CBS SF Talks To The Struts Singer Luke Spiller

By Dave Pehling

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- With their mix of bombastic '70s glam influences and modern-rock sensibility, U.K.-based quartet The Struts emerged on the international scene this year with the Interscope release of their debut album Everybody Wants. What many fans in the States might not know is that the musicians have been working hard for breakout success ever since singer Luke Spiller and guitarist Adam Slack first began collaborating in 2009.

Joining forces as their two respective bands were disintegrating, Spiller and Slack moved in together and starting writing and recording songs, eventually forming the first line-up of the band with a rhythm section made up of friends Jamie Binns (bass) and Rafe Thomas (drums). The band built a loyal following with its kinetic live shows that spotlit Spiller, whose powerful voice and magnetic stage presence earned him comparisons to Queen frontman Freddie Mercury and Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger.

By 2012, the group had been signed to a record deal and filled out its current line-up of bassist Jed Elliott and drummer Gethin Davies. They issued the blues-tinged rocker "I Just Know" as their first single and eventually released their debut Kiss This EP through Virgin Records in 2014. That year, the band toured ever more extensively, playing the Isle of Wight Festival and opening for the Rolling Stones in front of 80,000 people in Paris prior to putting out their first album, Everybody Wants.

The following year, the Struts would sign to Interscope and planned the re-release of Everybody Wants in the States, re-recording some of the songs and adding five new tunes to the album that was finally made available in the U.S. last May. Spiller and company have stayed busy on the road, supporting Motley Crue for the band's last ever shows in Las Vegas and Los Angeles at the end of 2015 and playing a number of festivals across the U.S. this year including BottleRock in Napa, Lollapalooza in Chicago and the Austin City Limits Festival in Texas.

While the group was also tabbed to open for Guns N' Roses at AT&T Park in August, they will play their first proper headlining show in San Francisco at the Fillmore on Nov. 2 (the Struts are also scheduled for shows at the Catalyst in Santa Cruz and the Napa Valley Opera House). Spiller recently spoke with CBS SF about touring and the process of re-releasing the band's debut album.

CBS SF: I imagine after opening for the Rolling Stones, it's pretty hard to intimidate the Struts, but did you have any nerves before taking the stage at AT&T Park to warm up the crowd for Guns n' Roses?

Luke Spiller: I don't think before the Stones gig there had been any shows where we were completely intimidated. So the Guns n' Roses show was a walk in the park!

CBS SF: I know you've been touring a lot, but was that your first live show in SF? Or have you already headlined a club here?

Luke Spiller: I think we have, but I'm not too sure, because we've done so many dates it becomes kind of hard to remember specific dates and places and whatnot [laughs]. But either way, it was a great show. I don't think we have actually played San Fran a lot, so it was good to get out there and play the city.

CBS SF: You've talked in other interviews about how the U.S. reissue of Everybody Wants with new songs and re-recordings of some of the material essentially allowed you to put out your debut twice. Was it hard to figure out what songs to leave off from the original release?

Luke Spiller: Yeah, it was a little bit difficult because they're all kind of like your mini projects. You become quite precious with them. So there was a letting go process. I think we kept the best songs on it, and that's really what matters. You go beyond personal preference and your past feelings. I think we came out with a much better album.

CBS SF: Digging back to find what wasn't on the US version, "Let's Make This Happen Tonight" is one of the best Britpop tunes I've ever heard, and that's coming from someone who never particularly liked Britpop. Are you still including those songs in your setlists?

Luke Spiller: Yeah, we still kind of do. We do like playing those songs out. That's very nice to hear. I'm flattered you'd say that [about the song]...

CBS SF: Given the extended period of promoting the album, what degree are you chomping at the bit to write and record new material?

Luke Spiller: Well, we're almost finished with the album cycle now. By the time we finish the current tour and go home back to the U.K. on the 20th of December, we'll be at the end of the journey when it comes to our debut. What we're doing now is we're in the process of recording demos in our time off between tours. So we're trying to get a head start before the end of the year on the recording of the second record. But it's a long process and we've got loads and loads of ideas, so we're no rehashing anything too much.

In regards to the songs from the first album, we recorded about ten or eleven brand new songs -- and maybe a bit more -- and that was cut down to five songs [for the reissue of Everybody Wants]. So we still have a lot of material as far as things that didn't make the first album. But we want to try to do as much as we can that is completely brand new and apply our experience on the road, how the audience reacts to certain things and certain songs, and utilize that to our advantage.

CBS SF: The band has a number of cover songs that you can find on YouTube, both live videos and more acoustic radio sessions. Some are what you might expect -- tunes by T-Rex, David Bowie and the Black Keys -- but there are some unusual covers, like Lorde's "Royals," the medley of "I Always Knew/Hotline Bling" and a great version of "Get Lucky" by Daft Punk. How did you settle on those uncharacteristic songs?

Luke Spiller: Well, at the time we did some of those, not a lot was happening with us in the U.K. That was prior to the first release of Everybody Wants. We were just trying to build up our fan base. It was an idea that appealed to us to approach some different songs, but we tried to stay true to ourselves as well and really try to go with a couple of popular songs. Not just for the case of being popular, but ones that we could actually interpret in our own way and give somewhat of a new edge.

For me, "Royals" was a song that I enjoyed the original a lot. But I could really hear it as Queen meets Oasis, and I think we pulled it off really well. That one is probably my favorite of the ones we did. But it was a really interesting pastime for a period when we didn't have a lot going on and we had to stay productive.

CBS SF: In addition to BottleRock in Napa where I saw you perform, the Struts have also played Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits this year. I was wondering how you would compare playing those U.S. festivals to the big summer festivals in England?

Luke Spiller: Well it's very hard to compare. On one hand, you have a market in the U.K. that still hasn't played any of our music on the radio in the last five years. In the States, they [the festival promoters] have actually put in the work where a lot of the U.K. radio and media have not. So it's completely different. When we did the Reading and Leeds Festivals, we played the Radio 1 tent and we were the first ones on and had the most people attending of an opening act on that particular stage the whole weekend.

But did Radio 1 tweet about it? No. Did they announce on the Instagram that we played? No. In fact, they had the cheek to announced that the band that went on after us were the opening act on that stage for that day. Which kind of sums it all up really. You can't compare. If it continues like this, I'd rather stay in the U.S. where we're respected and given the chance to do what we do.

CBS SF: I did have a question about radio. While the band definitely puts a modern twist on glam sounds from the '70s, you're mostly getting played on alternative-rock radio versus classic-rock radio. It seems you'd be a natural on classic-rock radio, but I know there can be resistance to playing anything that's newer on those stations that are pretty locked into their playlists. Have you had any frustration on that front, or are you happy to be finding the audience you have on more modern-rock stations?

Luke Spiller: I think in regard classic-rock radio, we much prefer to be heard on alternative stations. We don't have a problem being played on a lot of classic-rock radio including like [U.K. online radio station] Planet Rock and some adult-contemporary stations. I'm not to really too fussy about that. I think it's very important for a band like us to be perceived as a new band. I don't really like to think of us as an immediate throwback or a tribute to a certain time in music. We definitely draw influences from that, but we're very conscious of pushing it into a new contemporary light.

I think with alternative, we're not only given that perception, but it's also a gateway to Top 40 radio as well, which is our ultimate goal. We want to be up there competing with the biggest acts in the world. I think if you want to do that, you have to top the alternative charts first.

The Struts play Tuesday, Nov. 1, at the Catalyst in Santa Cruz, Wednesday, Nov. 2, at the Fillmore in San Francisco, and Thursday, Nov. 3, at the Napa Valley Opera House.

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