Track By Track: Strawberry Fuzz – Strongs Dr.

Carrying on a lineage that stretches from The Doors to FIDLAR, indie punk band Strawberry Fuzz document the wildlife in and around their Venice Beach turf. Channeling stories of parties, junkies,sex, violence and camaraderie through a keenly observant lens, they meticulously capture the smell,sound, taste and feel of life on the streets, in the bars, bedrooms and basements of the bleary side of Los Angeles.

Inspired by artists like The Cramps, Black Flag, and The Germs as well as Elvis, RL Burnside, and Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Strawberry Fuzz’s manic live show was perfectly captured on their debut collection of demos Fuzztapes Vol. 1. With the release of their first real record, Strongs Dr., the band builds on their experiences: a new cavalcade of characters passing in front of their cynical lens as well as songs calling out everything from beach city homogenization to aggressive surfer cliques. And a few drinks thrown in for good measure.

Strawberry Fuzz is Colby Rodgers (vox), Dashel Dupuy (bass), Kris Miller (guitar), Alex Arias (guitar/keys), Andy Warren (drums)

Strongs Dr. drops on January 17 on all streaming services. The band was kind to break down the meaning of the songs exclusively for Thoughts Words Action.

---

NO LIGHTER

No Lighter is a big burst of energy in a short amount of time. After we wrote it, it instantly became a favorite to play in our live show. The alternation between the heavy tribal drum rhythms and minimal guitar to thrashing, heavy punk chorus added a dynamic layer to our show that is special. It was so hard to find an intro for the song and album but we settled on sampling our homie “saying Welcome to paradise motherfucker…”that represented the perfect intro. 

TALK

This was all about representing being a hater in a room of people who think they’re the coolest in the room. The B section of the chorus of talk was inspired by Rancid. We wanted to represent how hard that back half of the chorus hit in our own way. (Alex – Talk was one of my favorite Kris solos to record, and it was very influenced by Blondie.)

WASTING MY TIME

We don’t know a song that goes this hard so quick, but we wanted the intro to hit hard. Our mixer Keith Armstrong is such a pro, and just knows how to handle our mixes. The last verse was written after all the other verses, and it’s one of our best; a rarity for us.  

SUGAR

This started with our producer Alex on his own. Inspiration was “You Got Another Thing Coming” by Judas Priest. Written right before the whole band got Covid right before Xmas 2021, the marimbas are Psychedelic Furs inspired. 

SOMETHING

This is Colby’s story about traveling from the South Bay to LA. I decided to swing the guitar and it wound up working. But at the end of the day it’s about Colby’s experience living in the South Bay. The background vocals are our homies Chris and Randy. They killed it. 

EAST OF THE 405

This song is annoying in that can alienate the listener who doesn’t live on the Westside, but it’s a funny tongue in cheek tribute to how Westsiders won’t leave Venice 

86’d 

We wrote a song that didn’t quite make the cut, and Colby said “let’s go more country with it.” We wanted Alex to have a song that featured his vibe and vocal. He’s the Tom Delonge of our band. 

DROPOUT

This song is a classic in our live set, so we had to finally get it recorded. We usually open our shows with it and it’s about how Colby is a fuck up!

GO HOME KOOK

We got all the homies singing on this one. It’s about a punk ass rolling up on your scene and giving them shit back for thinking they are the shit. This songs for everyone who has dealt with kooks in the past. It just feels good to scream “Go Home Kook!” over and over. 

CORNER STORE 

Based off of a lick by our guitar player Kris, we called the song “Kris Lick” for a while, but Corner Store sounds perfect for it. We recorded this the same night as Wasting My Time in our friend’s Stolen Novas garage. 

STRONGS DR.

An old voice note by Colby and our homie Chris Bell, who lives on that street. Thought it was a cool way to end the album.