DECEMBER 2022
REVIEW & INTERVIEW: STROBE LIGHT CASUALTIES
A MONTHLY ARTICLE WRITTEN BY JUDE LEWIS, EDITED BY HAYLEY FAJERSKI
Strobe Light Casualties is comprised of Nate Willet [lead vocals/guitar], Ben Safos [bass/backing vocals], Jessie Penfound [drums], and Michael Petrus [keys/guitar]. They have their second studio EP, Bittersweet Reality, coming out soon and are playing their EP release show here at The Rialto Theatre!
I first saw Strobe Light Casualties in August of 2021 at Musica; they were opening for Evergreen Hotel. It was Evergreen Hotel’s EP release show for Swimming in Stereo. The very first thing I noticed about Strobe Light Casualties was their sound and technical ability. Brandon, my virtuoso bass playing best friend, began nerding out almost immediately when he picked up on their higher level of writing and the intricacies of their music. I didn’t get a chance to meet with them, but Brandon and I were starstruck and found them on Instagram shortly after the show. Checkers, their first studio album, released October 1st, 2021, featuring songs “Scrap Boogie” and my personal favorite “What About Me?” I was thoroughly impressed and couldn’t wait to hear them live again. If Checkers is any indication of the quality to expect for Bittersweet Reality than I am sure I will be extremely satisfied with their new release.
I interviewed Michael to learn more about Strobe Light Casualties.
Q Tell me about yourself Michael.
A “I’m 23. I just graduated from Ohio State last May and I’ve been playing music my whole life basically. I started off with piano at 10 and started taking drum lessons around 8th grade. I picked that up pretty quick. All throughout high school I was the drummer for our bands and now I’m back to keys. Another thing I do is play golf, I played a year of college golf at Mercyhurst University and when I transferred to OSU, I played club golf there. Golf and music are my two passions. I’m Cleveland born and raised, same with everyone else in the band.
Q How did Strobe Light Casualties form?
A “Nate and I have been playing since 6th or 7th grade or something like that. We’d just jam, he would be on guitar, and I would be on drums, and we would just drum like Black Keys style. In high school we would do the high school rock offs at the Rock Hall of Fame. Freshman year I was with a group called Trouble Breathing, which Ben was in. In sophomore and junior year Ben, Nate and I were together. In senior year I was in a band with Ben again. All throughout those years, especially high school, Nate, and I would play acoustic acts just us two. When COVID started Nate and I decided to start just writing some music. Before, we never really did anything with it or went to a studio or whatever. We reached out to Ben and asked him to join us in the studio. It was tough recording because I would do drums and keys. We met Jessie at one of our acoustic shows when he realized that we didn’t have any percussion. So, after our first EP we’ve had Jessie on drums. We also started with a different singer named Caleb, he was on our first EP.
Q Tell me about your new EP.
A “We think that it’s a lot better than our other stuff. I think it’s a little bit more mature, we’ve definitely spent more time on the writing process. Definitely focusing more on harmonies and layering in a lot of other instruments. Some of the songs I’m doing acoustic guitar and keys. Nate’s doing like two or three different electric guitar parts. We’re adding different percussion instruments. I also feel like a couple of them are a little bit catchier I guess, especially the first single we’re releasing, “Miserable”. That one I think is really catchy. It’s three minutes and like our most radio type song. The rest of them I really feel like they really show our progress as a band as writers. I think that’s kind of our main goal of the EP, to show that we’re constantly improving as well as our musicianship and writing styles.
Q Where did you go to record this EP?
A “We recorded at Studio 44 with Jay Sparrow in Elyria.”
Q Where did you get your name?
A “So, Nate and I were playing at a Christmas party and there was this DJ there. He was messing with the lights all night and towards the end of the night people were getting a little rowdier and he put on a strobe light setting. People were dancing and stuff and this one lady ran into our microphone, and it fell down. It created a bunch of feedback and reverb, and we stopped playing for a while. I looked at Nate and was like, “Hey it’s just a strobe light casualty.” We kind of looked at each other and that it was cool, we never really had an official name before that.”
Q What’s your biggest musical influence?
A “We have a lot. When it was just Nate and I it was definitely a lot of old time Thickfreakness [by The Black Keys]. Ben and I’s favorite band stylistically would be The Beatles. Ben has more of an indie focused background like Mac DeMarco and Rex Orange County. Mine is very mainstream alternative and old-time like the 70’s, like Cage the Elephant, The Black Keys, The Beatles. Nate’s style comes from a lot of old-time hard rock and newer punk rock but it’s also rooted in blues, like The Black Crows.”
Q Who writes the most music? What’s your creative process?
A “It’s very collaborative. One of us will come to the table with basically anything. Nate writes the majority of the lyrics or at least the concept of it and then we will run with it. Everyone’s kind of the master of their own domain. Everyone is in charge of their instrument, and it works really well. No one is telling me what to do on keys, but everyone has ideas. I’d say Checkers was very collaborative.”
Q Describe to me the Cleveland music scene!
A “There’s a lot of mid-level places to play like the Beachland Ballroom & Tavern, Grog Shop, The Odeon, Winchester, Happy Dog. Those are the places we’ve all been playing. There are definitely opportunities to grow within the Cleveland music scene. I mean we started off playing acoustic sets in bars and we transitioned to the grog shop and stuff like that. We’ve really enjoyed the Cleveland music scene and honestly, we’re hoping after a year or so of really mastering the Cleveland music scene we can branch out of it. “
Q Who’s hot right now?
A “We really like Welshly Arms they started in Avon Lake, now they’re international. They kind of have the same path as us I think, they graduated from Avon Lake, they play these gigs, and they have a song or two that takes off. “
Q Who are some friends?
A “We’re really close with The Stereotypes, played a lot of gigs with them. Played a lot with The Upside of Down, they were at The Outpost. This will be our second show with Rent for Cheryl, we’ve played with Evergreen Hotel twice. We’ve played with This Summer, there’s a decent amount of them.”
Q Have you found it tough to breakout into the Akron scene?
A “It is a little tough, we’ve played at Musica, when we opened for Evergreen Hotel’s EP release show. We don’t that many followers in Akron, maybe like ten or fifteen. We had a show at The Vortex once. Every time we play in Akron, we gain a couple more followers. For this show we’re hoping to get a lot more people out here since we haven’t played in a while. We haven’t played since September.”
Q Tell me your favorite story about playing out.
A “I guess probably the High School Rock Off was the coolest thing. Nate, Ben, and I were in the same band and we were called The Frats. I think everyone from our high school was there and there was probably over a thousand people packed into the rock hall. We were the last band of the night and we have been practicing these same three song for months. It was two covers and one original, and I think we all killed it. We did all the jumps at the right time, and I hit all my fills at the right time. It was a really cool show, just to see everything come together and for the audience to really appreciate it. To look into the crowd looking for involvement and they were following along was a really cool experience. It really showed us that we have that ability as a group and gave us some inspiration to pursue it.”
Q What’s next for Strobe Light Casualties? What’s after the EP?
A I” think we’re going to record another album. We have a lot of other songs we have been writing. We’re recording three or four more songs in March or April and we’re gonna release them as singles throughout the summer. For us it’s really about getting the word out there and playing as many worthwhile shows as possible. It’s one thing to play a show in a basement with five people compared to playing at a bar with fifty people. You gain more expose and followers that way. Word of mouth is important too. We’ve always kind of done this as a hobby and we all love music. We’re gonna do it regardless but if it turns into something bigger, something we can turn our life into, that would be amazing. But, for now it’s just a hobby or side hustle just because we love doing it.”
Q What’s your favorite song that you’ve written?
A “Mine is probably “Miserable”, the song that’s coming out Thursday [15th], or “Let Me Go” off of Checkers.
Interested in seeing Strobe Light Casualties for their EP release show with Rent for Cheryl and Cadillac Lover Boy? Purchase your tickets here for this Friday at 7pm!