After more than two decades of ferocity, Stray From The Path are choosing the exit ramp on their own terms. Guitarist Tom Williams has been in the band since he was fourteen; at thirty eight, he’s ready to end the sprint before it turns into a stumble. “I’ve been in this band since I was 14. I’m 38 – [that’s] 24 years. I don’t want to be in a band my entire life, and I’m happy with what we did. I want to be remembered for this record and the record before it, and putting on the best shows, not waiting until people say we’re not as good as the last one.”
Why End Now
Life shifted. “My passion was kind of going elsewhere. I have a family now, I have a full-time job… If all of our heads aren’t in this, it’s a disservice to the band and the people that support it.” More than anything, Williams wanted control over the final chapter: “Who gets to leave on their last record, you know? I think thats a f**king cool, poetic, romantic way to go out,” he says. “Here’s our last album, and all the shows this year will be our last. That’s it.”
Could the door crack open someday? Maybe. “You never say never. I don’t know…if in ten years our sh*t blows up and we’re still really great friends. If we all want to play again, we’ll fking play again.” Then the caveat: “As of now, you couldn’t fking literally pay me to play more. I’m at my limit again.”
The Sound Of The Final Swing
‘Clockworked’ wasn’t written as a goodbye, but it feels like one, urgent, wired, and dead-eyed about the world. Williams points to opener ‘Kubrick Stare’: “I was scrolling on my phone and saw a guy literally get shot in the face. Instead of reacting, I just kept scrolling… Insanity is normal.” The closer, ‘A Life in Four Chapters’, lands like a tombstone rub: “You’re striving toward peace and happiness, doubting if it exists… ‘give peace a chance? It never stood a chance’.”
Passing The Torch
Stray’s blunt-force politics don’t vanish with them. Williams shouts out artists willing to take a side – “Look at Kneecap, Fontaines D.C., Bob Vylan … people are gravitating toward artists they feel are on their side” and doesn’t flinch at calling out sacred cows: “I mean look at David Draiman, [he] did this Ozzy Osbourne thing, they f***ing booed his ass.” That fury has always been the point. The legacy? “We always wrote our own songs… We accomplished more than anyone thought we could.” Oh, and one personal flex: “They played our song ‘Fortune Teller’ at Madison Square Garden… That’s the best.”
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