2018-09-20 Entertainment Weekly

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SEPTEMBER 14, 2018 EW.COM 43

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OCT TBD

Wielding massive choruses,

a cheeky attitude, and brawny

power chords, this British quar-

tet is like the dream ofspring

of Queen, T. Rex, Oasis, and Def

Leppard, making fans of artists

like the Rolling Stones and Foo

Fighters. On their yet-to-be-

titled sophomore album, the

Struts continue those winning

ways—and go in new direc-

tions—to help keep the torch lit

for a classic stadium-rock

sound. “I think we are filling

a void,” Luke Spiller, the group’s

voluminously lunged and appro-

priately larger-than-life front-

man, tells EW. “We have a big mix

of everything. It’s going to

be a really fantastic, eclectic

album...a journey from start to

finish.”—Sarah Rodman

BOTTLE IT IN

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“You’ll have two days in the studio

or six. I find you get just as

much done in two,” says Kurt Vile.

“Longer than that, you might fuss

a little too much.” His new LP is

a decidedly unfussy product of

several of those brief studio

sessions, with stop-ofs in desti-

nations like Bridgeport, Conn.,

with Peter Katis; L.A.with Rob

Schnapf and Shawn Everett;

and Brooklyn with his Violators

bandmate Rob Laakso. The

location and personnel changes

were woven in with the rocker’s

outlaw-country influences, plus

special guests, including Sonic

Youth’s Kim Gordon.—Katie Hasty

AN AMERICAN TREASURE: DELUXE EDITION

9.28

About six months after Tom Petty died, members of the rocker’s inner circle began

compiling this box set of unreleased, alternate-version, live, rare, and deep cuts.

The Heartbreakers cofounderBenmont Tench walks EW through the process.—Katie Hasty

What did you actually

do to put this four-disc

collection together?

We made a list of what we

really love of Tom’s that

we think should be spot-

lighted—and what we

knew that has not been

released that we should

look for. [Longtime collab-

orator] Ryan Ulyate

went through the vaults

and not only found those,

but also stuf that we’d

completely forgotten

we’d recorded. Then we’d

argue back and forth—

not fight, but a “I love this!”

“But I love this!”—once a

week when we’d gather at

Ryan’s home studio and

listen to a bunch of stuf.

And you ended

up uncovering a few

actual treasures.

When we found “Keep a

Little Soul,” I just about

started crying because

I always loved that song.

I'd half forgotten about it.

Ryan also found a version

of “Surrender,” which we

had recorded much ear-

lier than I thought. There's

a terrific song recorded

during theWildflowers

sessions called “Lone-

some Dave.” When the

playback came on, I was

pretty shocked that Tom

had chosen to leave it of.

So it sounds like this

60-song set isn’t enough?

My fingers are crossed:

There’s so much that

wouldn’t fit on this that

I really hope that, in the

future, we can continue

to release things. And

it’s not a matter of “Let’s

scrape the bottom of

the barrel.” We were look-

ing for songs that we

think that if we played

them for Tom now, he’d

say, “Wait a minute,

that’s really good. Why

didn’t we use that?”

Was there ever a sense of

“too soon” while you

were making this?

I didn’t feel like it was too

soon.... I never want the

picture of Tom in peoples’

minds to gather dust.

I felt like we have to be

really careful with this,

to do it right. It was cathar-

tic and validating, like,

“Yes, he was as good as I

thought he was, and bet-

ter. Yes, we were a really

good band.” For me, it’s a

validation for celebration.

It must take an emotional

toll, to relive these memo-

ries of your friend.

It does. I have to go

through the sorrow for the

rest of my life. But for

me, the reward outweighs

the sorrow.

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