Interview: The Straits

In February we had the privilege of sitting down with Celestial L’Amour and Luis Lopez of The Straits, a local alternative band in Fort Worth, Texas. Since forming in the summer of 2019, the band has seen incredible growth, and it's not hard to see why. Read the article below for more information on the band’s journey and check out Episode 37 of our podcast, Put This On Your Playlist, to hear us discuss the interview in more detail.

This interview has been shortened for the purposes of this article. 

Thank you guys so much for joining us! First of all, how was the show last night?

Luis: It went very well. We didn't expect that many people to come out. We had a great bill starting with Xavier II. He blew me away. After that, was our good friends from Driving In Slow Motion. They’re just fantastic. After them, we went on. Then, finalizing the bill was Keanu Leaves. They’re such a great band. They’re so underrated. 

It looked like such a fun show! We were so bummed that we couldn’t make it.

Luis: It was! A lot of people had a lot of fun you could tell. 

Celestial: Yeah everyone was really vibing. 

Okay, we have an important question right off the bat. We noticed that you hashtag all your posts “Stay Fizzy.” What does that mean? 

Luis: It's like another way of saying “Hey, stay groovy” It's just kind of a vibe.

Celestial: It's like our trademark.

Luis: It was actually because of our dog, Izzy. I just added an “F” on it and it became “Stay Fizzy” 

Okay good. We thought maybe it was just something we weren’t cool enough to understand. 

Luis: We’re hoping it catches on but we’ll see!

Well we definitely noticed so I think its working! So are all of the members from Fort Worth originally?

Luis: Yes. Three of the members are from Fort Worth.  Celestial and I are both from Fort Worth. The lead guitarist, Joel Flores, is also from Fort Worth. David Andrews, the bassist, is from White Settlement. It's basically Fort Worth. We’ve been here forever but a lot of the places we’re playing are new to us. You know like Magnolia and 7th Street. It's nice experiencing new things and meeting new people. It's very diverse. I love it. 

It looks like you guys have been having a lot of fun. When we were internet stalking you guys we didn’t recognize a lot of the venues. So we have a bunch of new places we need to check out!

Celestial: A lot of them are fairly new. Magnolia is up and coming. It was fairly run down and now they’ve remodeled everything.

Luis: They’ve made it really hip. One area where its really up and coming is Shipping and Receiving. You go down there and there’s a lot of construction. They’re just up lifting it. In like ten years its going to be really popular. 

Celestial: With us being local it's just really cool to see. It's awesome. 

It's nice to see the attention going into areas like that so they can really build them up and bring people back in. 

Luis: Absolutely. I think the music scene in Fort Worth is really rising up to where it can even stand next to Dallas here in a couple years as long as everyone works together. Fort Worth is very underrated. When you think of Dallas, Fort Worth just seems to get mashed in with it and overlooked. I think Fortress Festival is helping a lot with that and all of the local bands playing all of these shows. Even people from Dallas are starting to come up to see Fort Worth shows.  

Yeah, we completely agree. So we read that the two of you began writing music together and then wanted to expand the band. Can you tell us a little bit more about how you met the band members and how you knew when someone was a good fit? 

Luis: Whenever I met my wife in December of 2014, I heard her sing for the first time and I was like “Oh My God” we have to do something with this. So we kept working and trying to write here and there. One day while we were at church this guy was like “Hey man I know this bassist. He's been trying to get something going. You should hit him up.” So he gave me his phone number and I contacted him and he was like “Hey man, I’m having this crawfish boil, you should come over here.” I was just like “Man I don't even know this dude. I’m kind of nervous.” So we go and there's just a bunch of people there I do not know and it was very awkward. We just kept doing small talk before I was like “Okay, lets get away from the party to talk and get this thing going.” So we talk and I’m like “Hey, this is what I’m looking for in a band member because I’m taking this serious and I don't want it to be just a hobby.” We ended up sharing mutual interests in pretty much everything and we were like “Okay, let's get this going” So that's how we got him on board. We jammed for a couple of sessions and then I was like “Let's get the rest of the members''

Luis: Before The Straits, I had a band called Light The Way. It was a metal band. The lead guitarist is the same one we have now. So I went to him and had to somehow convince him to get back into music because he had just like completely let it go. He ended up coming back in and he has been one of the most sound and contributing members. He just seems to completely mold everything the right way. I will create a certain foundation for a song but once I bring it to him it just makes it so much more dynamic. He is the sound. He's basically the reason The Straits sound like The Straits.

Luis: And after that, several drummers later... I’m not even exaggerating, we finally got Connor Stubbs who was the missing puzzle piece. He's a huge contributor to the band. He vibed very well with the whole band on his first try out. He was so freaking confident that he was going to stay that he literally left his drum kit after the try out. I didn’t even really think about it until after and I was like “Wait did he just leave his drum kit here?” He did because he knew we were going to pick him. It was just a perfect fit and there was really no question about it. 

Celestial: We really just all vibed so well and it just felt like we had known Connor for a long time. Our past drummers were great but the deeper connection just wasn’t there. With him, the chemistry just felt on point with all of us. 

Luis: I don't even have to tell him what to do. I think that's the best part. I never have to tell him the idea. He just picks it up. We just work so perfectly. That's why The Straits are going full throttle right now.

It's so important to have band members that can vibe together like you said. Without that, it's just not as cohesive as it should be. 

Luis:  People say a lot when they go to our shows, that they see the chemistry that we have up onstage and they can tell the work we’ve put in. We had one of the owners of the venues who never compliments anyone, even the sound engineers were like “He never does that,” come up to us and was like “Hey man, the main thing that I saw was the chemistry up on stage and if one member was missing it would not be what it is today.” That was just such a huge compliment  for me because it took us such a long time to find all of the members and I'm glad that we have the members that we have right now. 

Celestial: Sometimes after our shows people will come up and be like “So are you guys all family members?” And we’re like “No, we’re married but we’re all just friends and we love what we are doing.” 

Luis: We’ve been around for seven months as this group but we’ve been trying to get it together for a couple years. It was just hard to get the members we needed. Like I said, seven drummers, and every time was just like resetting the clock. But it was worth the wait.

Celestial: It's really exciting to see how our hard work is finally paying off.

I read an article about one of your recent performances that said that there seemed to be a whole crowd that came in just for your set.

Luis: It's a great feeling. It definitely fuels us. No one likes playing to an empty room. We really do appreciate every single person that comes out to see us. Complete strangers are the ones that always get to me. It makes us feel like we must be doing something right. 

Celestial: After every show we seem to gain new fans and it's just really cool getting to see it happen. 

How did you guys decide on a band name? 

Luis: Basically we were like “What could we do to represent Texas?” I’m all about representing Texas. If you live in Texas then you know you can’t shut up about it. Then, we thought of George Strait and that's how we ended up “The Straits” 

We never would have guessed it was inspired by George Strait! Entering the music scene in Fort Worth, do you feel like you’ve received a lot of support from the community?

Luis: Yes and No.

Celestial: Being a new band we have had a lot of support. We’ve had a lot of people that we don’t even know, hear there's a new band in Fort Worth and are like “Lets go check them out.” It's awesome but we have had some trying times too.

Luis: Yes. Certain bands will limit the growth of other bands because they think that you won't bring anybody in or that you aren't worth anything. You just kind of get pushed to the side. That was kind of tough. Once they saw that we were actually bringing in people and who we are now, they kind of ease up on it. It's just kind of crappy to think like that. You’re not signed, we’re both local. I’ve actually been meaning to talk about that. So, I’m glad we’re doing this now. It was really tough when we started out. Not many bands wanted to play with us. So that’s why I say yes and no. We have received support but we have had some things that have limited our growth. 

I’m sure that will only get better as you continue to grow and people continue to hear about you. 

Luis: Yeah it definitely has gotten better. It's gotten to the point where we don’t have to contact them anymore, they’re contacting us. It's definitely a good feeling. Then again I still really feel for the other bands that are still starting out. I try to help them wherever we can because we know what it feels like to be pushed away. We always try to give people a chance when they reach us because a lot of times we never got that chance.  

I’m sure its so frustrating to work so hard on something for years like you guys did only to struggle with things like that in the beginning. So, you guys giving that opportunity now that you are able to other people is incredible. 

Celestial: That's why I always try to mention at our shows to support your local artist. When you go to a show, buy their merch, buy a song. Just show support. 

Exactly! That's definitely important in contributing to Fort Worth having a bigger music scene like you were talking about earlier in comparison to Dallas.

Luis: Yes. Everyone just needs to work together or like I said, nothing will get done. 

Celestial: If everyone would just put their pride to the side, we could really get somewhere.

So, Luis, you talked about being in a heavy metal band earlier, can you talk a little bit more about your experience with that band and how it compares to your experience with The Straits?

Luis: It was more high energy, I’ll tell you that. Here everyone is just kind of vibing and enjoying their beer. Over there it is like nuts. There's screaming and mosh pits. If you get in the mosh pit, you’re going to get hit.

Celestial: Maybe a tooth knocked out. 

Luis: Yeah, I’ve definitely seen that but people love it. They know going in there that they’re probably gonna get hurt but they don’t care.They do it because once they hear the music it fuels them. Any frustrations they’ve been holding in all week they release it there. It was such a fun time in my life. Joel and I loved it while it lasted. The reason that we broke up was because I basically ended up doing everything. A high school kid should not have that much frustration and stress. So I was like “You know this is it for me.” 

When we saw that, we knew we had to ask because it has to be such a different experience. 

Luis: It's definitely a completely different crowd. It was a dramatic change for me. We were doing pretty good in the metal scene. We were rising pretty fast for high school kids. We could have gotten signed. We even got to play some big festivals. We played SXSW  and with some big bands like Of Mice And Men, Bring Me The Horizon, and G-Easy. It was a good time. We had a good thing going but I'm glad it went that way because we wouldn’t have this band.

Celestial: It is cool too because all of his old fans and friends from high school come to our shows now. They come up to us and are like “It's really crazy to have seen you back then compared to now”. It's really cool that they still come out and support us.

Luis: It definitely means a lot to me. 

What are your favorite venues that you’ve worked with so far and where do you hope to play in the future?

Luis: The most accepting venue for us was MASS. The owner, Allen Brown, is phenomenal. He's been great. He opened the doors for us and once we played our first show, he just kept offering us shows so we’ve been playing there often. Every show we’ve played there has been great.The sound engineer, his name is Mark, is a phenomenal sound engineer. The venue I would like to play is the Granada Theater. We’re actually in works with playing there hopefully in June or July. I won’t say who we’re playing with but they’ll announce it soon. 

That’s really exciting! The Granada is one of our favorite venues in town!

Celestial: I’ve never been there but I’ve seen pictures and videos. Billie Eilish actually played there before she got big. So, it feels like a big deal. 

It's definitely a big deal. We’ve seen some really big acts play there. It's an awesome venue. 

Celestial: Before we became a band, he and I would go to shows all the time because obviously we love music. MASS was one of the ones we would go to all the time. Also Harvest House in Denton is a really cool venue. It’s a restaurant, coffee shop, and bar. 

Luis: If you’re ever in Denton you have to go to Harvest House.

Celestial: Another good one is called Andy’s Bar. We played a show there recently. It's also down there. 

What other local bands should we be listening to? You mentioned a few earlier, but is there anyone else that we should check out?

Luis: Well definitely Driving in Slow Motion and Keanu Leaves. There's this band that we played with at Andy’s in Denton, called Dirty Dan and the Basketball Boys. It’s such a weird name, I love them so much. They have so much potential. They’re currently trying to record their first single, so watch out for that. 

Celestial: Then there’s another band called New Avenues. They’re really good. 

Luis: Mountain Kid. Oh my gosh, Mountain Kid. They’re like hidden gems. They’re great. 

Celestial: There’s so many. I’m sure we’re missing a bunch.

Luis: Oh! Xavier II!

Celestial: He’s a really, really talented guy. He raps, but it's a full band and smooth. It’s crazy.

We noticed that the local alt radio station played your song. What was that like?

Celestial: It was really exciting! We weren’t expecting it.

Luis: Oh, it was great. Whenever I wrote “Sirens”, it was me singing it and I intended for me to sing it initially. When our manager, which is my father-in-law, heard the song, he said it was going to be on the radio. Then we recorded it with her signing and it was ten times better and I was like “Dang. What if this does end up on the radio?”  Then out of nowhere, Mark from the radio tags us on Instagram and I was like “What the hell? Our song is going to be on the radio tonight? It was really cool. He played us twice.

Celestial: He even shouted us out. He was like “This is a new local band from Fort Worth. Check them out”.

Luis: We really appreciate him doing that. KTCU radio has been playing us as well, and we’re grateful for that too.

That’s really cool. It’s nice that they’re looking out for local bands. The alt stations here have a pretty big following from what we've seen.

Luis: The other day TCU radio was playing and Joel Flores’s sister was at McDonald’s and she was like “What the hell? That’s my brother’s song!” 

Celestial: It’s cool because the area around  TCU plays TCU radio station and so the people eating or shopping at the university village, they’re going to hear our songs.

Luis: Most of the songs that are on Spotify or Apple Music are also on Shazam or even work with “Hey Siri!” So all you have to do is look it up on your phone and it will pop up. It’s definitely good and it helps the music scene. It helps every single band that has their music out there to get more streams.

That’s great! I’m sure a lot of people will discover you that way. 

Luis: Absolutely. It definitely helps. 

You have two singles out right now. The first one is “Sirens” and it came out in July. What was the inspiration behind this song?

Luis: I write most of the songs about spiritual stuff that I go through, and it’s just me realizing how good God is and how mighty he is. It describes him in the chorus and my view of him and how even though I mess up many times, he is there for me. I never try and push my beliefs on anybody, let me start out with that. But when I write songs, I like to put my personal stuff in there. I would never force that or political views on my band or anything like that. Everybody has the right to believe whatever they want to believe and I will respect what you believe as long as you respect mine. 

Celestial: Same thing with “Lion.”

Luis: Yeah, it’s basically the same message, just a different perspective. 

That’s interesting. We were listening to the lyrics and trying to theorize about what it was about.

Celestial: I put myself in someone else’s shoes when I’m listening to the songs and I’m trying to perceive what they’re probably thinking it means. For “Sirens”, if I weren’t a believer, I would probably think it had something to do with a wizard or something.That’s the first thing to pop into my head. But people like music.

Luis: And it’s okay if you don’t believe in God. People enjoy the music and it’s fine.

I think people definitely put their own twist on things when they hear it. So the spoken word part in “Lion”, we wanted to ask about that?

Luis: That one was weird. I was writing it around the time the Cage the Elephant album came out, Social Cues. I was really inspired by them and I was like “I want to get something like that in one of the songs, give it a little dynamic twist.” The way that part goes says “I want to be devoured” but it also says “take me out of the pit.” It’s somebody that’s struggling with something, but they don’t want to help themself.

I think it fits really well in the song. We both really liked it. Well, we both really like Social Cues too, so maybe that had something to do with it. The artwork for “Lion” is really cool. Did you guys design that?

Luis: She actually did. I had come up with the original idea. Obviously we were naming it “Lion” so it had to have a lion on there. But she said “Let’s make it pink and put a blindfold on it that says “Lion” or something”. She designed it and we gave the idea to the graphic designer.

Celestial: Yeah I doodled on Font Candy. It’s an app that you can download and I was like “You know, that’s pretty cool”. We got so many compliments on it. 

That’s really cool. It looks super professional and well done. 

Celestial: Well thank you.

Luis: We didn’t really think people cared that much about the artwork. I guess it is important. People judge by the cover, let’s be real. They see that and then they want to check it out.

That one definitely stood out to me! Can you tell us a little bit about your recording process?

Luis: Yeah! We have been recording with Joe Burton at Red House Music. He’s not actively recording anymore but we started working with him by recording the foundation of the song at home. We would bring it to him and we’d just start tweaking it. Once we start recording we would be like “oh let’s try this” or “let’s switch this up on the guitar.” We would just experiment as we record. Once we finish, he takes over. He does a little post production, mixes and masters it, and that’s the outcome.

You made it sound so simple, but I’m sure it’s not. 

Luis: No it’s not. It’s not so simple. 

Celestial: We are there for hours perfecting and like he said, adding new dynamics.

Luis: Just for “Lion”, it was a twelve hour session. It takes a long time to record. It’s things you can’t even hear. It’s mainly a lot of little details that we like to add. 

I’m sure it’s hard to call something done when you’ve been tweaking it for so long, to just stop and be like “Ok this is it.”

Luis: Yes it is hard. He’ll send us ideas and we’ll be like “Yes please do it. We trust you.”

Celestial: Yeah he’s really cool.

So I know you’ve mentioned you have a few songs left to finish your full length album. When can we expect more music in general, and do you know a timeline for the full length?

Luis: We will be recording the full length here in a couple of months. We have one or two more singles to release before we release a full length. The next one is going to be our slow song. It is called “Rock Paper Scissors.” That one is one of the best songs that Celestial has written. I am really excited to release that one. I think it’s going to reach a lot of different music lovers. I want to be known as a dynamic band. I want to reach people who like folk music or country music, rock, whatever it is, I want to be able to reach everybody. I think this song is really going to help us. 

Celestial: The plan was to release it on Valentine’s Day. I wanted to release it because it’s a breakup song and I know it’s totally opposite.

Luis: Do it for the sad people. 

Celestial: For the ones that just broke up.

That’s so exciting!

Luis: That one, we are going to do a music video for. We have a whole plan for it. I think it’s going to be really fun to do. 

Celestial: I’m really excited about it. I can picture everything and it’s really cool. I think a lot of people are really going to like it. 

Luis: The production on this song  took some hours in the studio to record. We had our good friend Liz do some live violin on the song and we did some piano on there and it just sounds like a damn orchestra. It’s so grand.

Celestial: Yeah! And we actually have an alternate version for the song too that we’re going to be performing soon. It’s like a totally different song. It’s really cool.

Luis: I almost like the alternate version more than the original!

Celestial: We will have both versions on the album.

We’re  excited to hear it now and to see the music video!

Luis: We didn’t even come up with the idea.

Celestial: Yeah it was my dad. We were gone to the store and when we came back my dad was sitting in the living room crying, listening to the song. He was like “Oh my gosh! I just listened to this song and I can picture everything. It’s like a whole movie.”

Did you say that your dad is your manager?

Luis: Yep! He is our manager. He recently filled the position because I was taking care of everything. It was draining the creativity from me. He offered to take it over and I was like “Yes! Thank you.” He’s the one who has been reaching out to all the bands and the venues. He has been a great help.

That’s got to be helpful. I’m sure now you can spend more time on actually making music instead of everything else.

Luis: Yes. It was stressful. I was literally on my phone 24/7. I’m glad I don’t have to be taking care of all of that anymore. 

Celestial: It can get really overwhelming. I’m glad it is my dad because who else can you trust other than a close relative?

Yeah you know he has your best interests in mind. I feel like it would be scary to hire somebody you don’t really know very well.

Celestial: Especially when it comes to finances. That’s a big thing. Even Billie Eilish said in an interview that her and her brother entrusted their parents because, like I said, who else can you trust?

To wrap it up, our podcast is called Put This On Your Playlist, so tell us, who is on your playlist?

Luis: We have a playlist on our Spotify profile. It is called “Straits Radio.” We have basically every band that we’ve played with and bands that we admire on that playlist. Check it out!

Celestial: There are a bunch of local artists on it. Any that we didn’t already mention, you will find on there.

That’s great! All of the local bands wrapped up into one. It’s cool that you have a whole playlist built. We’re all about making playlists! 

Celestial: We are all about supporting.

Luis: Absolutely. You can’t expect to get support if you aren’t supporting others. Thank you guys for having us on our show! 

Follow The Strait on Instagram at @thestraitstx to stay up to date on the band’s new music and upcoming shows.