Tom Williams talks Stray From The Path’s farewell, Clockworked, and bands carrying the torch by speaking out.
When Stray From The Path announced they were calling it a day alongside dropping their new album it came as a bittersweet shock to fans. Aussies were quick to make one request: come here one last time.
For guitarist Tom Williams, the answer was obvious. “When we announced that we were done, it was just like, hundreds of comments that said, come back to Australia once,” he says. “Normally, you book an Australian tour a year in advance – we booked it in two months. And with how it’s selling, it’s just crazy… I’m happy that we get to go down there and do some f**king rowdy shows one last time.”
After more than two decades of metallic hardcore ferocity, the New York four-piece – Tom Williams (guitar), Drew Dijorio (vocals), Anthony Altamura (bass), and Craig Reynolds (drums) – will start their last lap of Australia this week alongside Orthodox and Diamond Construct, armed with their swansong album Clockworked.
It wasn’t always part of the plan. The band had already toured here in 2023 with In Hearts Wake, a run Williams remembers for its unexpected chaos. “I remember, we set up in Sydney, it was the first show, and we had a f**king line down the venue. We sold every piece of merch before we played. Out of nowhere, Australia just… loved us.”
These Things Have To Fall Apart
This year marks the end of the road for Stray From The Path. Williams admits the choice to stop wasn’t taken lightly. “I’ve been in this band since I was 14. I’m 38 – [that’s] 24 years. I don’t want to be in a band my entire life, and I’m happy with what we did. I want to be remembered for this record and the record before it, and putting on the best shows, not waiting until people say we’re not as good as the last one.”
Part of the decision came from shifting priorities. “My passion was kind of going elsewhere. I have a family now, I have a full-time job… If all of our heads aren’t in this, it’s a disservice to the band and the people that support it.” He also wanted the ending to feel deliberate. “Who gets to leave on their last record, you know? I think thats a f**king cool, poetic, romantic way to go out,” he says.
“Here’s our last album, and all the shows this year will be our last. That’s it.”
On whether Stray From The Path might ever get a look-in for shows in the future (given the trend of ‘final’ tours from bands not being their actual final shows), Williams says “you never say never. I don’t know…if in ten years our shit blows up and we’re still really great friends. If we all want to play again, we’ll f**king play again.”
Williams says that does come with a caveat, though: “As of now, you couldn’t fucking literally pay me to play more. I’m at my limit again. I’m happy with what we did. I’m happy with what we’re going to leave off, and I want to be remembered for that, and not…wait for it to start dying down, fizzling out.”
While Clockworked wasn’t written knowing it would be the final album, its urgency fits the moment. “We’re always trying to one-up ourselves… there’s plenty of stuff to be angry about, so the lyrics just kind of fell into place.” The opening track, ‘Kubrick Stare’, was sparked by a moment of grim self-awareness, reflected in the recurring lyric, “just walk it off.”
“I was scrolling on my phone and saw a guy literally get shot in the face. Instead of reacting, I just kept scrolling. That should be the craziest thing you ever see, but now it’s just normal. Insanity is normal.”
Future Of Sound
That directness has long defined Stray From The Path, particularly in politically charged tracks like ‘Can I Have Your Autograph?’ and ‘F**k Them All to Hell’. Williams doesn’t think outspoken bands are in short supply, though – and there’s plenty carrying the torch into the next era once Stray hangs up their boots. “Look at Kneecap, Fontaines D.C., Bob Vylan … people are gravitating toward artists they feel are on their side. “I do think we see a fair share of people speaking out…people have gravitated towards that” he says.
“If we’re talking about bands or fans, I guess both of them – they’re both over it…I mean look at David Draiman, [he] did this Ozzy Osbourne thing, they f***ing booed his ass,” Williams adds. Draiman is notably referenced in the lyrics of ‘Can I Have Your Autograph?,’ due to images circulated online of the Disturbed frontman signing IDF bombs. “[That song] got a lot of people’s attention because people want to support stuff that…they feel like is on their side.”
Williams is quick to point out the mental gymnastics of the need for ‘sides’ when, in his words, the sides are between “kill children, or don’t kill them.”
A Life In Four Chapters
Clockworked closes with ‘A Life in Four Chapters’, a song Williams describes as both subconscious farewell from Stray From The Path and bleak reflection. “We didn’t know it would be our last, but coincidentally, it ends with Drew saying ‘peace’.”
“You’re striving toward peace and happiness, doubting if it exists. The song [closes out with the lyrics] ‘give peace a chance? It never stood a chance’. It’s a doomy kind of exit for a band,” he adds.
Looking back on more than two decades, Williams is most proud of how Stray From the Path did things. “We always wrote our own songs, we never compromised our sound, we talked about what we wanted to talk about. It took us all over the world – Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, America, Africa, Europe, the UK. We accomplished more than anyone thought we could.”
His proudest personal milestone, though? “They played our song ‘Fortune Teller’ at Madison Square Garden during a New York Rangers game. That’s the best.”
Stray From The Path’s Australian farewell begins August 15 at The Tivoli in Brisbane and wraps August 22 at Magnet House in Perth. Tickets are on sale now via Destroy All Lines.
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