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 la, 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.

***warning: highly addictive


stray palace ep track listing
01 changed
02 free
03 hungry
04 escape
05 what i want
stray palace ‘the diamond’ track listing
01 go
02 love this world
03 beautiful
04 express yourself
05 here and now
06 best there is
07 everyone come together

lyrics

ep

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 all the sweet temptation sometimes it gets rough it’s a real sensation 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 escape with me come fly away fly away 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

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

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

music

 
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