Blue Collar Jane

Zoo Freaks, the Zoo Crew just dropped the needle on "Blue Collar Jane" by The Strypes from their debut album Snapshot, and that raw, high-voltage rock and roll still cuts through like it did when these Irish teenagers first hit the scene in their sharp suits and dark shades. Guitarist Josh McClorey explained in a FaceCulture interview that the song was not written about any particular person. He had gotten deep into rock and roll and was fascinated by the way Chuck Berry spun fast-flowing stories in his lyrics, so he set out to write something in that same spirit. It came out as this punchy tale of a down-to-earth girl who never wears her hair up because she is always dressing down, driving a four-wheel drive and causing quite a stir. Bassist Pete O'Hanlon lays down harmonica on the track, adding that classic blues-harp wail that fits right in with the band's speed-blues attack.

The single landed on March 28, 2013, as the band's first release on Mercury Records, and it climbed to number 11 on the iTunes Alternative Charts while earning a special numbered gatefold vinyl edition for Record Store Day. Produced by the legendary Chris Thomas, the same cat who worked with the Beatles and the Sex Pistols, the whole Snapshot album was cut in just fifteen days at Yellow Fish Studios in England so they could keep that live-room energy intact. The band said they wanted the record to feel like a snapshot of the live set that got them noticed in the first place, mixing their own material with a few carefully chosen covers so the originals sat right alongside the standards without any seam showing. Critics heard the influence of early Stones, Yardbirds, and especially Dr. Feelgood's pub-rock drive, and Elton John himself praised the teenagers for knowing as much about rhythm and blues at sixteen as he had learned in sixty-five years.

These four lads from Cavan, Ireland, came up the old-fashioned way. Ross Farrelly on vocals and harmonica, Josh McClorey on guitar, Pete O'Hanlon on bass, and Evan Walsh on drums started as school kids hanging around Evan's house where his dad's record collection was stacked with the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds, Rockpile, and Dr. Feelgood. That collection turned them into little researchers, digging back from the white blues bands to the originators like Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, and Howlin' Wolf. They began jamming together while still in primary school, making their first public appearance at a Christmas concert at Farnham National School. Early lineups shifted as members came and went, but once Ross joined after supporting them with an Oasis cover in a local pub, the chemistry locked in. His dad had promised him fifty quid to play, and the shy kid with the huge voice and harmonica became the frontman who beat stage fright by wearing shades.

They gigged hard around Cavan and then across Ireland, playing pubs and ballrooms in a converted van driven by Evan's father, mixing originals with blues standards. In November 2010 they made their television debut on that year's Late Late Toy Show, which lit the fuse. The next year they self-released the covers EP Young, Gifted & Blue, which topped the iTunes Blues chart and brought record-company interest. Elton John's Rocket organisation took them on for management, they signed to Virgin EMI, and by 2013 they were supporting the Arctic Monkeys, appearing on Later with Jools Holland, and drawing praise from Paul Weller, Noel Gallagher, and Jeff Beck. Snapshot itself hit number two in Ireland and number five in the UK, and the band kept the momentum going with more albums and world tours until they called it a day in November 2018, saying they wanted to head in different musical directions. The music still stands as a blast of teenage innocence and sweat, exactly the kind of freeform album rock the Zoo Crew loves spinning for you Zoo Freaks.

You can find the band on their official Facebook page at Facebook, their Instagram at Instagram, and their X account at X. Keep the rock rolling with more deep cuts and stories right here on THE ZOO.