The Struts | |
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Luke Spiller performing in 2015.
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Background information | |
Origin | Derby, Derbyshire, England |
Genres | Glam rock, hard rock |
Years active | 2009–present |
Labels | |
Website | thestruts |
Members |
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Past members |
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The Struts are an English rock band from Derby, Derbyshire. The band consists of vocalist Luke Spiller, guitarist Adam Slack, bassist Jed Elliott, and drummer Gethin Davies. Formed in 2009, the original lineup was composed of Spiller, Slack, bassist Jamie Binns and drummer Rafe Thomas.
The band's influences include Queen, the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Def Leppard, The Smiths, Oasis, The Libertines, The Strokes, and My Chemical Romance. The Struts have been described as "unabashedly over the top retro-fetishist classic rock" and "glamourous and dangerous".
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.
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.