Strangelight — Nat Coghlan (vocals, guitar), Tony Teixeira (guitar, vocals), Ian Miller (bass) and Julia Lancer (drums) — is a Bay Area-based punk All-Star band featuring members of Transistor Transistor, Kowloon Walled City and a slew of other notable local bands.
And although the band is relatively new, the band’s origins can trace its origins back to the early ’00s: New Hampshire-born Nat Coghlan met The New Trust’s Julia Lancer while touring California in the early ’00s and the duo bashed out a handful of demos together. About fifteen years later, they reconnected in Oakland, unearthed those early demos and recruited their friends Tony Teixeira, who has played with Swingin’ Utters, Cobra Skulls and Western Addiction — and Ian Miller, who has played with Kowloon Walled City and Less Art to flesh out the demos.
The end result is the quartet’s full-length debut Adult Themes, which was recorded in three days at Shark Bite Srudios by Kowloon Walled City’s Scott Evans, the week that the local and national governments began locking things down as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Continuing in the reputation of the individual band member’s previous work, Adult Themes’ 10 songs rage — and rage hard; but with the world-weariness, disappointment and discontent of 40 somethings, who have had lengthy careers. “The album is called Adult Themes because the lyrics deal with the monotonous aspects of life as an adult,” Coghlan says in press notes. ” “I don’t pretend to have any great insight into the human condition. There are songs about mortgages, there are songs about retirement plans. And since it was all written and recorded before the pandemic, it’s kind of a weird snapshot of life as it was, for better or worse.”
Adult Theme’s first single “Walks into a Bar” is a furious and pummeling aural assault, centered around Coghlan’s howled vocals. fuzzy power chords, thunderous drumming and mosh pit friendly hooks, the song evokes the frustration of life — whether personal or professional — at a standstill. In some way, it shouldn’t be surprising that “Walks into a Bar” sonically brings JOVM mainstays Hot Snakes to mind. “I distinctly remember being in high school, driving to band practice, and hearing Hot Snakes’ Automatic Midnight for the first time,” Nat Coghlan recalls in press notes. “I was floored. In some way or another, I’ve been doing my best approximation of Hot Snakes and Rocket from the Crypt ever since.”
The recently released video for “Walks into a Bar’ features artwork by the band’s Tony Teixiera.
