![stray cats songs stray cats songs](https://www.amoeba.com/sized-images/max/500/500/uploads/albums/covers/other/828765277020.jpg)
The guys are supporting me, whereas the Stray Cats are a band, and so when we’re playing together it’s about the band. With the Rockabilly Riot guys it’s me, ya know? I play more guitar solos, do more instrumentals. Given that there’s a degree of overlap on the set lists, how does the feel differ from playing them with Stray Cats as opposed to the Riot Squad guys? You’re also taking the Rockabilly Riot band out on tour once the Stray Cats dates have been completed.
![stray cats songs stray cats songs](https://rockhard.de/imgs/7961818_345faba892.jpeg)
"There’s like a thousand unknown guys out there who came up with one really great solo, and they weren’t listed anywhere as having played on the song." People could ask me who are some of your favorite rockabilly guitarists and I’d have to say 'guys that I can’t even give you the name of.' So many great solos on records where we’ll never know who the guitarist was - especially some of the obscure stuff that might not have ever been a hit. Some of those old records have some amazing riffs and solos. It’s funny that on the Warren Smith original they use that riff only for the intro and outro, but not the solo. I just started playing it and it sort of fit - it’s just a good, rocking riff." I played my old Gretsch Silver Jet on that one. It just came out that way when I played it and I wanted it to sound really loose. "You know something? It is kind of a takeoff on that. Was that a deliberate nod or just something in your DNA?
![stray cats songs stray cats songs](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/518i1TGi%2BGL._SS500.jpg)
I thought it was interesting that your solo on Got Love If You Want It from the new album references your Ubangi Stomp solo from the first Stray Cats album. I thought if I had to play I Fought the Law again, you know? It’s a great song, but everybody needs a change sometimes." That was part of the appeal of making the new album. Will you be featuring songs from the new album besides the songs everybody expects to hear? I said, 'We’ll come to Wales if you want and record at Rockfield, do it the old way.' It almost happened, too, but with age creeping up and time moving on, we couldn’t make it happen." Dave is kind of retired, though, and he had some personal issues, so he couldn’t do it. Given the significance of the 40-year mark and, in a way, the celebration of the band, I wondered if there had ever been any notion that Dave Edmunds, who produced the first album, might have been involved. I guess we made a much bigger dent than we realized." I was surprised so many people wanted to see the Stray Cats. Well, there’s so much love for the band out there and that desire to see the original three guys together. "I’ve only done three shows to get things going, so why not? It sure felt good doing those three shows." You can’t say why it happens, but you know that it does."ĭoes this feel like a one-off venture or is it possible you could keep all the strands of your career going on a rotating basis? It’s a definite chemistry when the three of us play. I know you’ve all got great players in your separate projects, but do you feel that spark when you’re all together? In one of the promo clips for 40, producer Peter Collins says there’s a certain kind of magic when the three of you play together. I’d maybe be watching sports or something and I might call Jim and say, 'Hey, did you see that?' But I think writing the tunes really inspired us to get the ball rolling." "Oh yeah, we’d been in touch, but I suppose it was mostly me and Jim. Had you and Lee been in close contact over the years? I suppose still it wasn’t specifically Stray Cats songs as such, more that I was writing music." We should do something.' I got kinda excited by that and said, 'Let me write a song for you.' All of a sudden it started to snowball, and I had three or four of those. "Then I spoke to Jim, and he said, 'Hey, it’s our 40th anniversary coming up. I was really impressed with the sound coming out of it, and I started writing spaghetti westerns. It’s funny because I always need some kind of inspiration to write, and I got this old Fender Reverb unit. "I started writing songs just out of the blue. Were the songs written for the band, or were they songs you and Lee would’ve used anyway in other projects? I think all Stray Cats fans would’ve been delighted just to see you play one more tour together, so the announcement that you were about to release an album of new material was more than they could’ve hoped for.