Hometown: Cavan, Ireland.
The lineup: Ross Farrelly (lead vocals, harmonica, percussion), Josh McClorey (lead guitar, keyboards, vocals), Pete O'Hanlon (bass, harmonica), Evan Walsh (drums).
The background: The Strypes are four teenagers, aged between 14 and 16, although a couple of them look even younger. They come from Cavan in Ireland but, inevitably, as soon as people hear them they will say they sound as though they just crawled out of the Cavern – they pretty accurately recreate the sort of raw R&B sound the Beatles would have been making 50 years ago today in that legendary Liverpool club. But if you're not overly familiar with that crude primeval noise, it might equally make you think of the early Rolling Stones at another famous venue – the Crawdaddy, in Richmond.
The point is, the Strypes are into faithful period recreation, devoting their energies to making sonic replicas of music that would have been current when their grandparents were around. That is astonishing when you think about it. It is the analogue (pun intended) of the White Stripes' 1963 fetishism, only here they are homing in specifically on the Brit-beat boom penchant for US blues, when English bands such as the Stones channelled their love of the form through the newly minted guitar/bass/drums formation. Like their forebears, the Strypes reveal that they have been working backwards, too, discovering R&B via the bluesologists of the early 60s. "The whole blues thing really came out of a shared love for the Beatles," they have said, explaining that the Fabs led them to the Stones and then the Yardbirds, the Animals and the Who, and back to Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Howlin' Wolf, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson, Little Walter and Slim Harpo. "We're the antithesis of contemporary music," they say.
Well, not exactly. Every few years a band will come along and demand a return to basics, rejecting the fripperies of the modern recording studio and any manifestations of musical excess. But today, when there are all types of music being made all of the time, you could hardly argue there has been a dearth of this stuff. And besides, we weren't aware that we had just been living through a period of baroque grandeur, like the punks could claim in 1976. Still, that would appear to be the Strypes' belief, that it is their mission to purge the music scene of magniloquent pomp, hence their steadfast adherence to the old ways, and the preponderance of covers in their set – not refashioned, but with an impressive degree of fidelity.
So here they come, in their matching suits and shades, in all their monochrome, tinny, high-energy glory, joining Jake Bugg to restart the campaign for real rock, kick Simon Cowell's karaoke kids into touch and twist and shout like there's no tomorrow, which for them, musically speaking, would undoubtedly be a blessing, unless it was a future that merely comprised endless versions of what happened half a century ago. Next: the Lonnie Donegan revival, followed by a period of serious worship for Glenn Miller.
The buzz: "In a musical climate where everything is loop pedals and sampling, sometimes it's nice to say 'fuck off' to all of that and bring everything back to basics, which this tune does brilliantly" – Sabotage Times.
The truth: They make Jake Bugg look like Jake Shears.
Most likely to: Muse on the nature of authenticity.
Least likely to: Support Muse.
What to buy: The Young Gifted & Blue EP is available to buy from iTunes.
File next to: The Beatles, the Quangos, Jake Bugg, Cast.
Links: facebook.com.
Friday's new band: Scrufizzer.
http://thestrypes.com/
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