After reuniting in 2014, South Bay alt-rock veterans Strata are poised to release their first proper full-length of new material since 2007’s commercially successful Strata Presents the End of the World. So far, the band has only released a pair of teaser trailers on YouTube, featuring a clip of a new song and shots of the band recording in the studio. Topping the bill: Los Stellarians—a band featuring Doug “SA” Martinez of 311 and Ryan Siegel from Exes of Evil, whose funk-infused SoCal vibes at times recall Chicano Batman.

Strata
Sat, 8pm, $26+
The Ritz, San Jose

In the run-up to this year’s XXXMas Fckfest, Eric Victorino, frontman for South Bay alt-rock heroes Strata and The Limousines, started to hear murmurs through the social media grapevine. “People would get on Twitter and ask, ‘Are you going to do the show this year?’” he recounts.

The answer to him was obviously yes. This is the first time Victorino has headlined the long-running pre-Christmas show—which began at The Blank Club and continues at The Ritz—with Strata. But he still plans to keep things sexy. That means dressing up as an erotic elf or BDSM Santa Clause is not only welcomed but encouraged. And it also means, there will be naughty stage antics and a more than a little bit of holiday-themed porno projected behind the bands as they play. Even in the post-Weinstein era, Victorino doesn’t see anything wrong with that.

“It’s weird to me that just because a few powerful men can’t keep their dicks in their pants that this is going to become some kind of puritanical environment,” he says.

For die-hard fans of Strata, all of this is likely beside the point. After first reuniting with his old band in 2015, the group reconnected in a big way and now they are working on a new album. After more than a decade as a professional musician Victorino knows better than to give a firm release date on when Strata might drop their next LP, but he says it’s in the works.

Inspired by many of the bands that they looked up to in the mid-2000s—like Thrice, who recently put out a new record—Victorino says he and his bandmates thought it only made sense to make more music. Plus they were having a blast jamming together.

“Some of what we’re doing right now is some of the heaviest music we’ve ever made,” Victorino says, noting that the current political climate has encouraged the band to crank up their amps. In fact, it’s similar to how they felt during the Bush years. “We’re expressing the frustration that we’re all collectively living through right now,” he says, adding that he isn’t sure he could scratch the same itch with The Limos or with his solo music. “There’s a national anxiety—it’s like a global migraine. I don’t think dance music is necessarily enough for me. I can’t escape just by dancing a little bit. I gotta scream a little bit and break shit.”

Strata
Dec 22, 8pm, $13+
The Ritz, San Jose
theritzsj.com

After fronting two critically acclaimed and commercially successful musical projects, one might assume South Bay native Eric Victorino would be comfortable on stage and confident in his own skin. But that’s not always the case.

In fact, right up until moment he went on stage for the first solo performance of his career, Victorino says he was terrified.

“It was scary up until the second it started,” he says of his recent appearance at PopScene—the weekly indie dance music party hosted by Live 105’s program director and DJ, Aaron Axelsen.

Furthermore, he adds, he can only really point to one consistent lyrical theme on his forthcoming solo debut.

“It’s this feeling of doubt,” he says of the songs on the soon-to-be released Wake Up, I Miss You. “This is my first opportunity to really be blatant about the doubts that I have in myself and my place in the world, and maybe the doubts I have about certain people in my life.”

Victorino says that there are days when he has doubts about making music, and at times he can’t decide whether he wants to play with live instruments or use a computer to program beats. “Music is such a weird thing for me,” he says. “But it’s something that I feel I need to keep doing.”

Yet Victorino is much more than a pensive and brooding artist wracked by doubt. He is also an explosive performer with the ability to control a room with his voice and his magnetic stage presence—and when he’s not second-guessing himself, he can be brimming with confidence.

“Right off the bat I felt really comfortable and felt like this is what I should be doing for this particular project,” he says of taking the stage at PopScene on Sept. 2. “It was just me. It was the first time I’ve ever done that—been on stage by myself. And it was cool.”

For the very first time, Victorino explains, he had no one else to let down—no band member or musical collaborator—and that feeling, he says, has been freeing.

“For the first time in my life, I don’t give a fuck if anybody likes this album,” the singer says of Wake Up, I Miss You. “I’ve never had that feeling before.”

Listening to Victorino’s new material, one gets the sense he is telling the truth. It’s clear that the songs on Wake Up are coming from a very personal place.

“Well at least I’ve had a woman,” he sings in a low, trembling, almost-whisper on “Prophecy.” “Well at least I’ve had someone. Well at least I’ve had a moment in the sun.”

If there is a theme that unifies the music itself on Wake Up it is simplicity. “Prophecy” plods along over a minimalist keyboard arpeggio and a spare kick and snare drum machine beat.

As he tells it, some of the songs on this record were laid down using his smartphone. At first, Victorino says, he intended that the clips would merely serve as demos, but now he says he likes the bare-bones feel of some of these takes so much he is sure some of them will end up making the final cut—even if it isn’t anywhere near as polished as much of what he did with Strata and The Limousines.

“I don’t care if this is looked at as a collection of demos,” he says, explaining that his choice to go with rawer takes is related to his decision to perform under his given name.

“I’ve never really realized what naming a project does, aside from the obvious—it’s kind of a marketing tool,” he says, cracking wise about a certain well-known New York death metal act: “As a listener, you have a good idea that ‘Cannibal Corpse’ is going to sound a certain kind of way.”

Ultimately, he says, performing and recording as Eric Victorino means he can be as true to himself as possible.

“It’s the one thing I won’t change,” he says of the words printed on his birth certificate. “I’m not going to get tired of my own name, I don’t think. I hope not.”

Victorino opens for Shonen Knife at The Ritz during October’s C2SV music and technology festival.

Eric Victorino
Oct 7, 8pm, $15-$18
The Ritz, San Jose

Eric Victorino is in high spirits when he answers the phone. Why shouldn’t he be. It’s Friday evening, the laughter and his initial distraction indicates he is amongst friends. Plus, he notes, “I’ve been drinking some wine.”

But Victorino has plenty more to be cheerful about. Not long ago, he surpassed the crowdfunding goal for his planned solo album as E. James. Plus, he has recently resumed rehearsals with Strata—the San Jose-bred alternative rock band that nearly attained mainstream success back in the mid-2000s, only to see its ascent cut short by a less-than-amicable breakup—and according to the singer, things are going swimmingly these days.

Strata is currently preparing for their first show in about a year. Their last performance was at The Independent in San Francisco. Back then, they played a set composed almost entirely of deep cuts—the tracks they wanted to play after their six-year hiatus. In retrospect, that might have been a bit ambitious, Victorino notes.

“We played obscure stuff that only the most hardcore fans would know about,” he recalls. “You felt the drag about halfway through the set. It was like a Foo Fighters set, except without all the hits. It was just way too long.”

That’s not the plan this time around. “I think the novelty for us has worn off a bit,” Victorino says. “We crafted the setlist for this show the same way we would if it was 2007 and we were on tour. We’re not going for nostalgia. We’re going for the hardest-hitting songs and the ones people want to hear.”

Strata are slated to play The Ritz this Friday, along with Citabria, Cemetery Sun and Louis Wain & The Cats, and Victorino says they aim to make their first appearance at the SoFA club a memorable one. “I’m super excited to be playing there and bring back those old memories.”

The “old memories” to which Victorino is referring were formed in Strata’s early days—back when The Cactus Club was still running—just across the street from where The Ritz is now.

“There’s so much history there,” he says, referring to the Cactus—which hosted some of the biggest alternative acts of the ’90s, before they were huge, including Green Day and Deftones.

Recalling those days, Victorino says that local bands used to have a place to ramp up—to play a super small stage at first, then getting the chance to open for a larger touring band, which would draw a larger crowd and give a young and aspiring band exposure to a wider audience. “That’s what’s missing [in San Jose] right now.”

When asked whether Strata might be coming out with a new album anytime soon, Victorino says that new music is likely inevitable—it’s only a matter of whether they’ll actually be able to get into a proper studio and press up a proper single, EP or full length.

“I don’t think we’ve ever been able to practice without writing stuff,” he says, explaining that the band usually comes up with new riffs at every practice. “It’s the way we start a jam session—we build on each other’s ideas and song ideas come out and we record all of them. The potential for a new Strata record is always there.”

He also feels that the band is more focused than they’ve been in quite some time—and are definitely the most focused since reuniting back in 2014. “Last time it was like, ‘Holy shit, we’re actually doing this.’ and this time it’s like, ‘Let’s do this the best we can.’”

Victorino isn’t the only one who is pumped about playing. According to the singer, a number of Strata super fans have already purchased VIP tickets for this week’s show—some of them are coming from as far away as Baltimore.

The limited edition tickets give fans the opportunity to hang out with the band during sound check, before the show. Last year, he says, they did the same thing, and a fan of theirs came out from Texas. “To me, that’s the kind of stuff that helps me feel like what we’re doing is important. When somebody loves us that much that they’re going to buy a ticket and come across the country and hang out.”

Strata, Citabria and Cemetery Sun play The Ritz on Sept. 25. Show starts at 8pm.

Eric Victorino, frontman of electropop duo The Limousines and the recently reunited Strata, has released the first single from his new solo project, Gestalt.

The gloomy, downtempo IDM track is titled “Captured,” and was uploaded to YouTube yesterday. Directed by David Dutton, the clip features two San Francisco Ballet dancers silhouetted against a white background. Dutton applies a visual echo effect, causing the dancer’s limbs to multiply—flowering outward like the arms of the Hindu goddess Durga and swirling like an organic windmill.

“I think part of what this project is going to be about is not really sitting down and focusing so much on meaning,” Victorino says. “That’s implied in Gestalt itself. “I’m not really sitting down and saying I’m writing a song about this particular situation. It’s more like about a couple lines about a feeling.”

As such, Victorino says, he wanted the video for “Captured” to be as abstract as possible. He didn’t want the video to tell a story. He just wanted “something mesmerizing,” which would allow the viewer to get lost in the sounds and his lyrics, which he delivers in a hushed, breathy tone, unlike anything he’s done in Strata or The Limos.

“It’s something that I always admired when I hear someone else singing that way,” Victorino says of his vocal delivery on the new song. He says he plans to continue singing that way on all of his Gestalt material. “Not to take anything away from really yelping it out, but I think there’s something to be said for practicing subtlety.”

Aaron Axelsen, program director of Live 105, debuted the video this morning on his blog on the radio station’s website. Watch the video below and be sure to check back for our full interview with Victorino to find out why he spent an entire day listening to “Captured” on repeat.

When a band calling itself Day Maker played at last month’s So Long San Jose Skate event, band members didn’t announce who they were, or that it was their first show together in seven years—or that their real name was Strata. In fact, they’d told just a small handful of friends that they were doing the show. Once their gear was set up, they simply began playing. Everything on stage felt natural, like no time had passed.

“I think a few people in the crowd knew who we were and a few didn’t—which is exciting for us to play for people that never heard of us before. I think they liked it; nothing was thrown at us,” says Ryan Hernandez, Strata’s guitarist. The band kept their reunion on the down-low that day, playing under a pseudonym.

The show may have been a send-off for once-great local music venue (and roller rink) San Jose Skate, but it marked the rebirth of Strata, a band that had broken up under a cloud.

So Long San Jose Skate saw several other local bands reunite—at least for one night—but Strata had bigger plans. This was a warm-up for their return, which officially begins this Saturday at the Blank Club. They’re already writing new material.

“You do that, ‘we’re back’ in that sort of monster truck commercial sort of promotion, making a big deal out of it—if it’s a big deal to people, that’s awesome—to us, we’re really happy about it, but it feels like the beginning of something. It doesn’t feel like a one-time event. We’re already in pick-up-where-we-left-off mode,” lead singer Eric Victorino says.

During Strata’s seven-year run they self-released two EPs, got signed to indie giants Wind-up Records, which released two of their LPs, and they toured constantly. Victorino quit the band in early 2008 due to a combination of tour exhaustion, growing debt with their label and increasing tension between the members, but everyone was feeling the pressure.

“Strata’s departure was inevitable. It felt like it was hanging on by a thread towards the end,” Hernandez says. “We reconciled it over a burrito.”

After the breakup, drummer Adrian Robinson and Hernandez formed Beta State. Victorino says he planned on quitting live music altogether, but when a casual recording project he’d been working on with Bay Area producer Giovanni Giusti—a guy he barely knew at the time—suddenly started getting radio airplay for their song “Very Busy People,” Victorino got a second chance at a career in music. That side project was called the Limousines.

Whereas Strata’s music touched on more emotional, personal issues, the Limousines were everything that Strata wasn’t. They played sarcastic, witty synth-pop tunes.

The Limos’ second album, the serious and highly personal Hush, was a major departure from the band’s fun nature, which Victorino now thinks wasn’t the best move. In a way, he was trying to wedge a Strata album into the confines of the Limousines.

“In the end, I think Hush is a better album, but it doesn’t have a lot of the quirks that made Get Sharp so popular,” Victorino says. “When I have this honest and heartfelt, deep dark thing to sing about, it can be a Strata song. When I have something funny to say, it’s going to be a Limos song. It feels like for once in my life I can compartmentalize everything.”

The plan is to keep both bands active, with neither band having priority over the other.

The major factor that led to Strata getting back together was the rekindling of the friendship between Victorino, Hernandez and bassist Hrag Chanchanian. Playing music was a natural extension of that.

“Underneath all of this Strata business are close friendships, and maintaining that became my priority. With or without the band, we’re stuck with each other. Something creepily calming about that, but I’d say it played a big hand in our reconciliation,” Chanchanian says.

The trio invited Robinson to drum with them, but he declined. They enlisted Andy Bailey—a Strata fan as early as 2000, when the band was just starting—to be their new drummer.

The reconciliation has helped the bandmates remember all the good music they made and the good times they shared during their seven years, rather than just the stress and the darkness where things ended before.

“I hadn’t even said the word Strata in, like, six years. I would always say, ‘my old band,’ but I’d never say the name,” Victorino says. “This girl actually commented on my page, ‘does this mean we’re allowed to say Strata again?’ cause I really felt like before, if you said that word to me, you were going to get a lashing.”

Strata performs at the Blank Club on June 28. More info.