got a lot of stick over here in England, people saying ‘what are you at, playing covers, you’re supposed to be playing originals?. We didn’t think it was very fair; we’re still in the embryonic stage of our career. But the writing’s coming along; the set’s now comprised of mainly originals.”

What with playing legendary festivals, touring constantly and acquiring fans like Paul Weller, Dave Grohl and Elton John – it’s been a wild ride so far for The Strypes. So who’s working with this band to keep its members from succumbing to rock’s notorious pitfalls?

“Niall [our manager] is with us, he’s been with us from the start,” Pete says.  “He’s the fifth member of the band – he’s the only one that could drive when we started! I think the age thing, in this context, is a fair question.”

Glastonbury is not the only English music institution that The Strypes have been invited to play at – they’ve also blazed a trail on The Jools Holland show. How was that experience?

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.