The Strypes at SXSW 2014

These Irish teenagers are, apparently, musically wise beyond their years. Dave Grohl, Roger Daltrey and Elton John are counted as early fans of The Strypes (@The_Strypes) — in fact, Elton signed them to his management company, and was quoted as saying, "they have a knowledge of R&B and blues at 16 years of age that I’ve only amassed in my 65 years."

My goodness.

This gritty "speed blues" band formed in 2011, making their debut at a primary school Christmas concert. Is that hard to picture? Imagine putting together 60's boom-era blues and 70's pub rock, and thrusting it into the hands of these four guys born in Ireland in 1996 or so, and ending up with seriously fun-energy music that's wowing musical legends already — and this is just their first SXSW.

The Strypes lineup is: Ross Farrelly (lead vocals/harmonica), Josh McClorey (lead guitar/vocals), Pete O'Hanlon (bass guitar/harmonica) and Evan Walsh (drums). Their self-produced covers EP Young, Gifted & Blue came out in 2012, and their full debut, Snapshot, was released in September of '13. More at thestrypes.com.

Here they do Bo Diddley's "You Can't Judge a Book By The Cover" for us.

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