In April, the four English Struts, who now all live in Los Angeles because the not unironic glam rockers are better received in the USA than at home, took up residence in the home studio of producer Jon Levine in order to record the third album "Strange Days" in ten days and under strict adherence to regular pool and beer breaks. We talked with bassist Jed Elliott.
eclipsed: Jed, for your new album to be called "Strange Days" and to be recorded in the first weeks of the Corona pandemic, it's really cheerful.
Jed Elliott: Isn't it? Having fun and being in a good mood has been the core message of Struts from the beginning. And we're certainly not giving that up now, so why should we? Our music is about joy and self-realization. We want to encourage. People should listen to The Struts and dare to send in job applications for which they are not quite qualified, and ask the person for a date in whose league they are not really playing. Listening to The Struts means: Leave your worries outside the door and enjoy the party. In hard times, it's especially important to keep your head up. There will never be an album from us that deals with our dejection or insecurity.
eclipsed: You've also re-recorded "Do You Love Me", a number by Kiss from 1976
Elliott: Kiss is one of our hero bands. They tick like us, they are 100 percent entertainers. We live in a world in which there is not so much rock music made anymore and in which also the conception of rock music as such has changed. We would like to take a little countermeasure.
eclipsed: Your whole appearance and also your music reminds us of hedonistic, somewhat self-absorbed rock'n'roll bands of the eighties, for example Mötley Crüe or Def Leppard, whose members Joe Elliott and Phil Collen now play on your number "I Hate How Much I Want You"
Elliott: We love this lifestyle from the past, which we only know from movies and hearsay. We can't reach the decadence of those days, sex, drugs & rock'n'roll, even today, we are not crazy enough for that, but we already look with admiration and love at the wild days of rock music.
