August 1, 2024 • 12 mins
It's always fun catching up with my man Luke Spiller and there's a lot happening with him and The Struts! We talked about how they helped to open The Anthem and now they're headlining, the band's goals of moving up, Luke's solo album, life in Los Angeles, the official Struts podcast 'The Struts Life', 10 years of the first album 'Everybody Wants', Luke's advice for his younger self and how he got his own Funko figure!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Mike Jones DC one on one.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
We are here at the Brighton right next door to
the Anthem, getting ready for a big show, a party,
all of it with the Struts, and I got my
man Luke Spiller with us.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Look good to see.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Again, and you mate, good to see it always a.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Place, Thank you, sir. It's pretty cool that the Struts.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
I don't know if you remember, because I know you
guys do shows all over the world, but you actually
helped to open the Anthem, you and the food Fighters
years ago.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
It's very true. I believe we were the first official
official band to play the stage or take into the stage. Yeah,
at this venue, and it looks great. It looks great.
It's been a while since we've come back, so yeah,
it's brilliant.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
I think the last time was our DC one of
Wonderland a couple of years ago.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
We had you guys.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Yeah, and then well now headlining main event AX, so
bringing it full circle and we go.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
I mean, look, I was just saying, actually to to
someone else. The nine thirty Club has always been really great,
and it's it's always been such a great atmosphere and
it's it's great to feel the audience grow here in
the DC area, and to play this venue this evening
is going to be a real milestone for the band.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Absolutely, have you guys, I'm sure you have your goals
and everything, Luke, you and the boys and the band.
What's the ultimate stage for the Struts or are there
a couple like festivals that if you were the headliner
that will be like, Wow, we've really done this.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Absolutely, I think it kind of goes with that saying.
I think we kind of have this this aura of ambition.
But for anyone who really doesn't know what we're about,
we're all about growing and growing and playing to bigger,
bigger audiences because that's really what the show is catered for.
If I'm completely honest, absolutely, and in my head it's
(01:43):
always twenty five thousand and thirty thousand people minimum. So
to get to that stage where we are playing amphitheaters
and arenas, that's where we truly belong.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Well, it won't be long if you're here now, will
not belong, my friend, I'm sure I look pretty vicious.
It's not even a year old yet, But knowing you,
knowing the boys, how far long are you on the
next record. I'm sure you're already halfway through the next
one already, aren't you.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
It's a very good question. We're under a lot of
pressure at the moment to create a lot of new music.
The truth be told is, yeah, it's been. It's been
a bit of a busy year to begin with. I
find it quite hard to write on the road, as
the shows are kind of so exhausting, and we do
a lot of threes and sometimes like four in a rows,
(02:31):
and those days off I really need to just like
zip zip at it and not talk and just relax.
We do have some material floating around. I think personally,
it's taking a little longer than usual because I was
writing and recording a solo album right after we finished
(02:51):
Pretty Vicious. So I've done all of that, that's all mixed,
and it's all in the bag. So now my attention
is once again back in Struts world.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Okay, anything you want to say about this solo album
that you want to drop on us or are we
just keeping that tight right now?
Speaker 3 (03:08):
What can I say of it? I mean, it's a
collection of songs that I wrote purely based on my
experiences of love, sex and heartbreak. Straight down the middle, like,
you know, nothing, nothing super sort of like pretentious or intellectual.
Subject wise, sonically, it's very pretentious. There's a twenty piece
(03:33):
string section on most of the songs and it's very
piano driven. I guess it's kind of like for me anyway,
I wanted to create something that would sound like the
mele Adele or Mele Landa del Rey or something like that.
And yeah, it's a really really special, special, unique album
(03:56):
that I can't wait for everyone to hear. And in fact,
in September, moving on to Struts World, we're going to
be cutting some brand new songs and we will be
releasing them this year before it's up for surelly hopefully
before the UK and eurip leg of this tour.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Well that's gonna be quick then, all right, Well we'll
be watching out for Luke and the Strats and everything.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Is this new solo thing? Is this based on your
life in La? Now?
Speaker 2 (04:23):
I mean you said the sacks, the romance, the everything.
Is this Luke's La experience?
Speaker 3 (04:28):
It's a good question. I was actually listening through it
and it does tell quite a narrative of I don't
even know if I did it intentionally. It was probably subconsciously,
but when I listen to it front to back, it
does have a narrative of an English person coming to
Los Angeles and the whirlwind that one gets swept up
(04:53):
in when arriving in a place like that. So yeah,
it does have a lot of that in it.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Do you think you're going to stay in LA for
or could you see yourself anywhere else? Because I can
maybe see Vegas or possibly Miami, But that's about it
for you. You're not going anywhere. Low key, I'm not going
to be a boise id know, I'll tell you that. No, No, honestly,
I'm enjoying LA now. Will I stay there forever?
Speaker 3 (05:17):
I don't know. I don't know. I also adore England.
I'm still an English boy really at heart, and it's
funny when I go back there, I do miss it immensely,
and there is like a big part of me that
kind of sometimes wants to get up and move. But
right now I am enjoying LA. It's still a great
(05:40):
place to have fun, it's still a great place to
be productive and work and whatnot. So La is the
place right.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Now get everything done and you don't have to travel
ten hours by plane or anything, you can get it
done right away, exactly. Look, people might not know there's
now the official Struts podcast that just launched recently, The
Struts Life.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
I think it's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
You guys are really opening up and sharing these things
that we didn't know.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
I learned a lot about you and the boys listening
to the first couple episodes so far.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Yeah, yeah, we've been doing that now, gosh, like a
few months at least. In fact, I just got back
from recording another episode with the rest of the band,
which is sort of like an episode about the touring life,
and we had a lot of burning questions from a
lot of the fans which we were able to answer.
But yeah, it's available on all streaming like platforms, and
(06:33):
it is a very good source of information for people
who want to sort of dive deeper into our personal
lives the music more than kind of like your odd
interview that you'll do or whatever it is. You know,
it is very informative.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
It shows two the different musical styles that you and
Adam and the boys like you all grew up listening
to different stuff and now bringing it all together.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
And Leah Jones, your host, she's she's very knowledgeable, she's very.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Good, she's great, and I think the best thing about
Leo is that she's a genuine fan as well, so
she sort of like approaches it in the exact way
that is, you know, totally suits the podcast.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Yeah, well, anyone you want to hear the Struts Life podcast.
We got it on iHeartRadio and everywhere for podcasts. Luke,
it's been this week ten years for everybody once this
week tenth anniversary. What would you say to ten years ago,
Luke Spiller, if you could go back or the band?
What advice would you say Tom or what would you say, Hey, guys,
(07:34):
do this and this?
Speaker 3 (07:36):
I will honestly would I'd probably give the sobering reality.
I'd say, Luke, like, look, it's it's going to take
longer than ten years to get where the band truly
wants to get to. But along the way, you're you
are gonna sort of touch a lot of people's lives.
You're going to inspire a lot of people, and they're
(07:57):
going to be an awful lot of young kids hearing
the music and wanting to play guitar again, which I
don't know might even be more important than playing amphitheaters
and arenas and stadiums or whatever. So I would say that,
I'd say, you've got to be in it for the
long haul. I mean, it's a long way to the top.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
There was a man that said that sometime ago, and
they were one hundred percent right. When you were making
that album, Luke, did you feel like there was one
song was it could have been me? Or another one
that you were like, all right, that really locked in
our sound.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Now I know what we're doing here.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
The funny thing is we could have been me. I
remember hearing it back and I remember saying to Ads,
I was like, ah, does this sound like that terrible
emo band my Chemical Romance? And he was like, I
don't know, And I was like, this sounds a bit
emo to me.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
That was in the very early stages of it because
I'm I'm not really about that kind of stuff. And then,
of course, once I sung it and put my own
thing on it, it became something completely different. But I
was never completely sold on could have been me for
a while. I really wasn't. I was like, it's a
good song. I was like, it's great. I was all
(09:14):
about to answer your question there was a track called
roll Up, which we're going to be opening the show
with tonight. That to me on a personal level, I
was like, Yes, this is what this is what I'm about,
this is me, and this is what we should be
sort of focusing on. I was terribly wrong, but it
just goes to show that and I've learned that now.
(09:36):
I've learned to trust the process. I've learned to trust
the people around me sometimes more than like my own
personal taste. You know.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
It's like when Billy Joe Armstrong tells a story about
he wasn't sure about Time of your Life. Yeah, He's like,
I don't know if I should put this out. It's like,
what are you talking about? Put that out? And it's
become one of their biggest songs, and for you guys,
it was the launch point. It was and getting this
to get out there and do the show with the
Rolling Stones and tour with the Foo Fighters and all
(10:05):
of that stuff.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
It's literally the song that keeps giving. Yes, it's it's
been one of the greatest gifts to have. And I
mean even that, we're extremely lucky. I mean every year
something really unique happens with that song. It gets put
into like a fantastic ad. It gets added into a movie,
it gets Eurovision, so it gets get puts in. You know,
(10:29):
it's a really great thing to have, and I'm you know,
I'm proud of that. Yeah, and it turned platinum last year,
which was really fun.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Congratulations on that, sir, Luke. The last thing I brought
a friend with us today. I want to know how
we got the Luke Spiller func here. I want to
know how this came about. And did you help to
pick out your outfit on this?
Speaker 3 (10:52):
I did.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Yeah, that's the I figured you would have. Of anyone,
you would have design input.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
The outfit that the particular Luke Spiller is dressed up
in is the outfit that I wore for the Prima
Donna Like Me video, which was shot in Vegas, designed
by Ray Brown. I mean, the whole Funco thing happened
quite a while ago. I think we were playing in
San Diego or San Fran it was probably San Fran
(11:20):
and the people from Funco came along with a die
hard fan who has been affiliated with the company and
he was like, I'm going to make you into a
pop and I was like at first, I was like okay, mate,
Like yeah, cool, like you.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Know whatever, but like you can do that for anyone.
You can put the hair on and everything. That's actually Luke.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
This is actually in production. There's thousands and thousands. I
mean I signed them all the time. It's really funny.
I'll go outside or meeting greets whatever airports that there's
a little Luke Spiller go dolls somewhere. But yeah, he's cute.
I like him. You know, I might have to do
another one because my looks changed quite a lot since then.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Well you should do one with every do one for
the solo album.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Yeah, Tooe, that'd be cool, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
You know what do or do a tenth anniversary one
and your favorite outfit from over the years.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Yeah, very good idea. There's a lot of potential there. Well, Luke.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Tonight at the Anthem, Man, we're gonna have another great
time with the Struts here in DC, and I'm sure
all over the tour. Looks like you guys are having
so much fun and in Europe and everything, and we'll
get your solo albums soon.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Man, lot's going on as always. So thank you. I
appreciate this, and you mate, thank you for having me
It's Mike Jones DC one on one.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
We are here at the Brighton right next door to
the Anthem, getting ready for a big show, a party,
all of it with the Struts, and I got my
man Luke Spiller with us.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Look good to see.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Again, and you mate, good to see it always a.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Place, Thank you, sir. It's pretty cool that the Struts.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
I don't know if you remember, because I know you
guys do shows all over the world, but you actually
helped to open the Anthem, you and the food Fighters
years ago.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
It's very true. I believe we were the first official
official band to play the stage or take into the stage. Yeah,
at this venue, and it looks great. It looks great.
It's been a while since we've come back, so yeah,
it's brilliant.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
I think the last time was our DC one of
Wonderland a couple of years ago.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
We had you guys.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Yeah, and then well now headlining main event AX, so
bringing it full circle and we go.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
I mean, look, I was just saying, actually to to
someone else. The nine thirty Club has always been really great,
and it's it's always been such a great atmosphere and
it's it's great to feel the audience grow here in
the DC area, and to play this venue this evening
is going to be a real milestone for the band.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Absolutely, have you guys, I'm sure you have your goals
and everything, Luke, you and the boys and the band.
What's the ultimate stage for the Struts or are there
a couple like festivals that if you were the headliner
that will be like, Wow, we've really done this.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Absolutely, I think it kind of goes with that saying.
I think we kind of have this this aura of ambition.
But for anyone who really doesn't know what we're about,
we're all about growing and growing and playing to bigger,
bigger audiences because that's really what the show is catered for.
If I'm completely honest, absolutely, and in my head it's
(01:43):
always twenty five thousand and thirty thousand people minimum. So
to get to that stage where we are playing amphitheaters
and arenas, that's where we truly belong.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Well, it won't be long if you're here now, will
not belong, my friend, I'm sure I look pretty vicious.
It's not even a year old yet, But knowing you,
knowing the boys, how far long are you on the
next record. I'm sure you're already halfway through the next
one already, aren't you.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
It's a very good question. We're under a lot of
pressure at the moment to create a lot of new music.
The truth be told is, yeah, it's been. It's been
a bit of a busy year to begin with. I
find it quite hard to write on the road, as
the shows are kind of so exhausting, and we do
a lot of threes and sometimes like four in a rows,
(02:31):
and those days off I really need to just like
zip zip at it and not talk and just relax.
We do have some material floating around. I think personally,
it's taking a little longer than usual because I was
writing and recording a solo album right after we finished
(02:51):
Pretty Vicious. So I've done all of that, that's all mixed,
and it's all in the bag. So now my attention
is once again back in Struts world.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Okay, anything you want to say about this solo album
that you want to drop on us or are we
just keeping that tight right now?
Speaker 3 (03:08):
What can I say of it? I mean, it's a
collection of songs that I wrote purely based on my
experiences of love, sex and heartbreak. Straight down the middle, like,
you know, nothing, nothing super sort of like pretentious or intellectual.
Subject wise, sonically, it's very pretentious. There's a twenty piece
(03:33):
string section on most of the songs and it's very
piano driven. I guess it's kind of like for me anyway,
I wanted to create something that would sound like the
mele Adele or Mele Landa del Rey or something like that.
And yeah, it's a really really special, special, unique album
(03:56):
that I can't wait for everyone to hear. And in fact,
in September, moving on to Struts World, we're going to
be cutting some brand new songs and we will be
releasing them this year before it's up for surelly hopefully
before the UK and eurip leg of this tour.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Well that's gonna be quick then, all right, Well we'll
be watching out for Luke and the Strats and everything.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Is this new solo thing? Is this based on your
life in La? Now?
Speaker 2 (04:23):
I mean you said the sacks, the romance, the everything.
Is this Luke's La experience?
Speaker 3 (04:28):
It's a good question. I was actually listening through it
and it does tell quite a narrative of I don't
even know if I did it intentionally. It was probably subconsciously,
but when I listen to it front to back, it
does have a narrative of an English person coming to
Los Angeles and the whirlwind that one gets swept up
(04:53):
in when arriving in a place like that. So yeah,
it does have a lot of that in it.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Do you think you're going to stay in LA for
or could you see yourself anywhere else? Because I can
maybe see Vegas or possibly Miami, But that's about it
for you. You're not going anywhere. Low key, I'm not going
to be a boise id know, I'll tell you that. No, No, honestly,
I'm enjoying LA now. Will I stay there forever?
Speaker 3 (05:17):
I don't know. I don't know. I also adore England.
I'm still an English boy really at heart, and it's
funny when I go back there, I do miss it immensely,
and there is like a big part of me that
kind of sometimes wants to get up and move. But
right now I am enjoying LA. It's still a great
(05:40):
place to have fun, it's still a great place to
be productive and work and whatnot. So La is the
place right.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Now get everything done and you don't have to travel
ten hours by plane or anything, you can get it
done right away, exactly. Look, people might not know there's
now the official Struts podcast that just launched recently, The
Struts Life.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
I think it's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
You guys are really opening up and sharing these things
that we didn't know.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
I learned a lot about you and the boys listening
to the first couple episodes so far.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Yeah, yeah, we've been doing that now, gosh, like a
few months at least. In fact, I just got back
from recording another episode with the rest of the band,
which is sort of like an episode about the touring life,
and we had a lot of burning questions from a
lot of the fans which we were able to answer.
But yeah, it's available on all streaming like platforms, and
(06:33):
it is a very good source of information for people
who want to sort of dive deeper into our personal
lives the music more than kind of like your odd
interview that you'll do or whatever it is. You know,
it is very informative.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
It shows two the different musical styles that you and
Adam and the boys like you all grew up listening
to different stuff and now bringing it all together.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
And Leah Jones, your host, she's she's very knowledgeable, she's very.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Good, she's great, and I think the best thing about
Leo is that she's a genuine fan as well, so
she sort of like approaches it in the exact way
that is, you know, totally suits the podcast.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Yeah, well, anyone you want to hear the Struts Life podcast.
We got it on iHeartRadio and everywhere for podcasts. Luke,
it's been this week ten years for everybody once this
week tenth anniversary. What would you say to ten years ago,
Luke Spiller, if you could go back or the band?
What advice would you say Tom or what would you say, Hey, guys,
(07:34):
do this and this?
Speaker 3 (07:36):
I will honestly would I'd probably give the sobering reality.
I'd say, Luke, like, look, it's it's going to take
longer than ten years to get where the band truly
wants to get to. But along the way, you're you
are gonna sort of touch a lot of people's lives.
You're going to inspire a lot of people, and they're
(07:57):
going to be an awful lot of young kids hearing
the music and wanting to play guitar again, which I
don't know might even be more important than playing amphitheaters
and arenas and stadiums or whatever. So I would say that,
I'd say, you've got to be in it for the
long haul. I mean, it's a long way to the top.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
There was a man that said that sometime ago, and
they were one hundred percent right. When you were making
that album, Luke, did you feel like there was one
song was it could have been me? Or another one
that you were like, all right, that really locked in
our sound.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Now I know what we're doing here.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
The funny thing is we could have been me. I
remember hearing it back and I remember saying to Ads,
I was like, ah, does this sound like that terrible
emo band my Chemical Romance? And he was like, I
don't know, And I was like, this sounds a bit
emo to me.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
That was in the very early stages of it because
I'm I'm not really about that kind of stuff. And then,
of course, once I sung it and put my own
thing on it, it became something completely different. But I
was never completely sold on could have been me for
a while. I really wasn't. I was like, it's a
good song. I was like, it's great. I was all
(09:14):
about to answer your question there was a track called
roll Up, which we're going to be opening the show
with tonight. That to me on a personal level, I
was like, Yes, this is what this is what I'm about,
this is me, and this is what we should be
sort of focusing on. I was terribly wrong, but it
just goes to show that and I've learned that now.
(09:36):
I've learned to trust the process. I've learned to trust
the people around me sometimes more than like my own
personal taste. You know.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
It's like when Billy Joe Armstrong tells a story about
he wasn't sure about Time of your Life. Yeah, He's like,
I don't know if I should put this out. It's like,
what are you talking about? Put that out? And it's
become one of their biggest songs, and for you guys,
it was the launch point. It was and getting this
to get out there and do the show with the
Rolling Stones and tour with the Foo Fighters and all
(10:05):
of that stuff.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
It's literally the song that keeps giving. Yes, it's it's
been one of the greatest gifts to have. And I
mean even that, we're extremely lucky. I mean every year
something really unique happens with that song. It gets put
into like a fantastic ad. It gets added into a movie,
it gets Eurovision, so it gets get puts in. You know,
(10:29):
it's a really great thing to have, and I'm you know,
I'm proud of that. Yeah, and it turned platinum last year,
which was really fun.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Congratulations on that, sir, Luke. The last thing I brought
a friend with us today. I want to know how
we got the Luke Spiller func here. I want to
know how this came about. And did you help to
pick out your outfit on this?
Speaker 3 (10:52):
I did.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Yeah, that's the I figured you would have. Of anyone,
you would have design input.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
The outfit that the particular Luke Spiller is dressed up
in is the outfit that I wore for the Prima
Donna Like Me video, which was shot in Vegas, designed
by Ray Brown. I mean, the whole Funco thing happened
quite a while ago. I think we were playing in
San Diego or San Fran it was probably San Fran
(11:20):
and the people from Funco came along with a die
hard fan who has been affiliated with the company and
he was like, I'm going to make you into a
pop and I was like at first, I was like okay, mate,
Like yeah, cool, like you.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Know whatever, but like you can do that for anyone.
You can put the hair on and everything. That's actually Luke.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
This is actually in production. There's thousands and thousands. I
mean I signed them all the time. It's really funny.
I'll go outside or meeting greets whatever airports that there's
a little Luke Spiller go dolls somewhere. But yeah, he's cute.
I like him. You know, I might have to do
another one because my looks changed quite a lot since then.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Well you should do one with every do one for
the solo album.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Yeah, Tooe, that'd be cool, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
You know what do or do a tenth anniversary one
and your favorite outfit from over the years.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Yeah, very good idea. There's a lot of potential there. Well, Luke.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Tonight at the Anthem, Man, we're gonna have another great
time with the Struts here in DC, and I'm sure
all over the tour. Looks like you guys are having
so much fun and in Europe and everything, and we'll
get your solo albums soon.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Man, lot's going on as always. So thank you. I
appreciate this, and you mate, thank you for having me
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