We Are The Strike is one of Utah’s latest and greatest bands to hit the local talent scene. They beat out hundreds of other bands for the honor of playing at this year’s Stadium of Fire 4th of July Celebration, and man oh man, they did not disappoint!
I (Meredith Musser) recently had the opportunity to interview Chris Crabb, lead singer of We Are The Strike, here’s what he had to say:
Me: Chris Crabb! Thanks for taking a few to chat! First things first, so all us fans can keep our eye on you, is the band’s name The Strike or We Are The Strike? I’ve seen it both ways …
Chris: We just changed it to We Are The Strike. There is an old punk band who had The Strike so we changed it. We Are The Strike was already our social media handle and our url so we went with that when we had to change names
Me: Good to know. So why We Are The Strike? Does it have some special meaning or is it just awesome?
Chris: haha. We arrived at “The Strike” after literally days of thinking of names and just really liked it. We liked that it could be taken so many different ways and we felt it embodied our sound as well. Kind of high energy, exciting.
Me: Totally! And you guys definitely are high energy! I love all your photo shoot pics, you seem like a fun bunch of dudes. How long have you been playing together?
Chris: Started in Oct. last year, so about 10 months.
Me: Wow, so not very long, yet you guys totally smoked your competition and rocked at Stadium of Fire! Congrats by the way!
Chris: Thanks so much!
Me: 9 very talented guys, you must at least be childhood friends?? Tell me, how’d you all end up together?
Chris: I met most the guys in October when we started. I actually met Jake (keys, co-songwriter) and Brady (guitar) through the Tobians in the dance doctors. Jake and I are the founding members of the band.
Me: Small world, yea? Very cool.
So I love your image, what made you decide on bow ties etc?
Chris: Thanks. Not sure really. We’ve always believed that if you want to entertain every aspect should be entertaining from music -> wardrobe -> photos, etc. etc. I think the sound dictated the outfits. Just kind of fits the sound. We knew for sure that we didn’t want to wear jeans and t-shirts on stage.
Me: Well I think it’s spot on, it definitely caught my attention. It really seals the deal and tells the world you mean business.
So was Stadium of Fire as amazing as it seemed? Like I said before, you guys rocked it!
Chris: Thanks! It was a great experience. Kind of different as a performer. There are so many people and the place is so big that there is no way to gauge crowd response so it’s a little nerve racking in that you could be totally blowing it and have no idea because everyone looks like ants.
Me: Haha! I can see how that would be totally different, but exhilarating at the same time. And from everything I’ve seen, all the ants loved it!
Chris: haha thanks.
Me: So what’s next for We Are The Strike?
Chris: We are working on our marketing game. Putting together press kits, website, logos, photos, etc. We are meanwhile trying to book shows and trying to open for more and more acts. After marketing phase is done we will probably go back to the studio.
Me: That’s way cool! I’m excited for you guys. I noticed you have several singles on iTunes, etc. Is your hope to eventually release a full original cd?
Chris: I don’t know that we will release an entire CD anytime soon. We will probably release triplets. We are under the impression that fewer songs released over time makes it easier for listeners to digest the tunes. We feel that great songs get overshadowed by singles on albums.
Me: That makes perfect sense to me. Did you say that you write the songs? Or is it a group effort?
Chris: Jake and I write the songs. The band is heavily involved in arrangement.
Me: Well however it’s done, I’m a fan! Thanks Chris for the interview, we wish you the best of luck and hopefully soon others will be opening for your sold out shows.
Chris: thanks so much Meredith!