The Stranglers are a British punk rock band founded on 11 September 1974 in Guildford, Surrey. The band's original name was The Guilford Stranglers. The band's original members were guitarist and singer Hugh Cornwell, drummer Jet Black (Brian Duffy), bassist (and vocalist) Jean Jacques Burnel and keyboardist and guitarist Hans Warmling. The latter would be replaced by Dave Greenfield not even a year after the band was formed. None of the members came from Guildford, Black being from Ilford, Burnel from Notting Hill, Cornwell from Kentish Town and Greenfield from Brighton. Hans Warmling came from Sweden, and returned there after leaving the group. Their musical career began with a sinister, pub rock-oriented sound, which later blossomed into other musical styles. The Stranglers have been associated with punk rock from the beginning, probably since they were the backing band for the Ramones on their first UK tour in 1976. However, the group is also associated with new wave and goth rock, although their approach to music does not exactly correspond to any of the aforementioned genres. Jean Jacques Burnel said in an interview: 'I certainly consider myself a punk-rocker'. In another interview, he also said: 'I think that the Stranglers are more punk than other bands so considered'. The band's first albums - Rattus Norvegicus, No More Heroes e Black and Whitepublished over a period of thirteen months - quickly won over the public and decreed the success of the Stranglers thanks to punk anthems Something Better Change, No More Heroes e Peaches and the UK tour openings of Ramones e Patti Smith. In the following years, the band decided to move away from the more orthodox wing and towards a more melodic and less aggressive sound, resulting in a discography that counts 17 studio albums despite several line-up changes. Before the departure of David GreenfieldIn 2020, the band was at work on the recording of a new, as yet untitled album, which will soon be released in memory of their lost friend.