Back in August, I interviewed the Bay Area, punk/alt rock trio StrateJacket, in anticipation of their upcoming debut album Bad Start, which was released today. Jackson, the singer and guitar player is from Sunnyvale, California. Fabian, who plays bass and provides backup vocals, is also from Sunnyvale. Nate, the drummer, is from Belmont, California. They met in the middle to practice in 2019/2020 and ever since they started playing together.
I chatted with them discussing their growth as a band and their DIY approach to their performances and music videos. Forming at the start of the pandemic, the band performed at a wide variety of unique locations in San Francisco, ranging from under bridges, on beaches, or in warehouses.
Hi guys, thanks so much for meeting with me!
Tell me the story of how you guys met and decided to form the band. How did StrateJacket come to be?
Fabian: I knew Jack from elementary school, we grew up together. We got a teeny bit closer in high school, but it wasn’t until high school until one of our friends connected Jack and I to jam out since both of us play guitar. Then at the start of COVID, we reached out to Nate and asked him if he wanted to play drums with us. The first time he joined and jammed out with us, it felt like magic — exactly how a band should sound. This is my first band, so I don’t know what it’s like when you jam out with other artists, but I think when musicians play together there’s this moment of instant connection where there’s a synergy that flows between the people playing. That’s how it felt the first time we played together. So all throughout the pandemic we basically practiced and jammed out and started figuring out our sound. It wasn’t until 2021 onward where we started playing shows and getting a feel for what it is like to be performers.
The band formed right before the pandemic or during the pandemic?
Fabian: So, we had another band right before in 2019 and that was a fun start for sure. We had another drummer at the time. But that band was more about just having fun.
Who are your musical influences that affect the band’s style of music?
Jack: Definitely Blink-182 and other pop punk bands, I guess. Lately over the past 2 years, we’ve been listening to a lot of Third Eye Blind. So I think, it’s a lot of pop punk bands and 90s bands, especially. I guess we are pretty big Green Day fans. I love The Beatles as well. We all have different influences, like Fabian is a big Arctic Monkeys fan.
Fabian: I also love Royal Blood -- I’ve been really into them lately. They just released a 10th anniversary album so we have been listening to that a lot as of late. The first song I showed my girlfriend was Out of the Black, a performance of it at one of the festivals, and she loved it. I don’t remember which festival it was, maybe Reading, but the performance had this whole chaos thing that was great and now I’m really invested in them now. Naturally, I’ve just picked up the bass and have been playing along to it. I think I accidentally saw them too in 2017 at Outsidelands while I was walking from one stage seeing Real Estate to Thundercat. As I was passing I thought, “Oh wow, this is really sick,” and I didn’t realize until I backtracked later that it was Royal Blood playing and I wish I had stayed more for their set.
When performing, do you prefer being in a more traditional venue or in a different location, since you have performed many DIY shows in unique areas in San Francisco.
Jack: I think depends on who’s playing because we have a lot of friends from the Bay Area that are in bands and setting up with them, no matter where it is, is always a good time. There’s definitely a lot of benefits to play venues though, because they’re a lot nicer and they have sound technicians and we don’t have to wheel a generator around. But, it was fun to play in these places at that in the beginning. We would still do that now, but now there is a lot of other things we have to do.
Fabian: There’s a lot of risk playing in a non-traditional location. We had this one show where we spent two hours hauling gear and the generator back and forth. It was a lot of hard work. And then, right when we got set up, cops immediately pulled up and shut it down. It was two or three bands performing; I think one of the bands was traveling from up north, from Oregon or something. They started selling their merch to the people still around saying, “Help us get home!” We bought some of the merch to help them out. That’s always the issue with DIY shows; there are always moments where you can get shut down and all that hard work was for nothing.
Jack: I think also the reason we did that so much was because we had to because it was during the pandemic and all the venues were still closed. So I think we played in strange places because there was literally no other place to play shows at the time.
Fabian: Then I think back in late 2021 and early 2022, so many bands started surging back into the scene because in 2020 people had the time to just jam out and start bands. There was a point where then where it was harder to book venues because all the new bands wanted to perform there. So doing these DIY shows was a cool alternative when you couldn’t book a venue.
What was the coolest place you performed? What was your experience doing this?
Jack: Probably this farm in San Francisco. It’s outdoors and they have chickens running around so when you play a show there’s chickens walking around the stage. That place is pretty wild. I’m pretty sure most of the bands in the local scene played at that. It was an eight-hour long event.
Fabian: I believe that was a benefit concert to raise money for the farm. That’s the fun thing about these shows because they're all community-based. It’s not really about a social media presence and promoting, it’s more word-of-mouth. It has a little bit more of an intimate feeling.
Do you prefer intimate or more crowded shows?
Jack: I definitely prefer the more crowded shows. It’s way easier to perform to lot of people rather than a smaller amount of people.
Fabian: I like when there is a lot people too. I mean, you definitely have more of a connection with the crowd when it isn’t too hectic. But, I think we’re the type of band that really feeds off the crowd’s energy. We like to party it up on stage while the crowd is partying down in the pit. But at the same time, we are always going to give it our all, regardless of the crowd’s size.
You had what was described as a “very DIY” a music video for Bad Start that came out on August 9th, that was made with friends, - what was it like making that video?
Jack: I think we just had this idea where we wanted to do a school-thing. We have friends that when to Santa Clara University who were in the film program so they had access to all these cameras. I asked a couple friends from work and Fabian asked some other people. We just set it up and kind of did it and it was really a good time.
You will be releasing you debut album this month (Bad Start out on October 11th). How did you approach your first album? Can you talk about your writing process a bit?
Nate: We had to write a new song pretty much every week about 2 years ago. I think most of our songs got used on the album. It was a pretty long process and a little stressful since we had to write a good song every week, but I think it worked out. The album is pretty diverse and all the songs sound good.
Are there any songs on the album that resonate with each of you more?
Jack: I definitely like some songs better than others. I kind of like the softer tracks like Torch, but my taste has changed so much since we made the songs so it kind of just changes from day to day.
Fabian: Right off the bat the song Bad Start, I’ve always liked it. That was one of those tracks that we all worked on together at the very beginning. I think it changed, not a lot, but there are some key moments of the song that we changed a little bit. Whenever I think about the song, I think about how it’s the start of the album. As if we’re writing a book, that’s where we put our first sentence and the rest of the album is the story.
Nate: And that song wasn’t even supposed to be on the record. Back to when we had to write a song a week, we was a point where we didn’t have a song to turn in, but we had that song, so it worked out.
How do you think being located in the Bay Area has influenced your music? What is your experience being a musician in northern California?
Jack: I think for sure it’s influenced it because a lot of our favorite bands are from the Bay Area. The 924 Gilman venue, which is where Green Day and all those bands started, we’ve played there a handful of times. Definitely being in that environment, feeling the same feelings that they might have felt. You’re walking the same streets as them, so it definitely has an effect. Third Eye Blind is from around here too, so listening to the big bands that are from the area definitely impacted us.
Who would be your dream artists/groups to tour with? Whether you’re opening for them or they’re opening for you?
Fabian: I feel like my answer would always change. We’ve opened for a couple punk bands and I would like, “Dude, this is sick.” I think in the past I would have a different answer, but I think right now I would say opening for either Green Day or Blink.
Nate: It’s still Blink for me.
Fabian: I think too, opening for artists that aren’t necessarily the same vibe and being a bit experimental would be dope. I’ve been listening to a lot of Gorillaz as well and they’re not really tied to a genre. When I went to go see them, Vince Staples opened for them which I thought would be clashing, but they have a song together. I think any artist that can bring a sick energy. Thinking about alt rock too, I’ve always been huge Arctic Monkeys fan. Bad Nerves or Descendents too are great alternative bands.
Do you have any local artists in your area that you would want to open for you?
Jack: La Sombra is this doom metal band from San Jose. Rat Bastard Radio is this experimental band and a little metal-y or punky from the Petaluma area we really like. Jellyfish Method is another pop punk band that we like to listen to too. I always blank when people ask this question because there are a thousand bands out there that are great!
Fabian: Local Bylaws is another one that I like a lot.
What are your plans for the rest of 2024?
Jack: We’re touring more at the end of September and early October. We’re playing Aftershock festival so I’m pretty stoked for that. That’s kind of our schedule, so far. We’re kind of ready to start working on new music too. The first album isn’t out yet, but we wrote a lot of the songs two years ago, so it’s time.
You can check out more about StrateJacket at the links below!
Words by Morgan
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