Jon V: Field recording, electronics. Dan Drogynous: Vibraslap

Combining the acoustic eccentricities of early death rock with the avant-garde analog electronics of the first industrial bands… adding subsequent synthesizers and rambling bursts of guitar noise… alternates between spooky folk numbers… the rollicking gypsy-inspired and primitive but effective electronic compositions … deliberately twee music box effects and synthpop beat only adding to the creepiness... comparable to the earliest work of the Legendary Pink Dots, right down to the psychedelic circus organ accompanied by screeching violin.
– excerpts from Grave Concerns Ezine, USA.
The current lineup (Jon V. Worthley, Dan Drogynous & Danya Yushkov – All multi-Instruments & vocals) met at CBGB’s and later frequented those three stages up until closing night, they are however just as likely to be spotted playing an art gallery alongside ambient & experimental acts as they are to be staggering & shoving through a fast paced set at any of the city’s surviving punk dives. Formed in Portland Maine in 1995 by a teenaged Worthley, (oft’ referred to as Jon Vomit) who escaped to NYC in 2000 to pursue underground film scores. When not working on their live sets, The Strange Walls have found success in their scores for the New York transgressive film scene, off Broadway theater productions and most recently children’s Marionette theater with a production of “Hansel & Gretel’s Halloween Adventure” running every October in Central Park’s Swedish Marionette Cottage” The boys have been described as the “Halloween Go To Guys” for all ages events & productions. Worthley says “October is always busy, those are the only gigs that really pay, & besides, I’ve always loved Children’s music. I’m happy that we’re only called to work once a year. I’d much rather be the scary guy in black they call up once a year than the scarier full time children’s music guy with the mustache & sweater”. I don’t mind my lyrics being edited for the child audience either, it’s fun.
 In its concern with darkness, dreams, madness and general dysfunction,
Strangewalls shares some themes with goth, but really this is has little do with that rather well-defined genre. Closer in spirit to Syd Barrett than Peter Murphy,… from one unsettling scenario to the next, entrancing and disturbing with surreal incantations.
–Jim Santo, (The Sharp Things, Morton Tiers Ensemble).
The boys have recently finished a five song e.p. The Room’s Width. Available on Band Camp. The darker music scene may be intrigued to know that this album not only features additional electronics from Martin Bowes, leader of England’s legendary Industrial & Darkwave pioneer act Attrition, but the album was completely mixed & mastered by Martin from his attic in Coventry. And on the punky side of things, Bass guitar is handled by Ali Mcmordie of Stiff Little Fingers (later bassist for Sinead O’Conner & others, now touring again with SLF). For the intellectual types, if you do a little digging you’ll even find a few collaborations with cult/indie author Gary Indiana. (Ask any literary snob!).
Garnering a page in his latest Book Music To Die For, Gothic music’s first & still leading critic & expert Mick Mercer has sung the Strange Walls praises numerous times albeit in his sometimes snooty sing songily succulent & Brittily wittily worded way:
…there is a kind of diseased Dexy's meets a peculiarly prurient Pogues about them. They merge the melodic with the miasmic, spreading the idea wide or snipping it off without a care. The idea itself seems to be what matters and the form is secondary, which I like, a lot. In fact it's a brilliant record, which can also be infuriating, and they know this, the bastards… like intruding on some disturbing drunkards manhandling a shanty…  twinkles like shamelessly idiotic pop at heart, sing-song but saddlesore, and just slumps, weirdly, which is still charming… a lugubrious enigma, drifting by with some weird lyrical whimsy… meticulously slow… oddly hypnotic but becomes irritating… winningly witty but also quite sad… a delightfully skimpy beat tapping away yet the noodling synth and dribbling vocals create a murky mixture to keep you guessing… returns to collapse once more. They're very strange because here are rough ideas better than some bands manage as fully formed songs, and it pulls you in, naturally intrigued, although it doesn't satisfy. You can tell there's greatness here …Their pieces have a point, whether you like the finish or not, as there is nothing ornate, and sometimes a sense of the shambolic, but it doesn't matter because their imagination is superb and you will be impressed, even if it takes a little getting used to…

Not the first time The SW has been accused of being all concept with little musical substance, which is actually one of the aspects which has attracted the experimental scene who’ve partially adopted them as one of their own. But as Worthley put it: “The dark genre people have always wanted “songs”. And I respect that. We’ll always be chaos, but working with Martin from Attrition & giving him full control was a great experiment & I hope he’ll work with us again. I wanted those faders out of my hands for once, to see what it would be like If I weren’t allowed to stop a song in the middle, reverb it until it’s unintelligible, mostly I wanted this e.p. to have some amount of consistency because that’s what I like in an album. And I think it worked, without taking any of the personality away”
Pall Natsol of the Russian deathrock zine “Grave Jibes” wrote of the new E.P:
 “Musically the band continues to adhere to their own style, developing the ideas founded with the Virgin Prunes’ “A New Form Of Beauty” and PIL’s “Flowers Of Romance” albums, but with more minimalist and outsider feel. In spite of growing professionalism, Jon and his bandmates undoubtedly show their adoration to the process of making music which for them is never the way to entertain but to cognize the world and explore the inner universe. And I just hope that this time the band will have a proper release done by a record label, as this music has all features to make the release interesting for those who’re not indifferent to experimental and post-punk tunes. At the same time though, should be admitted that “The Room's Width” sounds far too intimate to be acclaimed by many, but I do tend to believe that there’s a lot of weirdoes and outsiders who not only will appreciate the band but also find a good friend in this music.“

The Room’s Width E.P.: www.thestrangewalls.bancamp.com
Official website (in progress): www.strangewalls.com