Hailing from the Thames Delta of Southend on Sea the Lucky Strikes channel blues country and gospel into their own brand of cinematic Americana.
The songwriting focuses on literate ragged alternative country, influenced by the Band, Tom Waits and the spaghetti westerns of Ennio Morricone.
Lead singer Matt Boulter, who also tours with Simone Felice and Duke and the King, posseses an urgent soaring voice and he's backed by flying fiddles, accordions, bar room piano and a thundering rhythm section.
Formed in 2006, the band recorded their debut after just 6 months. This was followed by the Chronicles of Solomon Quick. The half true/half fictional account of the man who killed blues singer Robert Johnson. Next came Gabriel Forgive My 22 Sins, the story of a boxer who descends into madness after taking a bribe to throw afight. Described by Q as the "Waterboys on trucker pills," the album sold out its original print run and has just been reissued.
For their fourth album the Lucky Strikes abandoned the narrative storyline of their previous two long players and looked inwards. The songs are based on the gangsters, carnival queens and ghosts of Essex folklore. From the rousing Irish folk of Ghost and the Actress to the swampy voodoo rhythms of Mother Moore, the album sweeps and swings across a multitude of genres, all tied together by the desolate marshes of the Thames Estuary.