The modern glam rock resurgence can be attributed to a few bands, though it was The Darkness in the early 2000s that gave the movement weight. While bands like Starcrawler, Maneskin, and Temples are continuing what The Darkness started, it’s Britain’s The Struts that are igniting the real fire in the genre.
The Struts formed in Derby, England, in 2012 and became known for their outrageous live shows, where band leader Luke Spiller—donned in flamboyant, glitter-clad costumes, makeup, and heavily-teased hair— conjures a mix of Freddie Mercury and Michael Jackson, dancing and prancing around the stage, perhaps, at times, drunk, high, or both. They were invited to open for the Rolling Stones before 80,000 people in Paris, and toured the U.S. with them. (They’ve also toured America with Guns N’ Roses and The Who.)
“That was one of the real life-changing moments in our career where we had been really sort of blowing up in France, for reasons that at the time we couldn’t quite understand…” says Spiller. “Our performance wasn’t particularly breathtaking. In fact, we had the plug pulled out when we went over by about three minutes. When they [the Stones] took us to the United States…it all created this really healthy bit of synergy that we used. And we’re still sort of feeling it now.”
Two years later, the group released its first album, the critically acclaimed Everybody Wants. The record’s first single, “Could Have Been Me,” was certified Platinum.
Since then, the Struts have been selling out shows worldwide, and producing great rock records, including 2018’s Young & Dangerous and 2020’s Strange Days. They have garnered more than 850 million streams, propelling them to reach No. 1 on Spotify’s Viral Top 50, and collaborated with Kesha, Tom Morello, Robbie Williams, Def Leppard — Def Leppard! — among others.
The Struts most recent single, “Can’t Stop Talking” is about a cokehead, Luke Spiller explains, adding that it was “autobiographical, but also character driven” and came from observing a cokehead. It’s mid-morning California time and he’s just gotten out of bed, and is wearing a purple, long-sleeve Madonna T-shirt. His hair is disheveled, and he has a cigarette in his hand. Not particularly glam, if one was to comment on that sort of thing. “When you do that drug… you can tell someone who’s on it and they just absolutely start chewing your ear off,” he says, redundantly.
Not that Spiller knows anything about that, personally; though he admits that the band has partied a lot.
The Struts are now based in LA. They released their fourth studio album, Pretty Vicious, in November 2023 and headlined a 28-city tour in 2024 to promote it.
After “Can’t Stop Talking,” Spiller spent the year-end holidays playing a few shows with pianist Mike Garson — who’s played with Bowie, the Smashing Pumpkins, St. Vincent, and Nine Inch Nails — at The Sun Rose, an intimate venue on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood. He’s also working on new songs. “There’s such a demand for new material, so I’m trying to accumulate as many demos as I can,” he says.
While the band’s larger-than-life shows (like driving a Harley-Davidson across the stage underneath dazzling pyrotechnics) have cemented them as a must-see act, the group’s weekly podcast, The Struts Life, connects them in a much more intimate way with their fans. “We thought it would be a great way to really engage with the diehard fans,” says Spiller. The behind-the-scenes podcast includes news about tours and releases, interviews with band members, and personal stories from their family and friends.
“I’m really enjoying the way that it’s growing,” Spiller says about the podcast. “I’m essentially in the business of making people happy and bringing joy. And from what I can gather, it’s definitely giving people a lot of joy.”
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