Introducing: The Wild Strays

Deep within the heart of the Black Country something feral and wild has taken shape, evolved, harnessed the power of rock and readied itself to be unleashed upon the world next month.

Stafford quartet The Wild Strays were conceived this time last year from the ashes of a previous project of vocalist and guitarist KT Eden and lead guitarist Grace Hale. A short incubation period saw the new being unleashed upon the world and, a few months of maturation later, plus the addition of Jake Adshead on bass in September and finally Jake Spicer Gill (Spice), who filled a problematic drums position in January, it’s now ready to release its passion for music.

We caught up with the band this week to find out more. In their words: “Tired and fed up of being restricted by previous bands’ lack of creativity, ability and drive; these girls were no longer going to be held down. Songs were written, plans were drawn up and a fitting band name was agreed up. The Wild Strays would be the culmination of years of an emotional roller coaster in and outside of music. Now all that remained was to find other like-minded strays.”

With band members now solidified, the next step was to get some music out there, of which we already have a taster ahead of their debut single launch early next month. On the single, KT tells us: “I think it will showcase the band in many lights. This particular track is quite metal driven with a strong, punchy chorus and meaningful lyrics. We are really excited about the single and can’t wait to release it real soon.”

A couple of instrumental tracks on their Soundcloud page give us an insight into the band’s fast-paced rocky sound, which promises plenty for the debut single. Grace is a huge fan of the likes of Trivium, Rise Against and Bullet For My Valentine, Jake is an old school metalhead, Spice is inspired by anything from pop-punk through to metal, while KT takes inspiration from the vocals and stage presence of Mia Coldheart, from Crucified Barbara, and is a big fan of Ricky Warwick (The Almighty, Thin Lizzy). .

And KT explains further: “It’s always hard to distinguish sound. We have a very unique blend, with my vocals and Grace’s beautiful lead licks lapping in and out of the background of verses and choruses. Jake’s thumping technical basslines and Spice’s flare on the drums lead to an exciting mix of hard rock with a sprinkle of metalcore, with a punk but melodic vocal.”

And in terms of what inspires their music, the band explain: “A lot of our songs are about the dark side of life and living, love and loss. But there are fun songs like The Wild Strays and the sassy Guilty of my Innocence. That’s not to say we are all unhappy, far from it. The smiles and jumping around on stage is infectious and we are having a blast. As we grow there will be a whole catalogue of mixed emotions in the writing and performing, we’ve got some real gems coming.”

It’s clear that being in The Wild Strays is more of a form of catharsis than simply making music for its members, growing up in and around the rock, metal and punk scenes and enjoying the energy of making music and performing on the live stage with friends in various bands.

In addition to releasing music, the band are also busy getting out and about gigging through the rest of the year, including supporting the excellent Dorja in Birmingham on 14 July. More info on all their upcoming gigs is here.

You can follow The Wild Strays on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and check out their music on Soundcloud and YouTube.