After wrapping up sixteen shows on their debut tour, Stray Fossa announce their first official release, Sleeper Strip. The three-track EP was written and composed by vocalist/guitarist Nick Evans, alongside bassist Zach Blount and drummer Will Evans, who also engineered and produced the tracks. The EP marks a promising, fresh start for the artistic trio as they prepare for a series of local shows this fall in their hometown of Charlottesville, VA, including a performance at Tomtoberfest (Sept 29).
The Evans brothers, alongside a childhood friend, Blount, cut their teeth experimenting with elements of classic British pop pulled from family record collections, developing simultaneously an ear for alternative Americana and folk rock traditional to the southeastern music-scape in which they grew up. A renewed effort to achieve compromise amidst opposing artistic tastes continues to define their creative process. Having spent six years pursuing independent musical projects while living apart in the US, UK, and Germany, Sleeper Strip speaks to this ongoing effort both in theme and craft. Entirely home-recorded and self-produced, the EP is a testament to their collaborative songwriting and self-sufficiency in music production. It marks their first release since regrouping in Virginia in late 2017.
Stray Fossa recently wrapped up sixteen shows as part of their debut tour, performing two nights in Nashville (at the famed Springwater and newly established nightclub, the Back Corner), and in other notable spots scattered across the southeast, such as the 529 (Atlanta) and JJ’s Bohemia (Chattanooga), where they supported Charlottesville’s Gold Connections (EggHunt Records). The trio returned to Charlottesville for a hometown show at IX Art Park with Camp Howard (also EggHunt Records) before playing back-to-back dates in Richmond at The Camel and Strange Matter. The tour came to a close in Washington, DC in front of a packed, rain-drenched crowd at the famous Rock & Roll Hotel. The band is currently preparing for their first northeastern tour set for late November through mid-December, and are in the process of polishing material for a hopeful album release in 2019.
“The band lives together, works together, eats together – there is constant creative energy in the house due to close living quarters (our only living room is our studio). I grew up with these guys and now, years later, learning how to be housemates and business partners is a real trip. You walk out of your room and you’ve got two brothers arguing literally 24/7 and it drives you up the wall. To be honest, the creative process can be difficult but the better for it.” – Zach Blount (bass)
“In the middle of tracking vocals for “Bear The Waves,” we noticed the vocals weren’t sitting well with the rest of the mix, which led us to realize it was all recorded too fast. The problem was we had settled on a rearranged version of the song (which originally sounded more like a standard 8th-note rock bit) without adjusting the tempo to account for the more laid back swung rhythm with the castanets, etc. So for about five minutes, I thought we were 100% screwed because I was convinced that the last several days of tracking were all a waste and we’d have to start over. That’s when I realized you could just adjust the project tempo meter, so yeah, it all worked out in the end.” – Will Evans (drums/producer)
Links
https://soundcloud.com/strayfossa
https://www.strayfossa.com/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5UuvCjt4c4BvzGwK4W0ipD
https://strayfossa.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/strayfossa
https://www.instagram.com/strayfossa/
