Stray Cats Tickets, Tour Dates and Events

Stray Cats are an American rockabilly revivalist band from the Long Island town of Massapequa, New York.

They formed in 1979 after guitarist and vocalist Brian Setzer, double bassist Lee Rocker and drummer Slim Jim Phantom came together over a mutual love of Sun Records artists. Heavily influenced by Eddie Cochran, Carl Perkins, Gene Vincent and Bill Haley and His Comets, the trio discovered the revival of the '50s Teddy Boy subculture in England and moved to the UK.

In the middle of '80s, Stray Cats found themselves being signed by record labels including Virgin Records, Stiff Records and Arista Records, the latter releasing their self-titled debut album, 'Stray Cats', in 1981.

The follow-up, 'Gonna Ball', wasn't as commercially successful as their debut, though the combined sales of their two were enough to convince EMI America to put together the best tracks from the two UK releases and put out 'Built For Speed' in the US in 1982.

Musical and personal conflicts began to emerge following 1983's 'Rant N' Rave' with individual members struggling with managing their new-found success and in late 1984, after a European and US tour, the band parted ways.

The next 10 years saw Setzer, Rocker and Phantom embark on their own solo projects while reuniting sporadically for the odd Stray Cats album, including 1986's 'Rock Therapy', 1989's 'Blast Off!' and 'Let's Go Faster' in 1990. After 1992's 'Choo Choo Hot Fish' and 'Original Cool', the group once again called it quits.

Stray Cats reunited and drifted apart repeatedly throughout the 2000s and in October 2018 announced a 40th anniversary reunion tour for the following year, plus plans for their first new album in 25 years, '40', which subsequently arrived in May 2019.

In February 2025, Setzer revealed he was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, which left him unable to play guitar. He has since shared a positive update, explaining that he has reached a point where a return to the stage is possible.

Stray Cats have announced a US tour for October and November 2025, featuring all three original members, Setzer, Rocker, and Phantom. Catch them live by keeping up with tour dates and ticket information below on Stereoboard.