Stray Valhalla

The band who unexpectedly turned old-fashioned rockabilly into a sensation during the height of synthesized new wave.
Sporting bodacious pompadours, tattoos, and leather jackets, the Stray Cats looked like a rockabilly band straight out of central casting. That was by the design of Brian Setzer, Lee Rocker, and Slim Jam Phantom, a trio of Long Island renegades who were attempting to keep the fire of old-time rock & roll burning during the height of punk and new wave. It took some time - and a trip across the Atlantic - for them to succeed, but when they did, it was beyond all expectations…

The iconic American rock 'n roll trio the Stray Cats will release their new live album "Rocked This Town: From LA to London" on September 11, 2020 via Surfdog Records. Brian Setzer, Lee Rocker, and Slim Jim Phantom reunited in 2019 to celebrate their 40th Anniversary, released their first new studio album in 26 years called “40,” and toured Europe & America, celebrating 40 years of timeless rock 'n roll and rockabilly. "Rocked This Town: From LA to London" was recorded from the critically acclaimed 40th Anniversary tour. You won’t believe this much Rock ‘n’ Roll fire is coming from 3 guys, all raw and completely live the way it was played on sweaty stages around the world! The album features the Stray Cats classics, "Stray Cat Strut," "Rock This Town," "Fishnet Stockings," "Rumble In Brighton" and "Runaway Boys," as well as several brand-new scorchers from the "40" album.

Working-class British hard rock group Stray put out ten records in the 1970s. Their clever progressive blues-rock epics went largely ignored due to the burgeoning London punk scene – though they count the Damned's Captain Sensible and XTC bassist Colin Moulding as fans. Transatlantic's exhaustive Time Machine: Anthology 1970-1977 chronicles the group's rise from obscurity to cultdom through a well-paced 35-song retrospective that features extensive liner notes and thoughtful musings from bandmembers and fans alike, giving new insight into one of rock & roll's most resilient underdogs. The group disbanded in the '80s, leaving behind a body of work that negates its lack of chart success. In 1997, frontman Del Bromham put together a revised version of the group that continues to tour, impressing a new generation with its trademark hard-working bar band aesthetic.

Esoteric Recordings is proud to announce the release of a new 2 CD set anthologising all the recordings made by the legendary STRAY for Pye Records and its imprint Dawn Records between 1975 & 1976. After five remarkable albums and tours with some legendary names in rock such as Black Sabbath, The Groundhogs, Status Quo and Ten Years After, Stray signed to the Pye Records label in 1975. During sessions for their first album for the label, “Stand Up and Be Counted”, Steve Gadd departed the band. Second guitarist Pete Dyer joined Stray and Del Bromham, the band’s main song writer, now handled lead vocal duties.

London's Stray followed up an eclectic eponymous debut with more of the same on their 1971 sophomore effort, "Suicide", which of course was just dandy since "more of the same" on this occasion essentially entailed another imaginative melding of different musical genres under the broad, forgiving definition afforded by the progressive rock tag. As to the album's rather negative title, it didn't foreshadow a radical shift toward the quartet's pre-existing heavy rock tendencies (actually, more keyboards were the hot novelty here) so much as a reflection of these songs' darker overall mood when it came to their lyrics…