The Struts’ Luke Spiller reveals how Billie Eilish beat him and Foo Fighter Taylor Hawkins to record Bond theme
DANIEL CRAIG’s last James Bond movie No Time To Die could have had a very different theme tune.
Billie Eilish’s title song went on to win an Oscar, but The Struts frontman Luke Spiller revealed he wrote and recorded a 007 theme with late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins.
In an exclusive chat, Bristolian Luke, 36, said: “I’ve always been obsessed with a lot of the Bond songs. I had a crack at it, but got beaten by Billie.
“It’s a fantastic song. I called Taylor and we cut the drums in his home studio.”
But Luke, who is currently on tour with The Struts, is confident he’ll get another shot.
He added: “Hopefully the people making the next Bond film can listen to my record and appreciate the potential I have to create an incredible Bond song.
“I’ve got another up my sleeve.
“I’m waiting for the call because I know it’s going to happen.”
Luke is unapologetic of his love for the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle and has a treasure trove of tales when it comes to rubbing shoulders with music legends.
He performed with Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor at Wembley Stadium in a star-studded show honouring the life of his friend Hawkins, who was found dead in his hotel room in Colombia while on tour with the Foo Fighters in 2022.
Not only did he walk to the stage with his musical idols to perform their anthem We Will Rock You, he also got to party the night away with rock royalty including Sir Paul McCartney.
He said of the bittersweet gig: “That’s like footage that I have watched as a kid growing up and studying the greats like Freddie [Mercury], for instance, which, I was then all of a sudden like doing myself, which I thought was just like incredible. And that was a moment that will last with me forever and ever.”
He continued: “The after party was just the craziest sh*t you’ve ever seen. I was sat on a sofa with the two guys from Rush, and then Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age. Then there was Paul McCartney.”
As it happened, Macca took a liking to Luke’s vape (though was disappointed it didn’t contain weed) and regularly returned to toke from it through the night.
“I had like this little vape in my hand,” explained Luke. “It was just like this stupid thing I bought from America. And Paul looks at me and he was like, ‘what’s that?’ And I was like, ‘oh, it’s just, it’s just a vape’.
“And he asked me if it had weed in it. And I was like, ‘no, it’s just tobacco’.
“And then he hits it. And he was like, ‘oh, it’s quite tasty’. So then he sort of swans off and goes into the room and he’s just being Paul McCartney, sipping his drink.
“I’m just sort of like doing my thing as well, like going around everyone and saying hi, and he kept coming back to steal my vape. And then he ended up spilling his martini on my brand new suit.
“And he’s there trying to clean it up like, ‘oh, I’m sorry, I’m sorry’. And whatnot. And I still have the vape because it died that night. That’s how much it got used.”
FRESH MUSIC
Next year is shaping up to be a bumper 12 months of new music for Luke, both as a solo artist and with The Struts.
The band, whose latest album Pretty Vicious was only released last year, will put out new music before the end of the year fresh from a purple patch in the studio that saw seven songs laid down in a matter of days.
And Luke his relishing showing a different side to his songwriting talent when his piano-driven solo record finally drops.
He said: “I’ve finished, mixed and mastered my first solo record, which I’m really looking forward to people hearing because it’s something which is very different from The Struts. It’s all piano based love songs, loads of big strings. I recorded like a 20 piece string section with it.
“It’s very Bondy. It’s really, really, really over the top. It’s great.”
Over the course of the The Struts’ four album career they’ve had little support from radio stations in the UK, but have been embraced on the other side of the Atlantic.
Things have slowly been growing back home though and they are headlining London’s iconic Roundhouse venue tomorrow.
In a tongue-in-cheek dig at station tastemakers, Luke joked of his upcoming records: “Maybe they get the latest [Struts] CD or whatever, and they’re like, ‘no, no, no, no, we can’t play that one’. But they’re like, ‘wait, Spiller? What’s this? Oh, a new artist. Oh, he’s from Bristol. Okay. I’ve never heard of this guy.
“Oh, wow. This is really good. Oh, cool. Let’s get him on. He’s the new eyes of the week, ladies and gentlemen [laughs].”
It’s high time the band gets that well-earned break as nobody’s flying the flag for fun, flamboyant, rollicking rock ‘n’ roll more at the moment.