Welcome to our interview with StrateJacket, a band that has shown incredible resilience and creativity since their formation in Sunnyvale, California, in 2019. Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, they turned isolation into an opportunity, crafting their energetic sound by blending influences from '90s to 2010s alternative and punk. After their debut gig was halted by COVID-19, they adopted a guerilla approach to performances, playing in unconventional venues across San Francisco. Their determination has led them from local Bay Area shows to major festivals like SXSW and Welcome to Rockville, with exciting performances lined up for the future, including Sacramento's Aftershock Festival. In 2022, they recorded their album at Vancouver's Armoury Studios with renowned producer Brian Howes and Grammy-winning mixer Chris Lord-Alge, setting the stage for their musical ambitions. Join us as we dive into their journey and what’s next for StrateJacket!
Q: In your opinion, what are the essential qualities that make a “good songwriter”?
A quality I like in good songwriting is feeling the honesty in the lyrics and the emotion in the vocals. Especially when there’s a story to the song that unfolds. Knowing that less is more sometimes in a song I think is important for songwriting. It doesn’t need to be insanely complicated to be a great song.
Q: What is the basis for writing attention-grabbing music in this day and age?
When great songs aren’t played fully perfectly or might not have the best production, it adds character to them and makes me more interested. Overthinking about those kinds of things can sometimes take focus off if the song actually is good structurally or lyrically. I guess to just embrace imperfection sometimes.
Q: Can you pinpoint some specific songs and songwriters that changed the way you write music?
I think our recent, but strong love for Third Eye Blind really changed how we looked at music for all of us. Any song of their debut changed how we looked at writing lyrics, structuring a song and just making a song more interesting.
Q: Do you find it hard to be inspired by your peers? Can you name any new artists you find inspiring?
I think it’s really easy to be inspired by our peers. Whether that’s performance based or hearing their record. Everyone we play shows with I always take something away from. Some new artists like Bad Nerves really inspire us for their energy in their songs and how raw they sound in the recordings.
Q: For your new album, what inspired the lyrical content, album title, and overall vibe?
The album title Bad Start came from the song of the same name about the beginnings of the band. Realizing we had something special we wanted to share with the state of the world in 2020 was very frustrating for us. We were ready to play shows and go for it, but we just couldn’t. All of our influences clashing together and just wanting to write timeless, great songs that didn’t all sound the same was really the whole goal.
Q: Do you find that you ruminate over writing songs and hold on to them for a long time before including them on a record? Or do you prefer to write them, release them, and be done with them? Do you ever revisit old material to do a re-write or once it’s done it’s done?
At least so far, we haven’t felt the need to change anything about them after they’ve been released. We do obviously make sure we flesh out any ideas we may have and see if they can work before fully moving on. We had a lot of time to revise everything on all the songs to make sure we were happy with them before actually recording. Which made us impatient at times, but was needed.
Q: Were there any lessons you learned in the writing and recording process for your current release that you will take with you into your next project?
Before we recorded our album, we didn’t expect any other sounds on it other than just drums, guitar, bass and some vocals. I suppose just knowing we can layer more sounds to elevate our songs in the future will change how we write.
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