The Struts released the video for ‘Strange Days’ feat. Robbie Williams today (September 9). The anthemic single premiered on Radio 2 last week (September 2), and following that, the band came together to perform it during half time of ITV’s Soccer Aid (September 6). Finally, the black and white video is here, featuring shots of Luke Spiller walking down Southern Californian highways, Robbie Williams dad-dancing with an umbrella, and some incredible footage of the band performing among West Coast mountains. The mountains are the only footage in colour, and in contrast with the black and white, it seems all the more vivid. ‘Strange Days’ is at once cinematic and editorial – watch it below.

The Struts are certainly 2020’s answer to glam rock, and the video upholds this energy throughout. There are glittery shirts, blazers and self-assured dancing (maybe the word is actually ‘posing’. ‘Strutting’ would probably do just fine). Interspersed with what could be footage of a photoshoot, though, we watch The Struts perform with the kind of urgency that you often get from guitar bands. With the addition of Robbie Williams twirling his umbrella around, and Gethin Davies’ union jack drum kit, it seems to bring a touch of Britpop to Southern California.

Against the backdrop of the video, ‘Strange Days’ is a ballad that builds steadily until explosive end. As soon as stadiums are ready to be filled, you can imagine this single doing it. Its repeated idea, ‘strange days, strange times’, is a nod to the upheaval of normality in the last few months. Robbie Williams and Luke Spiller’s elbow bump – a coronavirus greeting – only reinforces this.

Speaking about the last five or six months, the chorus goes “oh these are strange days / in many strange ways / science fiction, I believe / has become reality.” COVID-19, though, has not seemed to dampen The Struts’ spirit; Strange Days was actually written and recorded in a ten-day stint in a studio after 2020 began to shape up as a year of cancelled plans. In a tweet, the band called it “undoubtedly a magical ten days for us”.

Finding all of our plans for 2020 canceled or postponed, we gathered together safely in the studio and wrote and recorded the entire album in just ten days. It was undoubtedly a magical ten days for us—and we hope when you hear the album, it gives you a taste of that magic too.

— The Struts (@TheStruts) September 2, 2020

Strange Days, the album by the same name, will reportedly feature something of an illustrious line-up. When asked about collaborating with Williams, Spiller said, “I was doing Quarantine Radio [an Instagram Live show launched by The Struts] and Robbie hit me up out of the blue asking if we could talk …We ended up Face-Timing for about two hours the first time we’d ever spoken, talking about life and music and UFOs and everything else you can think of. I asked if he’d like to work together at some point, and while we were making the album, he graciously let us come over and record him singing on his front porch.”

Williams adds sincerely: “we did a vocal for a wonderful song that has been gifted my way. It’s been an absolute pleasure and a privilege to listen to this man sing. It’s great to be a fan of someone and then a part of this recording. It’s like having a hero here and I genuinely mean that.”

Strange Days, the album, comes out October 16 with Interscope/Polydor. ‘Strange Days’ follows ‘Another Hit of Showmanship’ featuring Albert Hammond Jr. (The Strokes). Hammond Jr. and Robbie Williams will be joined by an enviable string of guest appearances including Joe Elliott and Phil Collen of Def Leppard, and Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello.