StrateJacket On Their Latest EP

California-based punk band, StrateJacket, released their latest EP, self-titled, StrateJacket, May 10th. The band includes Jackson Roemers (vocals and guitar), Fabian Angel (bass), and Nate Mangold (drums). StateJacket’s music consists of youthful anthems filled with fast and upbeat tempos. Their sound is reminiscent of classic past punk rock bands as Stratejacket continues to carry the torch. Their latest EP includes five songs from the band’s electric new discography that perfectly aligns with their punk identity. We spoke with StrateJacket ahead of the release of their latest EP. 

How did everybody meet and how did the band originally start?

Nate: Well, you guys were already a band before I joined the band. But you had a different drummer and I was also in a different band, but we played at the same venue in 2019. And then I saw them play while I was in another band, and then eventually due to Covid my band kind of stopped really practicing, and then I guess you guys didn't like your drummer or whatever. You wanted a better drummer. And then they slid into my DMs and they pretty much asked me to join their band and jam with them in 2020. Then I started jamming with them after they asked me if I wanted to join the band, and we hit it off from there.

Jackson: That's pretty accurate. I would say that we really started this version of the band when Nate joined. We changed our name and we released our first songs with Nate. So we were a band before, but we really became an actual band when he joined.

Going back to during the pandemic, you were going by a different name and then you switched it. What was the origin of the name that you have now?

Nate: I just wrote a bunch of names down on my notes app that were just random ass words that just sounded cool to me. And this one sounded the least dumb, I guess. So we landed on that one. I think this was the only one I really asked if they liked because I thought the other ones were just way too dumb to even mention. So this was the least dumb (name) I could think of, and they liked it enough to change it to our name now.

You played one gig before Covid hit. Do you feel like that time was really beneficial for you as musicians? And is there something that you really took away from that time period?

Fabian: Once we started in 2020, all of us together, we had so much free time to polish up. Even though it was a dark time, we found a lot of peace and unity through it. We would practice three times a week, and that's never changed at all. It's Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. During 2020 we were just practicing and jamming out. And sometimes our jams, there wasn't really a genre to what it was, it was just a bunch of noise that was very collective together. It was really beneficial for all of us.

Jackson: It was also kind of a place we could go to stay sane. Rather than just sit at home and do nothing, which is what most people could do. We got really tight. We got really close really quickly. So that was one of the benefits. 

Around that topic, you played your first show back in the summer of 2021. What was that transition like as you moved from just the three of you practicing to playing live again?

Fabian: Playing our first show together was exciting. I wasn't really nervous. I was just kind of like, finally, we were able to play a show for people. It felt great. And it was kinda weird though, just because we knew a lot of bands before Covid, and then after Covid they were disbanded. A lot of them just died out. I guess in the Bay Area scene, everything was just pretty much even. We were all just trying to find a stage to play, and it was a lot of fun. 

Jackson: There's some depressing moments in there when you start playing music and then all the scenes around you suddenly crumble to the ground. There's nowhere to play in and no one to play with. And instead of just being like, “alright, well that's not going to work,” we kind of just practiced as much as we could waiting for the sun to rise. And that was it. Then we started playing shows.

You released your first single in June of 2020, which is titled “New York.” I thought it was interesting because you all seem really passionate about California. So what was the inspiration behind that song?

Jackson: I just remember having some friends who wanted to move there before the pandemic, and I think I just kind of wrote a song about it. I really like that one, especially because I feel like it's one of the most original songs that we have, or the most original-sounding song that we have. It's got kind of this, it's not typical pop-punk music. It's more jumpy, I guess. So it was kind of just about a friend who wanted to go to New York, and I wrote a song. I think Fabian, you and I were playing that song even before Nate was in the band.

Fabian: We had an idea of how we wanted it to sound. There's a part of the song, the bridge section where there's a drum part, with little drum solos in between bars, and that was the coolest thing. We were like, “oh, we gotta keep that.” 

Let's get into your new EP. So, “Bad Start.” From what I understand, it's kind of an homage to the start of the band. What made you choose that to be the first title? And was this kind of acknowledging where the band started and you guys moving into a new era?

Jackson: Yeah, I guess it's kind of like your typical punk rock outcast song. But I think the idea was to have it in the context of the pandemic and not being able to get going and stuff. So I think it has a lot to do with the pandemic without ever mentioning it, because I didn't really want to mention COVID-19 in our music at all. It is definitely based around that, the start of the band and trying to get our footing, which was difficult for us to do anything and feel like we were progressing.

One of my favorite songs was “Torch,” which is said to be the black sheep of the record. I attributed that to the song starting off slower and not just jumping right out of the gate as some of the other songs. And I also really liked a lot of the lyrics, especially around the chorus. I just thought they were really beautifully written. Can you talk about just the composition of the song and how this one came about?

Jackson: That's probably the oldest song on the record. I think it was written six years ago, maybe even seven years ago. I'm a huge Beatles fan. I kind of looked at it as if we get to make a second record, I just wanted to make sure that it could show all the sides of what we can do and where we can take things and where we can go. That was really important to me. “Torch” comes from just my love for the Beatles. And I was talking to someone recently who said it was like a punk rock waltz. It's slower. I like that we can tone it down and still make music that way. We don't have to make quick and fast songs every single time. And so that's kind of special. 

I saw this song as more of a hopeful ending to close off the EP. How did you choose what songs you were going to put on this EP, and then how did you choose the order? Was there any methodology to it?

Jackson: Not so much the order, I think that I wanted “Torch” to be last for sure, just to set people up for whatever's next. 

Fabian: It was a collaboration through multiple people, not just us two. We were just trying to find a good way to be able to distribute every song in a good energetic order. We didn't want to have all the fast ones on one side, all the slow ones on another side, we wanted to find a good rollercoaster of energy.

What is the California music scene like? Can you give your take on the scene, and what you experience?

Jackson: Well, nowadays it's mostly hardcore. I mean from what I see, because we're technically a punk band, there’s a big hardcore scene in the Bay Area. Everyone's playing hardcore music pretty much. There are some bands that do it a little differently like us, I think. We don't do hardcore punk rock music like that. So you get some bands that come out and do something a little different, which is fun. There's also an indie scene as well.

Nate: It's more like college though. The college bands are indie bands. 

Jackson: I don't really know much about LA to be honest. We have some friends that are in bands down there who are playing some emo stuff. There's some stoner rock in San Jose, but really it's just a lot of hardcore.

Do you feel like in the last few years you've watched the Bay Area music scene become more of a community? Do you think it's still developing? Where do you see yourself fitting into that?

Jackson: I hope it's continuing to develop. It never really went away, to be honest. It got really quiet and dispersed when Covid hit. But bands were still playing outside and people were still socially distancing themselves out at skate parks and beaches. But there was no headquarters or anything. There's still not really a headquarters. There's like five or six big venues in San Francisco that a lot of punk rock bands will play, but there's no home base. So there's no one spot that I feel like is going to be this influential thing. But the scene is alive and well, and there are communities being built and stuff. I think that's really cool. So I don't think that's going anywhere. 

Fabian: I feel like we're also very united with a lot of bands. We support one another. If someone is going through something, we help each other out. We make sure that if there's any form of disrespect, we put that away. We love each other.

Could you give an insight into what's coming next. Your EP is out, but other than that, what can people look forward to?

Jackson: I think after that, more music is going to come sooner rather than later. Actually, we're planning more stuff this year after this EP. We're actually going back into the studio later this month in LA to record. And we're going to hopefully get some more stuff out by the end of the year. We're really stoked for it. 

Follow StrateJacket on Spotify, Instagram, and their website to keep up with updates. Listen to their new EP, StrateJacket, here.