THE STRAY CATS – all three original members Brian Setzer (guitar, vocals), Lee Rocker (upright bass, vocals), and Slim Jim Phantom (drums, vocals) – will return to the road in 2026 with a month-long, cross-country summer tour. THE STRAY CATS will bring their legendary explosive live show and red-hot rock & roll to audiences nationwide including Rose Music Center at The Heights on August 10. The group’s setlists will be highlighted by some of the iconic multi-million selling band’s massive hits including "Stray Cat Strut,” "Rock This Town," “Runaway Boys," "(She's) Sexy + 17," and much more.
BRIAN SETZER: "It's good to be healthy and strong again. There’s something about the unique sound of The Stray Cats that keeps drawing me in. The Gretsch guitar, the acoustic bass, and the stand-up drums still sound pure and fresh today. Come on out and have some fun with us this summer.”
LEE ROCKER: “The Stray Cats are back and ready to blast off! It’s an amazing feeling to join up with Brian and Slim, hit the stage and Rock across America. No one can do it like us Cats, …….nobody comes close”
SLIM JIM PHANTOM: “With The Stray Cats, there’s always some extra magic around the summertime shows. It’s the perfect time for the Cats & Kittens to get dolled up, put the top down & cruise to the greatest Rockabilly show on earth!"
Last year, the iconic multi-million selling band released two new tracks via Surfdog Records: the loud, upbeat “Stampede” which is unmistakably The STRAY CATS and their cover of Eddie Cochran’s “Teenage Heaven.” These songs mark the first new music in six years, listen HERE. Both “Stampede” and “Teenage Heaven” were produced by The Stray Cats, mixed by Chris Lord-Alge, and recorded at The Terrarium in Minneapolis, MN & Laguna Sound in Laguna Beach, CA. “Stampede” was written by Brian Setzer, Peter B. Antonio, Wally Zober, Bert Salmirs, and Mike Himelstein, while “Teenage Heaven” was penned by Jerry Capehart and Eddie Cochran.
ABOUT THE STRAY CATS:
THE STRAY CATS, the band that put Rockabilly music back on the record charts in the early '80s, scored several big hits on both sides of the Atlantic thanks to a striking visual 1950’s style brought “up to date” with exaggerated pompadours and colorful tattoos and as well as genuine musical chops that evoked the best players of rockabilly's original heyday. Formed by guitarist/vocalist Brian Setzer, upright bass player Lee Rocker and drummer Slim Jim Phantom in the Long Island town of Massapequa, NY, in 1979, the trio shared a love for Rockabilly music. After banging around New York for a few months, in the summer of 1980, and seeing a pompadoured kid on the cover of UK magazine NME, they hopped a plane to London where a rockabilly revival movement was just beginning to emerge. Their massive hits and videos include “Runaway Boys," "Rock This Town," "Stray Cat Strut” "(She's) Sexy + 17," and "I Won't Stand in Your Way."
