B
rad Sanders was about to give up trying to put together his own band, about to sell off his guitars and buy himself a drum kit. He was ready to hold down the line and give up on his frontman dreams —to count himself out, in other words.
Today, he’s leading the up-and-coming Amarillo rock band The Stray Sons, which has been building a fanbase in town and across the region for the past three years. Now, they’ve dropped their biggest single yet, one with a definite message that harkens back to Sanders’ earlier days. (This interview has been edited and condensed.)
How did you guys get together?
Jared Golden and two other fellows who are no longer with the band came to my last acoustic show. I had no idea who they were. They watched me sing, and during one of my breaks, they all pulled me to the side and said, “Hey man, we really like the way you sing. We like your voice. You know, we play with another guy right now, but we want to start something with you.” It was kind of like getting asked out on a date. I was, like, ‘Yeah, let’s try it out.’ And we instantly clicked and everything just took off.
How do you think you found your sound? What kind of influences come together in your music?
Well, when we first started, we leaned more towards modern-day Red Dirt with some rock influence. And of course, when certain band members leave and you gain new members, you always kind of evolve. We’ve had members come in that had jazz and metal influences. And I come from 2000s rock and Southern rock and gospel. We’re very open to everybody allowing themselves to bleed into the songs, because this isn’t “Brad Sanders & The Stray Sons,” it’s “The Stray Sons.” We’re a collective.
What’s your typical show like?
Man, we start off high-energy and we end high-energy. This isn’t a knock on other bands because we truly believe in our regional scene, but we don’t stand there and just play the songs. We’re gonna stay high energy from Song 1 to Song 24. We get the crowd going.
So, let’s talk about the single, “Don’t Count Me Out.” Who’s been counting you out, and why is that a mistake?
Man, I’m so glad you saw that. The song itself is a huge metaphor. As a band, we have had countless people tell us, man, if you were a little more country, you guys would be so much better. If you guys would just change who you are, dress a little more country, add some twang to your voice. I’ve been personally told that I’m too old to be doing this. People will say, to my face, “Y’all suck. F— the Stray Sons,” and they mean it. So we ended up making T-shirts out of that. (Brad laughs.) So what the song is about is that we’re human. We know we’re not perfect. We don’t have all the answers. We’re going to make mistakes, we’re going to stumble, and we’re going to fall. But just give somebody a chance. They’ll figure it out.
Watch for The Stray Sons on Sept. 6 and 20 at Blind Pig, 609 S. Independence St.
