Alberta rockers Striker kicked off the Shredding North America Tour earlier this month alongside Seven Kingdoms and Lutharo, and they’re ready to take the stage at Dickens on Monday, Nov. 25.
Formed in Edmonton in 2007, Striker combines heavy metal, hard rock, and 80’s hair metal. They’re revisiting North America this year, with stops in over 20 cities until the start of December before making their way to Europe. Lead Singer Dan Cleary said he is looking forward to being on the road with the other groups.
“This is the first tour we’ve done where we know every member in every band that we’re on tour with,” says Cleary. “So it should be a lot of fun. I think the vibes are going to be really good.”
Behind the music
Despite member switches since the band’s formation, Cleary has remained lead singer of the band since the beginning. During his time in Striker, the sound of their music has shifted from a more traditional metal sound to a more melodic metal sound.
“Exploring the melodic side of things is natural for us,” Cleary says when asked about inspiration for the band’s music. “For me it’s like a pendulum. I’ll go through a phase of listening to really extreme music and then I’ll swing back and listen to something like funk.”
Cleary says that the band wants to dabble in making extremely heavy music in the future.
In 2020, the band won a Juno Award for Metal/Hard Music Album of the Year for their album Play to Win.
Like many other musicians, Striker has a big catalogue of ideas that the band has built up over the years. They choose from this catalogue when deciding what songs to include on their next album.
Striker’s most recent album ULTRAPOWER was released in January and features songs such as Live To Fight Another Day and BEST of the BEST of the BEST.
American band Seven Kingdoms is headlining the tour. You can get your tickets for the Calgary show here.