BAND: STRIKE ANYWERE
COUNTRY: USA
FAVOURITE RECORDS: HARD TO DECIDE BUT I THINK “EXIT ENGLISH”.
You know why I write about them today? because 3 days ago, me and my best friend took a flight to London just to see them playing. Shit I’ve never seen them live in the last 6 years and it was too fucking much time.The show was great and we met a lot of friends from all around at the venue but let’s start from the beginning. I discovered them by the bonus DVD on the “rock against bush” comp and it was BOOOM. I loved that video from the song INFRARED immediately, that song was so fucking great and it still is for me. Fast, melodic, cool armonies and screams. a perfect mix between punk rock and harcore. I started to search more about the band and I was lucky because “exit english” was just released and many magazines, websites and kids were talking about them because it was clearly an amazing album. I bought it at the shop where I bought all of my records during mi teenage years one morning when I decided not to go to school but going to buy records (how punk I was). It was 2003 or 2004, the years when I was discovering the hardcore side of punk rock so they were a natural and perfect step between thoese two legs of punk. I listened to that album a million times in a row, I remember that the first 4 songs were blewing my mind then after all of the songs came to me, Track 10 of that album “extinguish” is probably my all time favourite song from strike anywhere. and when i was not listening to it, I was listening to some homemade mix where I’ve put at least a couple of songs from them. The next record I bought was “To live in discontent”, not a real album but a collection if b-sides and rarities, the sound of most of the songs was a bit shitty bu I didn’t gave a shit about it. I know every song on it and expecially loved “Asleep” and the title track. Then I bought their first album “change is a sound” and I rembember that I was truly in loved with it since the first listening. It was sounding so raw and angry..so full of energy and every songs was like a bomb. If I said that my favourite album is Exitenglish, this takes silver medal after a long head to head ride. Is pure gold and is amazing how a debut album from a band of young boys, can sound so fucking perfect! in 2007 they signed with Fat wreck chords and I was more than happy because my favourite label was singing one of my new top bands than they released Dead FM and I can say that I was expecting something more. Don’t get me wrong, this is not a bad album and I could not say that is their “worst” cause they’ve ever done a bad album but at least the one that I like less. There are probably the best melodies and armonies from the band on this album but sound a bit too melodic for the strike anywhere that I’d love to listen. By the way, there are some of their best lyirics on it, and is not easy to say this because they always wrote smart, inspirational adn heartfelt words in their songs. Funny how I said that this is the recrod from them that I like the less but is the only one that I own both on cd and Vinyl. This record permitted me to finally see them in 2007 ten fucking years ago. It was a Sunday evening and i was moving to the venue called “rock planet” with my beloved sister. That club was perfect for punk shows because was not too big, the stage was small and just 1 meter high with no barrers. There were not so many people, just 50/70 people I think but the show was incredible, I sang along every word of every song and almost broke a finger while I fell on the floor after doing crowdsurfing. I saw them the year after and in 2010 in a Festival in Mantova. was cool but not the best because the stage was too high and the badn was so far from the crowd but there is a thing that i always love to remember: a guy was doing some crowdsurfing and then when he arrive at the barriers, a security guy (in case you don’t know, in Italy 90% of security staff are complete idiots) took this guy and smashed it heavily to the floor ripping his shirt. Thomas, the singer, saw that and immediatly stopped the show yelling “hey hey, no bullshit like this, we are all having fun, there is no place for violence here” and then told to the guy “sorry for that, please go to our merch table and take the t-shirt that you want”. that was one of the countless moment when I thought: “shit, I belong to the best thing on this planet”. After several years the released Iron front and I love it so fucking much both the 7″ and the LP and there are two of my favourite song from them: “orphan age” on the 7″ and “postcards from home” on the full album, those songs are just perfect. then they started to play less and not being a fulltime band so I waited all of those years for seing them live till last sunday. Funny fact is that the show was at Underworld in Camden town, the venue where was filmed the DVD that I bought just after they first record I took from them. I love when some cirles of lifes ends up this way. Love and respect.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUDNskH4vkY
















