StrateJacket

Interview & Article by Brittany Ormiston

From performing in warehouses and under bridges to being signed to EDGEOUT Records, StrateJacket is making a name for themselves in the alt-rock world. Their newest single, ‘Bad Start,’ is putting them on the map with influences such as Foo Fighters and even aspects from their childhood. ‘Bad Start’ is the first track off of StrateJacket’s debut album set to be released in 2024. This body of work truly exemplifies the band’s talent, and their willingness to go outside the box. Throughout the album process, StrateJacket marked even more items off their bucket list as they worked with Juno/BMI-winning Canadian producer/songwriter Brian Howes (Hinder, Skillet, Boys Like Girls), and Grammy Award-winning Chris Lord-Alge (Green Day, Muse, Prince). Jackson Roemers (lead vocalist, guitarist), Fabian Angel (bassist), and Nate Mangold (drummer) are proud to be a rock band, and they hope the nostalgia in their music brings light to listeners even amidst their darkest days. StrateJacket’s optimism and devotion to their craft will move mountains, and they will be everyone’s new favorite band in no time.             

What is your favorite lyric from ‘Bad Start’ and why?

Jackson: “My favorite line from "Bad Start" is probably “Small Brain, Big Heart" it's very self explanatory and direct. I promise to make mistakes and I promise to have good intentions. Just know that when I screw up and make bad decisions, I always hope for the best for everyone around me. They don’t cancel each other out.”

Nate: “Probably the opening lyric is my favorite. Just all too relatable. Who hasn’t lived a day when you wake up knowing it’s gonna suck.”

"Bad Start’ has a nostalgic yet refreshingly new sound to it. Who are a few of your influences for this track, and your music in general?

Jackson: “Influences hmm, I was influenced by my city and where I grew up. I obsessively search for beauty in every little thing. A spider web can be as beautiful as a Vermeer painting. Sharpies on a bathroom stall door can be as enlightening as something Robert Frost wrote. In the words of RAP Ferreira (who is also an influence of mine) ‘I find objective truths in egg fried rice and fruits.’”

Nate: “I think a few influences on this track stem from a lot of Foo Fighters and Rise Against. When we first started writing it, it sounded like some Hans Zimmer shit with this riff we had that’s no longer in the song. It gradually started to sound like Rise Against or AFI. The actual track now sounds like a Foo Fighters song with everything sounding so big.”

Your single being added to EA Sports’ NHL24 Soundtrack and NHL24’s Spotify Playlist is such an incredible accomplishment! Tell us the details and your initial reaction when you found out this all was happening.

Jackson: “We heard that we might be in the new NHL game whilst we were recording the album in Canada actually, our producer snuck our very first demo of "Bad Start" to Tony Guanci, the owner of our label, who snuck it over to Steve Shnur, the director of music at EA, and walla we were in the game. It was pretty surreal to be honest, we always joked around about being in a video game and how cool that would be so it was crazy to hear that we were not only going to be in a game but an EA game. It made a lot of sense to be in a hockey video game actually. We recorded the whole album In Canada and were oftentimes watching hockey while recording so hockey is kind of baked into this project.”

What two words would you use to describe your upcoming debut album?

Jackson: “Small brain.”

Nate: “A. MESS. In the best way possible. I mean some songs don’t seem to go with one another and sound super different. But, I like the variety it brings and shows what we can do as a band.”

Describe your experience collaborating with Brian Howes (Hinder, Skillet, Boys Like Girls) and Grammy Award-winning Chris Lord-Alge (Green Day, Muse, Prince).

Jackson: “Brian was a blast to work with. From our first call with him we could see how passionate he was about the project which only upped our passion for it. Brian had this amazing talent of making sure we were having fun every step of the way. We smiled every second of this recording process and I think it really shows. Brian has a truly magic ear as well, he can sense an out of tune note from a mile away. He said that ‘the trick to having a big sound, wasn’t how loud the guitars were, or how big the bass drum was, it was how perfectly in tune your instruments were’ you won’t hear a stale note on this record. Working with Chris Lord Alge was also an incredible experience. I had followed his career pretty closely because he mixed a couple of my all time favorite records so getting to work with him was a dream. We didn’t get as much face to face with him as we did with Brian but we met him at the NAMM 23 show and I’ll never forget seeing a bunch of people waiting in line to take a picture with him and him taking out his own phone and taking a picture with us. One of the last things he said was ‘You guys made the right choice working with Brian Howes’ he was absolutely right.”

Fabian: “Working with Brian was one of the coolest things we have done in our musical career. Whether being at the Armory Studios or at his personal recording studio, we enjoyed every second of it. His guidance throughout the whole album was a form of guidance we’ve never received before. The way he was able to communicate his musical knowledge was AWESOME. To have someone as talented and knowledgeable as him on our album was exactly what we needed. He’s the best producer and friend we could’ve asked for.”

What has been your favorite gig to play thus far?

Jackson: “Playing to all the label folks at the Viper Room was incredibly fun. We owed all those people a good show and I think we succeeded. We played a show recently with a band called Sports Team from the UK and that was one of those most enjoyable Monday nights I’d had in awhile.”

Fabian: “Our favorite shows to have played this far are our show at the Viper Room and one of our shows at the Phoenix Theater. Playing at the legendary Viper Room was so much fun. We were finally able to play in-front of the people who have been supporting us for a long time: our management team and label and so many more. It was awesome to have played such a great show in-front of them. Before heading out to Canada to record our album we had one last show at the Phoenix Theater and it was one of my personal favorites. The crowd was hella energetic, people were crowd surfing, and to top it all off they moshed on stage with us at the very end. It was definitely a great way to send us out.”

You’re playing at The Phoenix Theater this upcoming weekend. What are you looking forward to the most?

Jackson: “I think I can say that the Phoenix Theatre is our home base, even though it's like an hour and a half away haha. I’m excited to finally play ‘Bad Start’ for people after its release, I hope people accept the song as their own and sing it out loud with us.”

Nate: “I’m looking forward to just going there and hanging out honestly. Every time we’ve gone to play there everyone is so chill and supportive. And watching and listening to those people play is just a good time.”

Fabian: “We’re looking forward to meeting all our supporters again! We love the petaluma scene so much because of the amount of love we receive over there. It’s quite a drive for us but it’s always worth it, there has never been a dull moment there. Also! The sound crew over there are professional as hell, the monitor/speakers sound great and they always make us feel comfortable with our sound.”

What is on the horizon for StrateJacket?

Jackson: “The album is on the horizon, I’m very excited to finally get it out and let it do what it does. We have the most incredible management team with Bill McGathy and In De Goot, and an amazing booking agent with Mike Hayes, so only fun things to come.”

Fabian: “We are currently in the process of writing a couple tracks for our future album and we are hoping to play bigger shows very soon. We are extremely happy with the release of ‘Bad Start’ and we are hoping to release more tracks soon before the entirety of our album. All in all, we’re ready to give it our all for whatever lies ahead for us.”