Walt Disney Television/Paula LoboAdd The Struts the list of artists who’ve put their spin on “Dancing in the Street.” The oft-covered Motown classic has previously been recorded by Van Halen and as a duet between Mick Jagger and David Bowie, and now the “Body Talks” rockers have taken a crack at it.
Speaking to ABC Radio, frontman Luke Spiller describes how he wanted to approach the iconic tune.
“I really wanted to give more of an energized vocal on this new version,” Spiller explains. “I think David Lee Roth‘s vocal is different but…I did not want to approach it like that. I wanted to give it a lot more soul, closer to the original [by Martha and the Vandelllas].”
Despite how many times “Dancing in the Streets” has been covered, one thing The Struts weren’t worried about was their ability to make it their own.
“It’s really hard for us not to put our own spin on anything, because we’re just bursting with personality,” Spiller deadpans.
“But I mean that in a good way!” he adds. “It’s like we’re this crazy tiger that really can’t be contained for very long, and eventually that tiger breaks out of that cage. And I think you can hear that in the music.”
And even though they’re English, The Struts also weren’t concerned with singing a song whose lyrics name check American cities. After all the touring they’ve done over the past several years, the U.S. is practically their second home, anyway.
“Every city that we mention, we probably played there four times in the last four years,” says drummer Gethin Davies. “It’s nice, when we do it live, Luke changes the lyrics…to the city we’re in.”
You can hear The Struts’ version of “Dancing in the Street” in a new Dodge commercial, airing now.
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