The Massapequa threesome will be celebrating their 40th Anniversary in 2019 and are promising to make it a good one.
The as-yet unnamed album - their first in 25 years! - will be recorded in Nashville with British producer Peter Collins - whose credits include Alvin Stardust and Middlesex rockabilly rebels Matchbox - and engineer Vance Powell (Buddy Guy, Jack White, Seasick Steve), and released through Surfdog Records.
The album will be accompanied by tour dates as yet to be confirmed.
Having formed in 1979, the trio enjoyed considerable worldwide success with several hit singles and three albums, initially splitting in 1984. Since then they've reunited on various occasions, periodically releasing albums. They played a farewell tour in 2008/9, returning this summer for a handful of wildly-received US dates.
"Forty years ago, us three teenagers started a little band to play a musical style that had long since passed, and most folks had never heard of, this Rockabilly music," explains guitarist/singer Brian Setzer. "Forty years later we stand together and still get that same thrill and exhilaration from the music. That feeling is what makes the fireworks go off and the sparks fly. It makes the world go around."
"Making a new Stray Cats album for 2019 in Nashville seems like the exact right thing, right time, right place, and right band for the gig! We have an album's worth of new songs that are classic rockabilly while keeping the music and style current and fresh, like always. In other words...A Stray Cats album," agrees drummer Slim Jim Phantom.
Bassist Lee Rocker adds, "They say history repeats itself and I now know that's true. 40 years after Brian, Jim and I formed the Stray Cats, we are back! I'm so excited to be in the studio with my brothers. I can tell you that this will be the best Stray Cats album we have ever made. The time is right, the songs are great and we're ready to rock."
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Pics by Suzie Kaplan