It all begins with an idea (and a can of Stella).
That idea was born over a millers plank table and a crate of Stella Artois. The idea being why not form a mega super rock collective using the finest musicians Nottingham has to offer. That’s what Lee did with the help of Jimi Strange.
Lee, the founder of White Collar Zoo TV, which was the first live streaming media company to stream live gigs in high definition from live music venues, in this case the famous Jam Cafe in Nottingham, decided he wanted to pull together an alternative rock band to provide a medium for his back catalogue of 45 songs he has written over the last decade. Lee was once quoted as saying:
"Writing, producing music and generally being creative is an elixir for the human condition, and we all have conditions".
He then met Jimi at an after party for White Collar Zoo at the Bodega in Nottingham, this meeting ultimately produced Jimi and The Strangers, the strangers being the moniker for the continuous stream of amazingly talented musicians Lee and Jimi invite to play in the band. These have included Will from 94 Gunships, Esther Van Leuven, Kat Kyriss, Alexa Hawksworth, Arwel, Ben, Dave, Katy, Sophie, Ursula, Jim and many more.
The current band line up includes Dave, Alexa, Jim, Arwel, Ben, Ursula, Kat and of course Jimi. Lee doesn’t play in the band, apart from on maybe the rarest of occasions, he’s too busy transforming major corporations or setting up his latest business venture, what he does do is focus on band management, music production and of course writing, he also brings the beer to all rehearsals.
Jimi Strange
Jimi Strange is an accomplished guitarist and vocalist who broke on to the scene with his indie rock group ‘Fade’.
Having met Lee at an after party they formed Jimi and The Strangers, the final decision to launch the new musical collective was taken over a cold beer on a Dubrovnik waterfront in Croatia way back in 2014.
Since then Jimi has created and refined much of the music to many of the songs written by Lee. The duo make a great song writing team but Jimi admits Lee is much better at the art of storytelling, just check out ‘Travelling Mystery’ or ‘Blackjack’ to see for yourself. Boom.
The Band
An amazingly talented bunch of musicians that help bring to life the stories and music penned by Lee and Jimi.
Nottingham is one big fucking talent pool of musicians, singers and artists, here are just a few who are form part of the JTS collective: Ben James, Arwel Hughes, Jim Farey, Dave Newton, Ursula AL-Misari, Alexa Hawksworth, Will Jeffrey, Esther Leonard, David Keye, Katy Dawson, Sophie to name just a few.
