Over on the band’s Facebook page, we have a Zoom chat between JJ at home in France and Baz in Yorkshire. They cover a wide range of topics and various tangents too! We will be bringing you regular Rat Chats with the guys and you can even send in questions for them or suggest topics to discuss. Details over on our Facebook page here

All at Stranglers HQ would like to send their warmest wishes to living legend, founder member and drummer extraordinaire Jet Black for his 82nd birthday today. All the best jb xx

Unfortunately, due to the ongoing Coronavirus Pandemic and restrictions on live concerts, we need to consider everyone’s welfare and therefore have no choice but to defer the planned autumn UK tour until the spring next year. The tour will now take place from late March to the end of April.

As you can imagine, with numerous other artists wanting to reschedule their tours in that period, the dates available at the venues were limited and this has meant that, in some cases, the equivalent day of the week to the original date wasn’t always free. For example, the original Friday and Saturday at Glasgow have now become a Thursday and Friday instead, with Aberdeen moving to the Saturday. Sadly, the Cardiff Motorpoint Arena show has been moved to the Cardiff Great Hall instead due to availability issues but all the original dates have been rearranged with the addition of a new gig in Warrington. The two Brixton shows on the 16th & 17th of April mark the exact 44th anniversary of the band’s first headline shows at the Roundhouse on the Rattus tour back in ’77. Tickets for the original dates are all valid for the rescheduled shows and, for Glasgow, a Friday ticket will now be for the Thursday and Saturday for the new Friday date. Special guests will be Ruts DC for all dates (and Mike Peters at Cardiff as well).

The tour, which is dedicated to Dave, kicks off on his birthday, the 29th of March, in Lincoln. It was also decided that the tour should finish at the Corn Exchange in Dave’s adopted hometown of Cambridge, a fitting finale to the tour.

Apologies for any inconvenience that the rescheduling of the tour causes but circumstances are clearly out of our control. See you on the road in 2021

Continue reading Autumn UK tour rescheduled

Dave’s death has been an absolute tragedy and mere words cannot describe our deep sense of loss and the sheer, raw emotion that we have felt over the past month. Dave was our dear friend and band mate and we will miss him forever. The loss has had an absolutely devastating effect on us as a band and we’ve spent a lot of time in reflection and discussing the future. We had all been working on recording a new album, much of which is ready to mix. Dave was, of course, an integral part of our work on this new material and, therefore, we fully intend to bring the project to fruition as soon as we can get back together.

We have also been thinking of you, our fans. We have read the many posts and messages with regard to the Final Full Tour and, after much discussion, we have decided to proceed with the shows in Dave’s honour. Dave was very much looking forward to this being our final, full outing so we believe it’s the most suitably fitting way for all of us together to say goodbye.

JJ, Baz and Jim.

Dave has made his final journey. His funeral took place today, the 18th May 2020, at 3.30pm near his Cambridgeshire home. It was a private ceremony, through both choice and, sadly, necessity due to Covid 19 restrictions. Those friends and family who were unable to attend in person were able to view the service on line. Baz was present to pay his own tribute and those from the rest of the band were read during the ceremony, as they were unable to attend. The choice of music for the ceremony reflected Dave’s life and his 35 year marriage to Pam. Sadly, on Sunday, some details were posted online giving the starting point of the funeral cortege and Pam has asked us to pass on her thanks to those who respected the privacy request and stayed away. Pam has also asked us to pass on her thanks for the numerous messages of condolence that she has received and for the generous donations to the chosen charities. If you would like to, please take time out to listen to The Stranglers’ 1979 classic Ice, which features a classic Dave keyboard line and also had a deep personal meaning to Dave and Pam. Fond adieu, fly straight Dave xxx