The Struts

The Struts are an English rock band from Derby, Derbyshire, England. The band consists of vocalist Luke Spiller, guitarist Adam Slack, bassist Jed Elliot, and drummer Gethin Davies. Formed in 2012, the original lineup was composed of Spiller, Slack, bassist Jamie Binns and drummer Rafe Thomas.

The Struts
The Struts performing at Rock im Park in 2016.
Background information
OriginDerby, Derbyshire, England
Genres
Years active2012–present
Labels
Websitethestruts.com
Members
  • Luke Spiller
  • Adam Slack
  • Jed Elliott
  • Gethin Davies
Past members
  • Jamie Binns
  • Rafe Thomas

The band's influences include Queen, the Darkness, the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Def Leppard, the Killers, the Smiths, Oasis, the Libertines, Michael Jackson, the Strokes, and My Chemical Romance. [1][2][3][4]

History

Formation and early years
Luke Spiller performing in 2012

Singer-songwriter Luke Spiller was raised in Bristol in a Christian family. His exposure to music was mainly limited to gospel music, until the age of seven, when he discovered Michael Jackson's Off the Wall. Inspired by Jackson, his first aspirations were to be a contemporary dancer, but by the age of 11, he was listening to Led Zeppelin, Queen, AC/DC, and Leonard Cohen, and in addition to pretending to be Jackson in front of a mirror, he was imitating Bon Scott and Freddie Mercury. He began playing in bands as a teenager, only starting to sing at age 16.[2][5][6][7][8]

In 2009, Spiller, then living in Clevedon, met Derby-based guitarist/songwriter Adam Slack, who had also been playing with bands since his teens. At the time, each of their bands were "coming apart," and Slack and Spiller quickly connected musically. Spiller moved to Derby, where he and Slack lived, wrote, and recorded together for nearly three years. They recruited mutual friends Jamie Binns and Rafe Thomas to play bass and drums. In 2012, Binns and Thomas were replaced with bassist Jed Elliott and drummer Gethin Davies, forming the Struts.[9][10]

Co-founders Adam Slack (left) and Luke Spiller (right) performing at Rock im Park 2016

The band chose the name the Struts based on an offhand comment made at a rehearsal. Spiller said in a 2015 interview, "I was just moving around and somebody was like, 'you strut around a lot.' From then on, we knew we had a great name. We couldn't believe it hadn't been taken."[2][6][7][8]

The band played frequently throughout the UK. They soon developed a following and released their first single, "I Just Know", in June 2012. Signed by Future Records, they were transferred to Virgin EMI after Future's demise and subsequently put out a four-track EP titled Kiss This.

The Struts toured extensively in England and France, and in 2014 performed for 80,000 people as the opener for the Rolling Stones in Paris. That summer, they did a 24-date tour, which included a gig at the Isle of Wight Festival. Spiller wore clothing designed for him by Zandra Rhodes, who formerly dressed Freddie Mercury. The production of Rhodes' clothing for Spiller was later featured on the BBC documentary Oh You Pretty Things: The Story of Music and Fashion.[11][12]

As the Struts reputation as a live band grew, their audience increased, and their shows were frequently sold-out. Spiller's talent as a frontman was often noted by the press and reviews described him as "a force of nature" and as a "physical, mesmerising entertainer... vocally strong, expressive and blessed with excellent range". Spiller's looks and stage presence led Roger Goodgroves of Get To the Front to describe him as "the musical love child of Freddie Mercury and Mick Jagger".[5]

Mike Oldfield recruited Spiller to sing on his 2014 album Man on the Rocks. He ended up singing the whole album main vocals instead of just one song, as planned by Mike. "He did a much better job of sounding like a rock star than me," Oldfield said.[13][14][15][16]

The Struts first television performance was on Vintage TV's 'Live Sessions,' where they appeared alongside established acts including Toyah, Nik Kershaw and Judie Tzuke. The show was recorded in January 2014 at the Bedford in Balham and aired on 20 March.[17] The band played two tracks, 'Kiss This' and 'Could Have Been Me'.[18]

Everybody Wants (2014–2017)
Jed Elliott at Rock im Park 2016

Everybody Wants, their debut studio album, released in July 2014 in the UK. It charted in the UK and received positive reviews.[12][19] In early 2015, The Struts signed to Interscope Records/Polydor and in August of that year they released the EP Have You Heard, their first U.S. release. They began a tour of the States in support of the record in September. 20 dates were sold out, including the band's Los Angeles debut at the Troubador, which sold out in 30 minutes. "Could Have Been Me", the lead single, hit No. 1 on the Spotify Viral Top 50, No. 4 on the iTunes rock singles chart, and in the Top 5 on the U.S. alternative and active rock charts, and was also the official theme song of the WWE's NXT brand's 2015 pay-per-view NXT Takeover: London. The video for the track, directed by Jonas Åkerlund, had more than 1.5 million views within two months of its Vevo debut.[4]

The Struts relocated to Los Angeles in early 2015.[20] Their first television appearance in America was on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in August 2015, and in September they were named "Band on the Verge" by USA Today. In December 2015 they performed on Late Night with Seth Meyers.[9][21][22]

In January 2016, it was announced that the Struts would release a reissue of Everybody Wants on 4 March on Freesolo/Interscope Records/Universal Music Canada with five songs not included on the original UK release.[23][24]

On 9 August 2016, they opened for the band Guns N' Roses for their Not in This Lifetime.. tour at AT&T Park in San Francisco, where they debuted their new single "Put Your Hands Up".[25]

On 3 March 2017, the band released "Live And Unplugged" a 5-song acoustic EP that includes a cover of "Hotline Bling"

In July 2017, they opened for the band the Who in Quebec City, playing for over 80 000 people, their biggest crowd to date.

On 23 September 2017, the Struts opened for the Rolling Stones during the #nofilter tour in Lucca, Italy.

On 12 October 2017, the Struts opened for the Foo Fighters at the Washington DC opening of The Anthem as part of the North American leg of the Foo Fighters' Concrete and Gold Tour.[26]

Young & Dangerous, Touring with Foo Fighters and Body Talks Tour (2018–present)
Gethin Davies at Rock im Park 2016
The Struts live at Rock am Ring 2019
Luke Spiller with "The Struts" live at Rock am Ring 2019

In June 2018, the band announced that they finished recording their second album, and it was in the final mixing stages. Luke Spiller said, "I think everyone's really going to enjoy it. We were very much aware that even though the band has lived with the first album and the songs that come with it for quite a while, for everyone else, it's relatively fresh. So I felt like it was really important to make this second album somewhat depart from the first one. Not a departure musically, I didn't want to go completely left. I think it's important to give people more of what they fall in love with."[27] After wrapping up their tour with Foo Fighters, The Struts headlined their Body Talks tour, with bands Spirit Animal and White Reaper.[28] The band also collaborated with American singer and songwriter Kesha for the remix of their single "Body Talks".[29][30] The Struts premiered the single "Bulletproof Baby" in September, and released their second album Young & Dangerous on 26 October 2018.[31] In 2019 the Band went on tour in the US, before touring the UK and Europe. Kyle Falconer, a very good friend of the band and Luke especially, joined the UK and European leg of the tour as support act.[32] According to Luke, new songs could be published 2020 - but they are thinking about maybe releasing them as some single songs with videos, instead of a regular album.[33]

Discography

Studio albums
Year Album Peak chart positions
UK
[34]		 CAN
[35]		 SCO
[36]		 US
[37]		 US
Rock
[38]
2014 Everybody Wants 52 68 — 99 15
2018 Young & Dangerous
  • Release: 26 October 2018
  • Label: Interscope
  • Format: CD, digital download, vinyl
 77 — 44 102 13

EPs
Album Details Chart positions Sales
US
Heat
[39]
Kiss This EP —
Have You Heard...
  • Release: 14 August 2015
  • Label: Interscope
  • Format: Digital download
 9
Live and Unplugged
  • Release: 3 March 2017
  • Label: Interscope
  • Format: Digital download
 —
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

Singles
List of singles, showing year released and album name
Year Title Peak chart positions Album
CAN
Rock
[41]		 US
Alt.
[42]		 US
Main.
Rock
[43]		 US
Rock.
[44]
2012 "I Just Know" ———— Non-album single
2013 "Could Have Been Me" 251215 Everybody Wants
2014 "Kiss This" 281721
"Put Your Money on Me" 3622——[upper-alpha 1]
2016 "Dirty Sexy Money" ————
"Only Just a Call Away" ————
"Put Your Hands Up" ———— Non-album single
"Ballroom Blitz" ———— The Edge of Seventeen
2017 "One Night Only" —182926 Non-album single
2018 "Body Talks"
(solo or with Kesha)		 3123315 Young & Dangerous
"Primadonna Like Me" ————
"Bulletproof Baby" ————
"Fire (Part 1)" ————
2019 "In Love With a Camera" ————
"Dancing In the Street" ———— Non-album single
"Pegasus Seiya" ————
"I Do It So Well" ———— Young & Dangerous
"Tatler Magazine" ————

Notes
  1. "Put Your Money on Me" did not enter the Hot Rock Songs chart, but peaked at number 37 on the Rock Airplay chart.[45]

Music videos
List of music videos, showing year released and director
Year Title Director
2012 "I Just Know" (version 1) Unknown
2013 "I Just Know" (version 2) Rhys Frampton[46]
2014 "Kiss This" (version 1) Ed Hobsen[47]
"Royals" Unknown
"Matter of Time" Unknown
"Put Your Money On Me" Rhys Frampton[48]
2015 "Could Have Been Me" Jonas Åkerlund[49]
2016 "Kiss This" (version 2) Greg Watermann[50]
2017 "One Night Only" Ryan Hunter Phillips[51]
2018 "Body Talks" Greg Watermann[52]
"Body Talks" ft. Kesha Lagan Sebert[53]
"Primadonna Like Me" Greg Watermann[54]
2019 "Dancing In the Streets" Sebastian Savino[55]
"I Do It So Well" Bryson Roatch[56][57][58][59]
"Tatler Magazine"
"Somebody New"
"Inside Your Mind"
gollark: No, he failed totally, and just *made up* North America.
gollark: Since it doesn't exist.
gollark: Yes, and it was a *scam*.
gollark: btw, iceland cool, greenland less cool
gollark: I mean, South America exists, sure, but not the stupid "North" bit.

References
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  4. "Interview: The Struts - GetToTheFront". GetToTheFront.
  5. Probert, Sarah (20 May 2014). "Indie Newcomers Ready to Strut Their Stuff". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  6. B., Jackie (30 May 2014). "The Struts Devon Frontman is Ready to Seize the Crown". Western Morning News. Archived from the original on 24 August 2015. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  7. Tilles, Jay (30 September 2015). "The Struts Channel Classic British Rock Icons". radio.com. Radio. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  8. Ryan, Patrick (14 September 2015). "On The Verge: The Struts". USA Today. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
  9. Dyroff, Denny (13 September 2015). "On Stage". Coatesville Times. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  10. "BBC Four - Oh You Pretty Things: The Story of Music and Fashion, Idols, Zandra Rhodes designs for Luke Spiller of The Struts". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
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  13. Gislena, Anna (30 October 2014). "The Struts - Dingwalls, Camden - October 21 2014 (Live Review)". Stereoboard.com. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
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