With a singer that looks like Freddie Mercury, stadium-sized melodies and wham-bam-we-love-glam performances, it would be easy to call The Struts one of the leaders of the “New Wave of Classic Rock” movement. Which is exactly what Guitar World magazine did earlier this year.
The funny thing is, though, there’s really nothing “new” about The Struts—from their sound to their history. The band formed in 2012 and quickly established a reputation for what Guitar World called “raucous live shows, hip-shaking grooves, propulsive riffs and catchy-as-hell … choruses.” The band has opened for the Rolling Stones, The Who and Guns N’ Roses, and is playing such prestigious gigs as this year’s Reading and Leeds Festivals in England and Bonnaroo in Tennessee.
Force off the road by the coronavirus pandemic for the first time in about five years, The Struts wrote and recorded their third album, Strange Days, in about 10 days and released it in October. Somehow during that short timeframe, they also managed to team up with Robbie Williams and Tom Morello, plus members of The Strokes and Def Leppard—all of whom appear on the album.
Earlier this year, The Struts even released a cover of Queen’s “We Will Rock You” that updates the original without tarnishing the song’s legacy.
Maybe The Struts, indeed, are the future of classic rock. Or they could be gone by next year. All that matters right now is that they make undeniably flashy music that will have you pumping your fists in the air and singing along as loud as you can—even if you don’t know the words.
