Thursday August 15th, 2024, The Stray Cats hit The Rooftop at Pier 17 in Manhattan. I recently caught up with the band’s bassist, Massapequa’s own Lee Rocker. Lee was happy to share that the tour is going great so far. Lee told me “The band sounds better than ever.” We discussed that the band has been kicking around for over 40 years at this point. When asked if it seemed like that to him, after a low whistle Lee replied, “It doesn’t, but every once in a while, kind of the magnitude of that hits me.”
We spoke about the band having last toured in 2019, which was also when they released their latest album “40.” He spoke about how great it is to get on stage with Brian Setzer and Slim Jim Phantom after all these years. They enjoy playing classic hits of their own as well as what he describes as “Family favorites” and songs like “Miracle In Memphis” from Lee’s solo career are also making it into shows.
Having grown up in Massapequa as did Lee and the other Stray Cats, we had to take some time to talk about clubs from back in the day. I started off by asking him about Heckle & Jeckle’s in Massapequa Park. That got a chuckle out of Lee. His immediate reaction after that was to say, “I loved those days.” He also brought up other clubs like TK’s in Amityville and Arthur’s in Massapequa. Lee couldn’t say enough great things about how Long Island “Lit the fuse” on the band’s career and how good it’s been to him over the years. He discussed launching the band from his dad’s garage and even gave out the street where that was.
Before this conversation, the last time Lee and I had spoken was when his dad was inducted into The Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame. I had sat with Lee, his parents and his sister, singer Rosanne Drucker. Lee shared the musical experience in his house as a kid. He spoke about Blues, Jazz, Classical and so much more always being around.
We also had some time to talk about Lee playing with some of his heroes, including Elvis Presley’s original guitarist Scotty Moore. Lee also shared about playing with members of The Beatles and Carl Perkins.