Interview with Stray Colors: ‘When we don’t know what to do, we ask ourselves: What would The Beatles do?’

Munich-based band, Stray Colors, who describe themselves as ‘a motley mingle-mangle of Balkan, folk and indie’, will release their next single, ‘Because’ later this year, with an album slated for release in the spring of 2021.

Stray Colors comprises Rüdiger Sinn (guitar/vocals), Zlatko Pasalic (guitar/vocals), Nathan Carruthers (drums), Amadeus Böhm (bass) and Nico Weber (trumpet). Pasalic was born in Bosnia, moving to Munich when he was just one year old, when his parents fled the Bosnian War. Carruthers moved to Munich from California three years ago, and the remaining band members grew up in Germany.

‘We actually recorded our upcoming album three years ago,’ Pasalic said. ‘We spent a lot of time on it, we changed the lyrics ten times and spent so much time listening to it that we got sick of it and put it on hold [laughs]! We actually went on to record ‘Atomic Bombs and Piroutettes’ (their album from 2018) and put that out first.’

Last month, they released their first single, ‘Subway Train’, from the upcoming and as of yet untitled album, a track which Sinn and Pasalic co-wrote and which Pasalic describes as ‘a simple, silly love song – the only one we have!’ Actually, it’s a lot more than that because it’s completely charming and whimsical (with a video to match the mood, see link below) and a strong contender for the one of the happiest and foot tappy songs of the year. As the song asks: ‘Did you ever fall in love on a subway train? (I might today, I might another day). In the middle of the night when you donʼt know from where you came (donʼt know from where, oh where we came), just a glance into a stranger ́s eyes makes you wonder why time keeps moving on and by.’

The song will resonate with everyone. ‘It’s about when you’re half asleep on the subway and you see a girl or boy out of the corner of your eye and fall in love with them for 10 minutes before they get off the train. Everyone’s done it at some point!,’ Pasalic laughed.

”Because’…is essentially a song about evanescence’

The next single up for release is ‘Because’, which Pasalic describes as ‘essentially a song about evanescence and finding out who you really are as the years pass by’. As the chorus goes: ‘I need a little time to meet myself before we’re gone. Just some more time to find my way back home.’

Another song on the upcoming album will be ‘Monsters’, which is typically their opening song on tour, and which has pop and Balkan influences. ‘Ulysses’ will also be on it, a song that Pasalic describes as ‘being about taking a trip, being called by a force greater than you to go out into the world’.

Pasalic and Sinn met around 10 years ago at an acoustic open stage night in Munich. Pasalic was then playing in a band called Amadeus and The Breaking Hearts with their current bass player, who also owns the record label Flower Street Records. Their first signing was Pasalic’s former band, Lucky Fish. ‘Rüdi and I got talking, we somehow clicked,’ Pasalic said. ‘Nico was recommended by a friend. Amadeus joined us two years ago and Nathan had just moved to Munich from California and some friends from the uni recommended him. I just cold called him and he came along to a session!’

Their name was born out of their diverse musical influences and styles, according to Pasalic: ‘It describes the mix of music we do. ‘Rüdi grew up with grunge. I grew up on The Beatles and indies stuff like Arctic Monkeys and The Kooks. Nathan is a jazz drummer in real life.’

Due to their remarkable mix of styles and a couple of hundred concerts in Germany and beyond, Stray Colors have built up a reputation as an excellent live-band, something that is very evident when you watch videos of their shows. Pasalic admits this year has not been what the band envisaged: ‘It’s been very different, a bit of a rollercoaster ride. We’d planned a tour in Germany this summer whereby we would have played a festival every weekend. At the beginning of lockdown, we were shocked and confused, then it became about getting along with it. It’s just frustrating at this point because we would have driven 10,000 km across Germany. We love playing live, it’s the highlight of the year seeing people react and to react back.’

However, they have managed to find some humour in the situation, penning ‘Alles bleibt neu’ (‘Everything stays new’) about the new world in which we find ourselves, which came out in June. Sinn, who sings on this one, muses in the song whether he should use lockdown to finally learn to play the piano and whether his toilet roll stockpiling neighbour will lend him a few rolls.

Typically, Pasalic and Sinn co-write all their songs but Sinn wrote ‘Alles bleibt neu’ by himself: ‘I was in Berlin and Rüdi was in Munich, so we tried to record it in two cities!,’ Pasalic laughed. ‘I have a microphone mixer in Berlin, so we mixed and edited it and sent it back and forth.’

”Spaceman Cemetery’… is also a song about people who have lost their way’

One stand out song on their last album, Atomic Bombs and Pirouettes, is ‘Spaceman Cemetery’, which could almost be a David Bowie song, and which features a tremendous trumpet solo from Weber. ‘It’s an imaginary story about an astronaut who is lost in space and no-one knows where he is but it’s also a song about people who have lost their way, maybe because of mental health issues, so they feel detached from life. It works very well live, it’s very dancey and upbeat, it gets people going!’

As the song goes: ‘Peter was a friend of mine, the last time I saw him, he was flying. He was floating too far, he didnʼt come back in time, and sometimes Iʼm thinking about him a while, well I hope that heʼs doing all right. Alone with the stars and the sun and the enduring night.’

In terms of influences, Pasalic says that in terms of lyrics, he’s been heavily influenced by Bob Dylan. ‘I grew up with Pink Floyd, Rüdi would say Pearl Jam. We both like The Magnetic Fields (an indie pop bad from the US). He (Stephin Merritt, the group’s primary songwriter, producer, and vocalist) has a deep baritone voice and writes funny stories within the songs.’ Pasalic’s dream tour line-up would be to open for Neil Young: ‘He has always been close to our hearts and Rüdi and I saw him live last year and were blown away.’

However, in terms of bands, he says: ‘The Beatles are the biggest band we can all agree on’, which seems fitting given that he and Sinn have often been compared to Lennon and McCartney in the German press. Pasalic is too modest to really accept the compliment but acknowledges, nonetheless, that ‘it’s a great honour’. ‘When we don’t know what to do, we ask ourselves: What would The Beatles do?!’

(Photo: Rüdi and Zlatko)