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Get Into It
The band formed in the town of Cavan in Ireland with the original line-up consisting of McClorey (10 September 1995), Walsh (30 October 1996), O'Hanlon (20 February 1996) on vocals, Jack Hayden (19 December 1995) and Conor Bates (guitar). The band made their debut at a primary school Christmas concert and started playing around Cavan and the surrounding areas. In a matter of months, however, Bates had left the band. Ross Farrelly (3 September 1997) joined on vocals and harmonica.
In November 2010, the then unknown band debuted on that year's edition of The Late Late Toy Show, leading to the launch of their career. In 2011, Hayden left the band. O'Hanlon then switched to bass.
In 2015, The Strypes released their second album, entitled Little Victories which reached number 1 on the Irish Charts and number 17 on the UK charts and embarked on a world tour to promote the album. In November 2015, the band released the album Live in Tokyo 2015, recorded from one of their live shows in Tokyo, Japan on the tour. They also played in Brazil, during the 'Cultura Inglesa Festival', opening for Johnny Marr.
In November 2016, the band announced a limited edition run of 500 vinyl only singles available exclusively from their website with all proceeds going to the teenage Cancer charity Canteen. It is released on the Reckless Records label The double-A-side features versions of Nick Lowe's '(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding' and Stefan Murphy's 'Down at the Radiotron'.
In March 2017, the band began touring smaller venues in Ireland to road test new material for a third studio album scheduled for release in June 2017. On 25 April 2017 it was announced that this album would be called Spitting Image. The album was released on 16 June of that year. Wanting to create a tour diary that was not "absolutely shite", Pete O' Hanlon created the "Surprisingly Dull Adventures of The Strypes" YouTube series which documented their subsequent tour in promotion of the album. In July 2017, the band supported main headliners, Nevada rock band The Killers, and Manchester band Elbow at a sold out Hyde Park, London for the BST 2017 festival. They also supported Paul Weller and Liam Gallagher on their respective headline tours.
On 14 November 2018, 7 months after cancelling the remainder of their Spitting Image tour due to drummer Evan Walsh being unfit to perform, the band announced their breakup through a post on their Instragram page. In an interview with Indie Buddy in 2020, Walsh stated that the band split-up because the members wanted to go in a different musical direction but were being pressurised by their label to stick to a certain style.
Following the break-up of the Strypes, the band members continued their musical careers, with guitarist Josh McClorey releasing his first solo single "Everything Was Easy" in 2020 and singer Ross Farelly, bassist Pete O'Hanlon and drummer Evan Walsh forming the band the Zen Arcade, releasing their debut single "Don't Say A Word" in 2020.
The band appeared posthumously in the movie Rocketman, playing Elton John's backing band.
The Strypes have cited Dr. Feelgood and the Yardbirds as their main musical influences, but members have also cited The Beatles, The Who, Chuck Berry, The Rolling Stones, Bo Diddley, The Jam, Willie Dixon, Little Richard, Elvis Costello, The Ramones, The New York Dolls, The Undertones, Squeeze, Rockpile, The Housemartins, Dave Edmunds, Royal Blood, Lew Lewis, Johnny Marr, The Animals, Johnny Thunder, Nine Below Zero, Thin Lizzy, Eddie Cochran, Jimmy Reed, Dave Evnans Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, Them, The Fertelies, The Pirates, Blur, Elmore James, AC/DC, Nick Lowe, Muddy Waters, The Cars, Sonny Boy Williamson II, The Bohicas, John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers, Kaiser Chiefs, Jamie T, Slim Harpo, Robert Johnson, Billy Boy Arnold, Lead Belly, Kendrick Lamar, John Lee Hooker and Jerry Lee Lewis as influences. Guitarist Josh McClorey stated that "What A Shame" was influenced by the Arctic Monkeys and that "Heavenly Soul" was influenced by Nirvana