Stray Cats to Celebrate 40th Anniversary with First New Studio Album in 25 Years

The Stray Cats, featuring original members Brian Setzer (guitar and vocals), Lee Rocker (bass) and Slim Jim Phantom (drums), will mark their 40th anniversary in 2019 with a new album and tour.

The record, which the band will be recording in Nashville, will be produced by Peter Collins (Rush, Bon Jovi, The Brian Setzer Orchestra) and engineered by Vance Powell (Jack White, Chris Stapleton, Arctic Monkeys). The still-untitled set will be released on Surfdog Records.

Said Setzer: "Forty years ago, us three teenagers started a little band to play a musical style that had long since passed, and most folks had never heard of, this Rockabilly music. Forty years later we stand together and still get that same thrill and exhilaration from the music. That feeling is what makes the fireworks go off and the sparks fly. It makes the world go around."

Added Phantom: "Making a new Stray Cats album for 2019 in Nashville seems like the exact right thing, right time, right place, and right band for the gig! We have an album's worth of new songs that are classic rockabilly while keeping the music and style current and fresh, like always. In other words...a Stray Cats album." 

"They say history repeats itself and I now know that's true,” commented Rocker. “Forty years after Brian, Jim and I formed the Stray Cats, we are back! I'm so excited to be in the studio with my brothers. I can tell you that this will be the best Stray Cats album we have ever made. The time is right, the songs are great and we're ready to rock."