Stagger Lee formed out of the ashes of numerous bands and adventures that went astray, eventually finding each other and clinging to the notion that we were sick to death of haircuts and pristine guitar licks, clean vocals and self-conscious self-praising. We play music with grit and grease, that makes you feel sleazy, that vents and laments the everyday bullshit but also entangles it with beautiful prose and makes you want to kick up your heels and smash chairs across bars in the process.
We want to put sweat and blood and tears back into rock and roll and to celebrate the truth and honesty and poetic justice of the blues. We want to share a bottle with you, steal your girlfriend, steal your boyfriend, rob your money, corrupt your heart and give you the night of your life. We might not be there in the morning when you wake, but we’ll leave you with a smile on your face wanting more.
We write songs about jealousy, betrayal and split lips. We scream, we howl and we soar. We are two parts men, and two parts women. We fall down. We get up again. We are our own gang. We are our own worst enemies. When we are on stage we will always look you in the eye because we know that you know what depravity is and if you deny us, we will spit in those eyes!
Stagger Lee began 2007 with a debaucherous NYE gig and spent the early part of the year preparing for the release of their debut single ‘Bad Shoes’ which came out on their own Label Split Lip Records on Friday 13th April, reaching the top 5 in the Phantom FM most played for the months of April/May. Their sound embodies the spirit of Robert Johnson’s Devil-at-the-crossroads and Mavis Staples sultry gospel cry combined with the energy and attitude of The Stooges, The Cramps and Siouxsie Sioux.
Highlights to date have included appearances with The Kills, Jon Spencer Blues Xplosion, The Duke Spirit, Sleater Kinny, The Long Blondes, The Drones and Pink Grease in the notorious White Trash club in Berlin. Stagger Lee were also invited to play at the Irish launch night of the European MySpace Festival and the Fringe Festival's rather decedent Speigeltent in 2006.Buy the single here:
WHAT THE PRESS SAY...........
"The debauched blues of Stagger Lee recalls the explosive aggression of Jon Spencer Blues Explosion" - NME July '06
"...this is some good old style sixties sleazy garage rock, sounds like some great big dirty mix of the cramps, the kills and the detroit cobras, big sleazy guitar action meets gritty smokey female vocals, damn fine stuff it is too" - Road Records April '07
"...Stagger Lee don't belong in a quagmire of underachieving rock n'roll bands; their superior, oppressive redolence of jealousy, longing, loss and lust puts a yawning chasm between them and the deathly average" - InDublin Magazine July '06
"They punch out the tracks, wailing solos, waltzing lines, catchy melodies, hidden in a haze of sleaze and dirt. There was rocknroll; there was sex, now if only I could find out where they hide the drugs. a show worth seeing, and a band worth listening to, where so many falter when they play the blues, Stagger Lee rise above it all and produce some fine sounds" - Drop D Magazine Sept '06
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