We are Stray Palace, warriors of antarctica.
We are the machine at the end of days. We are a chain gang, breaking rock down to its fundamental components and reassembling what will inevitably be the greatest music ever made. Not the music we're making right now, exactly, but rather the music we'll make in the near future.
It's going to be visceral, it's going to crush your skull, this music. Right now we're still getting warmed up, sharpening our fangs you could say.
It's good, you know, but it's definitely a train you want to get on now so that when we're mortal gods walking the earth you can say you were there when.
Stray Palace is Paul Durham, Deej Hofer, Paul Bohak and now new & improved with the assimilation of Alex Kemp.
Durham is a singer/songwriter, involved in various pursuits. Deej is a producer/guitarist. Bohak is a drummer and a bad ass housepainter. They have been 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 clarity, dirty streets and the sweetness of release. It's three guys trying to make something new, trying to say something old in a way that's never 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 wilds of L.A., hoping for some peace. Alas, it was not to be.
A friend of his named Deej sent him some sketches for tracks. The tracks and the answering melodies in his head kept him up at night, and soon the two were hard at work, muscling the sound back and forth. It dawned on them that they needed a drummer. Bohak had played drums in Deej's band in Atlanta and seemed to fit the bill.
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. They fattened up the tracks, then stripped them back down to the bone.
The resulting first EP is a combination of party and passion, of ache and attitude. It's the cool kid at the party who turns into an open-armed romantic, begging for it in the rain. It's freedom, change, hunger, escape and desire, distilled into something you want to hear over and over and over. It's sweet and it will haunt you.
The Diamond EP is different. It signals the beginning of a long march into greatness. It takes no prisoners, cutting heads along the road to Rome, shedding skins like a Face Dancer as it snakes its way through your ear canal.
The Diamond EP involves the introduction of Alex Kemp into the mix.
A founder of Assasins, a post-New-Wave electro band that opened for New Order and didn't survive the major label roulette table, Alex is a mxther-fxcker. Raised in NYC, he's now an LA dog. He eats kittens from the pound for lunch. He records snare drums with ribbon mics. He lays waste with a bass.
This is the future. Stray Palace will rule. We will dominate the sonic biosphere of this planet. We have only begun.
The two EPs are available rapido via digital distribution (iTunes, Amazon mp3, etc), info at myspace & facebook.
Photo by Bhu Sullivan
Go
it's a perfect world
full of perfect people
don't believe your eyes
so run and find yourself
you don't need a reason
other than surprise
go where you want to go
wherever you want to go
you don't need a reason
we'll go anywhere you want
catch as catch can
two birds one hand
this world is blue
well let me show you something new
go where you want to go
wherever you want to go
you don't need a reason
we'll go anywhere you want
Love This World
don't look don't laugh I'm headed your way
don't think you've got all the things that you say
your love just fills me up
your love just fills me up
we're going wild and we never give up
we're going wild and we don't want to stop
we're going wild and we never give up
we're going wild and we don't want to stop
man I love this world
could be one big party
and love always finds a way
and I love this world
gonna get things started
gonna make it all ok
we still blush rush to the front of the stage
I got this flag that I'm ready to wave
your love just fills me up
your love just fills me up
we're going wild and we never give up
we're going wild and we don't want to stop
we're going wild and we never give up
we're going wild and we don't want to stop
man I love this world
could be one big party
and love always finds a way
and I love this world
gonna get things started
gonna make it all ok
Beautiful
sun sets in a yellow haze
I’m in over my head
it goes to ground
the world ablaze
I just look at you instead
and in the end the dream comes
in the end it comes to life
all I know is you are beautiful tonight
all I know is you are beautiful
wonderful
tonight
it’s enough to see you here
it’s enough to watch you move
and in the end the dream comes
in the end it comes to life
all I know is you are beautiful tonight
all I know is you are beautiful
a miracle
all I know is you are beautiful tonight
all I know is you are beautiful
wonderful
tonight
Express Yourself
I get freaked when I can't find you
I believe the color of your voice
I spread sugar down beside you
I'll find you, yeah
hey, you walk no one else
hey, you talk no one else
express yourself
come on now
each face in every town I run to
she says I got to say my peace
well it's the only fire that burns inside
when the muse she comes
well it all goes down yeah
hey, you walk no one else
hey, you talk no one else
express yourself
hey, you walk no one else
hey, you talk no one else
express yourself
come on now
express yourself
Here and Now
this bright sun, this passion
in this moment it's good to be alive
these hot nights, I'm sleep deprived
oh it's not gonna slow me down
not it's not gonna slow me down
yeah, it's all I ever want
yeah, it's all I ever want
it's here and now
all I ever want
is here and now
I'm tossing and turning
I'm trying to read between the lines
and this time and this place
oh, the place I want to be
it's the place I want to be
can't stop us now
yeah, it's all I ever want
yeah, it's all I ever want
it's here and now
yeah, it's all I ever want
yeah, it's all I ever want
and here we are
here and now
we're flying
The Best There Is
you’re slipping in and out of sunlight
but you know we know who you are
you're the best there is
it all comes down to this
you're the best there is
it's all or nothing
you're the best there is
you come around here like a stranger
but you know we know you’re a star
you're the best there is
it all comes down to this
you're the best there is
it's all or nothing
it's all or nothing
you're the best there is
it's all or nothing
you're the best there is
Everyone Come Together
carry on with your jokes and your laughs
you’re afraid of everyone
reaching out from the sea to the sand
it’s ok, I’ll help you out
take this ride
come along with me now
every one of us come together
come together now
every one of us come together
I know we’ll make it somehow
right now
reaching back to the seat of the car
I was there, yeah I was there
and just the same
from a kid to a man it wasn’t fair
who cares
‘cause I know where to go now
every one of us come together
come together now
every one of us come together
I know we’ll make it somehow
right now
come together now, together now
come together now, together
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