Still Stargazing

STRFKR seems willing to take its famed live show just about anywhere

STRFKR
STRFKR

STRFKR frontman Josh Hodges thinks a good bit about living without a home — an intentional, rent-free kind of unhoused lifestyle: van dwellers, guys living out of old school buses.

“There’s some baseball player who lives in his van,” Hodges explains. “It’s not even about a money thing; it just fits his lifestyle.”

None of this is really a stretch to Hodges, who’s lived on the road for the better half of a decade. As the principal member of STRFKR (the band officially changed its name from Starfucker to this more politically correct, vowel-averse version in 2014), the singer has built the band into one of the most sure-fire live acts around. The sound — a disco-rooted blend of indie rock and electro-pop — plays perfectly to the sort of neon-lit, mid-sized clubs that the band has toured incessantly.

STRFKR also seems willing to take its famed live show just about anywhere. Hodges and his band mates Shawn Glassford and Keil Corcoran just toured Japan, and even making a stopover in China. The trio is also swinging up to Alaska in a couple months as part of the band’s quest to play all 50 states.

Even with the seemingly frantic schedule, the past two years have been a slowdown for the band. The last album, Miracle Mile, came out two years back, and Hodges hasn’t played in his native Oregon in almost as long. Yet STRFKR is gearing things up for 2016, with a new record in the works (the first single of which should be out soon) and a revamped live show featuring a customized light setup and a revisiting of some of the band’s earliest material.

“It’s a really good bill, all three bands go together well, very total show,” says Hodges of the Wednesday performance at WOW Hall, which will feature co-headliners Com Truise and openers Fake Drugs. “We want to do even more. We’re always thinking of new things to do.”

Fake Drugs and Com Truise join STRFKR 9 pm Wednesday, Feb. 17, at WOW Hall; SOLD OUT.