Strawberry Fuzz Are Sort Of Like A Cosmic Gumbo
- Josh Kitchen
- 8 hours ago
- 5 min read
By: Josh Kitchen / May 15, 2025
Strawberry Fuzz, hailing from Venice, CA, are a band built on friendship, ferocity, and a fearless disregard for genre. Yeah, that is some serious snobby shit - The Fuzz is really a band of five buds who love to have a good time and perform insane live shows where everyone is welcome. To borrow from Tim Robinson's I Think You Should Leave, Strawberry Fuzz tell me that they're "sort of like a cosmic gumbo." I'm not going to explain further, if you get it you get it, and if not - look it up.
Back to the snobby intro though, consisting of Colby Rodgers on lead vocals, Kris Miller on lead guitar, Alex Arias on rhythm guitar, Dash Dupuy on bass, and Andy Warren on drums, Strawberry Fuzz are rooted in SoCal punk but unafraid to detour into surf, hardcore, garage, and pure chaos, the band is part of a rising LA punk wave that includes great bands and friends like Slaughterhouse, Niis, and Death Lens—DIY to the bone but boasting serious sonic chops and clever songwriting.
Strawberry Fuzz are channelling the grit of their hometown into something loud, unfiltered, and undeniably fun. Their new record, Miller's Garage, is out tomorrow (it's really fucking good) and I caught up with the band while they were somewhere in Texas on the road after their first night opening for punk legends, the Buzzcocks.
Last night was your first night opening for the Buzzcocks, right? How’d it go?
Colby: It was sick, we were like to soundcheck because we hit a couple brothels. But seriously, they rip. We’re huge fans—it was kind of surreal playing with them. They played like 30 songs - and I wanted more. It’s insane, they’re in their 70s and still shredding. Also, I'm a little hungover, so answers may be slow today.
Let’s talk about Miller’s Garage. The album’s out soon. What’s the vibe?
We're stoked on the record. Some of the songs go back to the Fuzz Tapes days, and some are brand new. It's kind of all over the place, and there's lots of different genres.
There’s so much variety on it. I hear ska in the track "Thin Lizzy," Paul Simon beats and guitar sounds, and even U2 sounding guitars on "Bad Dreams."
We like to say it's like Skittles - taste the rainbow. [the band laughs, either with or at this line] Our writing style is just—whatever someone’s feeling that day, whatever we're listening to that day, we follow it. Someone shows up with a weird riff or a high-pitched vocal hook, and we build a whole track around it. Sort of like a cosmic gumbo, if you will.
We don’t like being pigeonholed—but we do like being in pigeons’ holes. [the band makes sure to yell, "That was Alex."]
There’s a clear camaraderie on this record. You can tell you actually like each other.
Oh yeah. We’re five best friends in a van on the road. There’s a lyric in “Tour Song” that says: “I’m on the road with my best friends, just put it in drive, I don’t care where we go.” Everyone was like, “This line is too soft,” and Alex was like, “No, trust me, people will love it.” And he was right!
It's cool to love your bros!
Colby: Yeah, straight up! And we sure do love each other, that's for damn sure.
Talk to me about “Green Room." There's this line that goes—“If you don’t like the music, then go the fuck home”— that stood out to me. I talked to Slaughterhouse recently, and we talked about how their shows are a safe space for people who wanna come and just be around people who love what they love and be amongst people who support each other. That tracks has those same vibes for me.
Meriel [O'Connell] is actually on the track! So is Mimi [Doe] from Niis. She has that line, "Do you know who I am??" But yeah, our shows are so diverse. It's not just punkers. There's older dudes, there's surfers, there's like, girls who show up in club dresses. It's really a mix of everybody, and everyone gets down with each other. It's super sick.
It really is a cosmic gumbo.
Yeah, that one’s about making space for people who actually want to be there. If you’re not into it, that’s fine. Go home. Let the weirdos rage.
I like that you’re part of this broader DIY punk scene in LA—Slaughterhouse, Niis, Reckling,(technically from Texas), Death Lens, and I love that there's a broader sense of camaraderie and support within that scene. So many good bands right now doing it in LA.
It’s a real family. We all go to each other’s shows, support each other, show up. We’re from Venice, Death Lens helped us get shows in East LA.
Alex: Keith Armstrong mixed our record, and he and I actually produced some Slaughterhouse songs and a Niis track as well.
Colby: It feels like there's a revival. There's so much fun live music and such a cool scene right now in LA, and it is that, super diverse crowd, and everyone's just fucks with it. It's fun. Strong shout out to Death Lens. It's sort of like a cosmic gumbo.
These songs are probably a blast to play live.
We gotta learn how to play 'em first. Sometimes one of us ends up face-down on stage mid-song, screaming feedback into a pedal. One time in Arizona, Alex got so blacked out he literally put his guitar down and tried to fight Colby during the set. And no—it wasn’t a bit. He just forgot where he was and thought we were in a bar or something. The audience thought it was performance art. It wasn’t. Just classic Fuzz chaos.
Do you guys believe in ghosts?
Colby: I do for sure, I've seen that shit. I saw one during COVID. I was up in Big Bear in the snow, and I saw this little kid out in the woods. I was like, “What the hell?” Walked over—gone. Freaked me out bad. Still haunts me.
Before I let you go—what do you want people to take away from Miller’s Garage?
We’re just five buddies fuckin' making music trying to live the dream of being on the road and not have jobs and shit. We just wanna have fun. Let your freak flag fly. We want everybody to just have a good time and fucking party.
And see them at the Venice West on Saturday, May 17 to celebrate the release of Miller's Garage!
If you'd like to support my work at Setlist Kitchen, you can on Venmo
Comments