Tell us about yourselves and what you do?
The Straylings are Bahraini/Austrian songwriter Dana Zeera and London born guitarist Oliver Drake also joined by various friends in the studio and on stage.
How did you get together/start out?
We met in 2007, I had previously been touring with another band for a few years, and Dana was playing acoustic nights at the time but we were both becoming drawn to other sounds. It was a case where we met by chance and got talking, from that point it clicked pretty much straight away and we started developing some songs Dana had in a different direction. Soon after that we started building a live set together, which lead to our first EP around a year later.
What is your future release?
Our album 'Entertainment On Foreign Grounds' will be coming out March 26th on our own imprint, Deadpan Records. It's our first record, and was recorded on and off over about two years in various studios, hallways and basements. We also have a single 'Carver's Kicks' available online now, as well as some free tracks to download.
What is the best part of being in a band/song writer?
Working on new material, creating and building something up is always exciting and probably the most fulfilling thing for us.
What is your most significant moment yet?
Finishing our record, we weren't sure it was going to happen at a few points! It felt really good to have something we'd been working on for such a long time to finally come together the way it has.
What are your biggest musical influences?
Probably everything we listen to influences us in some way but Joni Mitchell, Love and Townes Van Zandt are some we always return to. Also I suppose like any artist you can't help but be influenced by your surroundings and the other things going on outside of your musical influences.
What venue/gig do you most want to play?
The Troxy in east London would be great, it used to be a 1930s art deco cinema, although I think it's been a venue for many things over the years, an opera house in the 60s, a bingo haven in the 80s. It seems to be a place with a lot of stories to tell.
What is your best/favourite song you have written?
Well, working on everything so closely its tough to be objective about that, they all have different things to offer and are attached to certain points in time, so I guess that makes them all our favourites in some way.
What’s your favourite album of this year?
One record we've been listening to a lot this year on Bandcamp is 'The Design' by Mishal Zeera. There's a real craftsmanship to his songs, lots of layers and subtleties. We are very drawn to that at the moment, the strength in subtlety and restraint.
What does the next six months have in store for you?
We'll be doing some more shows around London and the south, and some festivals in the summer too. We'll also be starting work on our second record, very much looking forward to getting in the studio for that.
Where do you see yourself in ten years?
Well we'd love to be doing this for a while. So hopefully more albums, some overseas tours - but we'll have to see what opportunities we can make come our way.
What’s the best thing about Americana-UK?
It's great that it provides a platform for emerging artists and gives time to independent music.
