WHO ARE THEY?

A UK-bred band full of reckless swagger and hugely catchy hooks, the Struts are returning the sweet and dirty spirit of glam to modern rock & roll. Having already taken Europe by storm with such feats as opening for the Rolling Stones before a crowd of 80,000 in Paris last year, the newly L.A.-based four-piece is now breaking through to American audiences with their exhilarating debut EP Have You Heard.

With their glitzy-yet-scrappy aesthetic—not to mention frontman Luke Spiller’s snarling vocals and otherworldly range—the Struts might seem to have stepped straight out of the ‘70s. But as proven on lead single “Could Have Been Me” (a thrillingly anthemic track that’s racked up more than two million plays on Spotify and shot to the top ten on Modern Rock radio charts), The Struts fuel their high-powered sound with an urgency that’s entirely of the moment.

On Have You Heard, Spiller and bandmates Adam Slack (guitar), Jed Elliott (bass), and Gethin Davies (drums) match their super-sharp melodies and bright and shiny guitar riffs with a lyrical sensibility both heartfelt and brash. Made in collaboration with the likes of Gregg Alexander (a producer/songwriter and former frontman of the New Radicals), the EP kicks off with “Could Have Been Me” and unleashes a surge of raw energy that never lets up. With its driving rhythm and chant-along refrain (“I wanna taste love and pain/I wanna feel pride and shame/I don’t wanna take my time/I don’t wanna waste one line”), the arena-ready track finds the Struts staking their claim for glory while inspiring every listener to do just the same.

From there, Have You Heard slips into “Kiss This,” a breakup song that forgoes the minor-chord moping for gritty guitar and fantastically scathing lyrics ("I did all I could/So kiss this one more time ‘cause I'm gone for good"). “‘Kiss This’ was inspired by a relationship breakdown/meltdown,” says Spiller. “It’s about being cheated on, but the message is really about standing up for yourself—sort of our version of a ‘Young Hearts Run Free’-type song, but in a rock mentality.”

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