Conversations with Stryker

Today we’d like to introduce you to Stryker.

Hi Stryker, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
Growing up, my family only listened to 90’s and early 2000’s country music, and Christian music. I always enjoyed singing from a very young age, but mostly just when I was alone, or occasionally at church.

It wasn’t until around the time that I was in middle school, that The Jonas Brothers came out, and I began to be drawn toward pop music. To me, it just sounded different, and cool, and obviously, I loved how much the girls liked them. So I wanted to be like them.

So from there, I did choir in school, and musical theater, but never really ventured into creating music. In 2014, I moved to Middle Tennessee to pursue a degree in mechatronics engineering at MTSU. I met a friend in the dorms there that played guitar and had a lot of connections in Nashville. He found out that I was into music, and we started hanging out he started taking me to shows around town, and we were using his connections to get backstage and meet a lot of cool artists.

This sort of reignited my love for music, and let me see a new side of it. The creation, and behind the scenes side. Just a few short weeks later, I went back to my hometown for the weekend, and I gave my younger brother $20 for this beat-up old guitar he didn’t use. From there, I started writing songs, and I’d show some of my friends and they’d all tell me that it was actually pretty good. So the more I did that, the more I began to realize that I wanted to start taking music seriously and abandon my plans of being an engineer.

Two years into college, I switched my major over to Music Business, so I could learn the ins and outs of the industry. Through that program, I started to meet so many other artists and writers they made me push myself to get better and better at my craft. I played my first few shows ever at the college. Around the time to graduate, I had made enough connections to where I and some friends from the program formed a band that would later be known as THE F1RST ANNUAL. We were playing originals, and top 40 songs anywhere people would listen.

We were starting to get some real traction after we all graduated, and then Covid struck. Since we could no longer play shows, I started really digging into my writing. During this time, I started reaching out to other artists, writers, and producers online, seeing if anyone wanted to start collaborating remotely since a lot of us had downtime. This actually led to some pretty incredible connections, and opportunities for me, and is how I got where I am today with my writing. Also during the pandemic, my band managed to get together and record an EP.

We released it, and it did okay, but we couldn’t play shows or anything. It started to feel like we were just a band on the internet. Like we weren’t even real. So, after the pandemic just seemed to never end, eventually, two of our band members ended up moving away to pursue other opportunities. This left only me and our guitar player to decide how we wanted to proceed. After talking it over, we decided that it was time for me to pursue my solo career, and he would still back me on guitar. I’m calling it my Don Henley year haha.

I just had a track that I was featured on come out with an Austrian pop artist named Lena Luisa, and I have another feature coming out soon. In the meantime, and putting some final touches on what is going to be my first releases under my new solo project just called Stryker. I’m super excited for people to hear how I’ve grown, and what I’ve been working on.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The pandemic obviously took a big hit, but that wasn’t just on us, that was on everyone.

The band split up, was a huge setback because it was so unexpected. I loved playing with those guys and thought we would be doing it for a long time. Plans change though, and you gotta bloom where you’re planted.

Aside from things like that though, everyone I’ve met along the journey has been super loving and supportive.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m a pop artist, sometimes lean into the pop/rock aspect of it a little more, but the lines are blurry these days anyway. I’m mostly known for my vocal range, and the emotion in my voice and lyrics. I’m really probably hyper-focused on the lyricism of my music.

I love bands like The Band Camino, LANY, Nightly, and Patrick Droney for their vibe and “feel”. While some of them do also have great lyricism, I get a lot of my lyrical influence/inspiration from artists like J.P. Saxe, Julia Michaels, Jason Isbell, and Tyler Childers. Really just people that have such a unique style, and feel like they’re doing something new. What I’m most proud of is an interesting question.

I guess you would expect what you’re most proud of and your biggest achievements to be one and the same, but I don’t feel like that’s the case. Some of the work that I’m most proud of hasn’t gotten the notoriety of works that I maybe didn’t care that much for. And that’s okay.

As far as musically, I think I’m most proud of these songs that I’m working on right now. As far as life goes, I’m most proud of how far I’ve come and making it through some of the things I had to overcome to get here.

What are your plans for the future?
The solo project. I’m excited about these new songs.

I have a real connection to them. Another big change is that at the beginning, we’re going to be playing more stripped sets. Just me singing and playing acoustic, and my guitar player on electric guitar.

It’s going to be a lot different than the high-energy band shows, but I’m hoping it gives me a great opportunity to really connect with the audience, and get my message across.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: www.instagram.com/stryker_music
• Other: www.tiktok.com/stryker_music

Image Credits
Garret Hayes, Dillon Jordan Photos, and Dusty Cantrell