Laced with the reverberated, beachy guitar tones of 60’s surf music and infused with the coming-of-age grungy angst of twenty-something youth, Ventura County based surf rock band Strange Case is back with their new single, “Red Somber.” Strange Case is self-defining the new wave of the Southern California sound with elements of Reggae and hip-hop, creating a genre-bending phenomenon that can only be known as ‘surf-and-turf’. The single is truly a blend of sounds, with a steady driving beat that keeps you grooving the whole way through.
“Mikey had the chord progression saved in his phone for over a year. The early melodic ideas for the verse were sung over it. Mikey came up with the chorus hook while I started creating a demo. I wrote the bass line and finished up a rough demo. By the time we booked our studio dates to record the final version we had scratch lyrics but I wasn’t satisfied with the narrative. During the first day of recording I sat down with Mikey and dug deep to paint a story that resonates with us. After a few hours we had the lyrics finished and we’re ready to lay it down,” says Zane Vandevort about the conception of the song.
Mikey Netka (vocals) and Zane Vandevort (lead guitar) have been with the band since its conception in 2016, gaining Finn Bennett (drums), Andrew Naranjo (guitar), and Griffen Scott (bass) over the past couple of years. All five members are Southern California natives, spending their few days off from working at the local surf shop committed to making music and experimenting with their never-ending list of side projects. And when the surf is good, they’ve most definitely already called in sick. Sorry Blake (owner of Val Surf).
“We are so fricken busy it’s nearly impossible for us to get together every week for rehearsals, but we still make it happen. There’s nothing I’m more passionate about than writing, recording, and performing music, and I’m willing to put in the time to make it happen,” says Vandevort, who has lately been playing and writing with other musicians all over the map. Vandevort has recently struck up a friendship with Long Beach native and lifetime musician Jakob Nowell, playing acoustic guitar at his Fiddler’s Green Amphitheater appearance and writing with Jakob alongside Tunnel Vision vocalist Hayden Hanson and Ease Up drummer Darryl Brown — the first configuration to play in Nowell’s new project, Jakob’s Castle. In light of this collaboration, Strange Case and Jakob Nowell have scheduled a performance together featuring Noah Vonne at The Whiskey-A-Go-Go in Los Angeles on September 9th, 2022. Tickets are available at HERE
The show will take place shortly after the release of Strange Case’s ‘Quarter Life Crisis [Deluxe Edition],’ with six brand new tracks added to the existing compilation album of all their top songs. The album is available for pre-save HERE . Be sure to check out “Red Somber” below!