photo by Bhu Sullivan
 
 
 
 

Stray Palace is Paul Durham, Deej Hofer and Paul Bohak, and for some strange reason the band is based out of Bozeman, Montana.  

They didn't plan it this way. Durham is the singer/songwriter/producer for the band Black Lab. Deej is a producer/guitarist/frontman. Bohak is a drummer and a bad ass housepainter. Somehow, between San Francisco, L.A. and Atlanta, they found themselves in Montana.

This turns out to have been a good thing. It seems that if you're not into skiing, climbing, riding, hunting, fishing or drinking yourself into a coma, there's isn't much to do in Bozeman. So the boys have spent a great deal of time in their studio, sweating blood, making music. 

In this particular case, this music represents an attempt to weld together the funk of American indie dance-rock and the epic vistas of British new wave. The result is Stray Palace. The band tries to build something huge and tear it all down at the same time. It's a grand dream, full of emotional garbage, dirty streets, seething desire and the ecstasy of release. It's three guys trying to make something new, trying to say something old in a way it hasn't been heard before.

Stray Palace has a huge sound, born of Durham's love of Echo and the Bunnymen and the Chameleons UK. After life on two major labels and dozens of film/TV soundtracks (Spider Man, Blade, Buffy, The Shield, etc.), Durham had escaped the madness of L.A. and built a beautiful studio in the wilds of Montana, hoping for some peace. Alas, it was not to be.

An old friend of his named Deej, living dow in the ATL, sent him some sketches for tracks. These tracks and the melodies they provoked kept him up at night, and soon the two were hard at work long distance, muscling the sound back and forth via ftp. It dawned on them that it might be good to be in the same room together -- and also, that they needed a drummer. Bohak had played drums in Deej's band and seemed to fit the bill, but was living in L.A.

Bozeman was the cheapest place to live, and also had the cleanest air and the tastiest beef, so Bozeman it was. Deej and Bohak made a huge leap of faith, humping it all the way out to Montana. Holed up for months, the band carved out their territory. Deej wanted the funk, bringing his bad-boy falsetto to "Hungry" and making sure that whatever else was going on, asses would shake. Bohak insisted that real instruments be used, ones made out of wood and metal. They fattened up the tracks, stripped them back down to the bone, then doused them in echo. 

The resulting EP is a combination of party and passion, of ache and attitude. The band has a cool little record deal with Humphrey Industries Records, and has its sights set on the big time, whenever that is. For now the EP is available rapido vie digital distribution (iTunes, Amazon mp3, etc), info at myspace & facebook.
 

 

 
 

lyrics
 


Changed

is there something that I can do?
something I can do for you?
is there something that I can say
to make you come my way?
and the wind it blows
there's something different
but I don't know
and the ground it shakes

I can see that world has changed
(it's spread out before me)
yeah the world has changed
(it's spread out before me)
and I’m amazed

I guess the monkey's off my back
guess it climbed down off the rack
for a minute I can see you shine
through the dust blown across my mind
and these feet walk slow
there's something different
but I don't know
and the ground it shakes


Free

there’s a place I go when I feel like coming home
there’s a friend I call when I need to be alone
and there’s a dream I let myself have
when the walls fade to black
it’s a perfect world where the wine and the roses flow

yeah and sometimes I say
that I’m free, yeah
I’m free at last
and all I need, yeah
is a way to get there fast

it’s an itch, an urge, it’s a jones and it’s got a flow
it’s a sin, a crime, but you know that you got to know
and there’s a dream I let myself have
when the sky turns to black
it’s a perfect world where the wine and the roses flow
dometimes I say

yeah and sometimes I say
that I’m free, yeah
I’m free at last (get every one you can)
and all I need, yeah
is a way to get there fast (get every one you can)

all the sweet temptation
sometimes it gets rough
it’s a real sensation
yeah and sometimes that’s enough

Escape

and the shore recedes away
and the world lies ahead
on a bed made of roses
gonna find my heart
no matter how far
gonna go and find my heart

escape with me
come fly away
fly away

and your light it lights the way
and your arms keep me safe
in this bed made of miles and miles
gonna find my heart
no matter how far
gonna go and find my heart

escape with me
come fly away
fly away

What I Want

I ask. I pray. I try to say
what I need, what I crave
yeah I try to explain

It's what I want
It's what I need yeah

It's sweat running south
it's wet in my mouth
my heart beats, it beats so loud
can you hear, hear the sound

Hungry

it's a dream, it's a curse
only gets better, never gets worse
alive or dead
desire binds like a needle and thread
it's a ghost in the shell
rising up from a bottomless well
that we don't talk about
it's gonna tear me to pieces
if I don't let it out

I said ooh-ahh, my my
it's gonna be alright (alright, alright)
I said ooh-ahh, my my
it's gonna be alright (alright, alright)

let's forget
what we said
let's start over, pretend we just met
I'll be Dick, you be Jane
look in the mirror
see we're almost the same

I said ooh-ahh, my my
it's gonna be alright (alright, alright)
I said ooh-ahh, my my
yeah I’m hungry tonight (alright, alright)

so we talk
and we touch
what’s the difference
between too much and not enough
well I want, I want
I want it bad enough to shout
I want, I want
I want it bad enough to shout out loud
 

Produced & Performed by Stray Palace
(c)(p) 2009 by Paul Durham (BMI) and DJ Hofer (ASCAP)