Stratford Survivors

The Survivors started in 1976 after Tom Andrukevich brought the first Ramones album into High School and was roundly laughed at by all but a few students. Those few guys formed a band, and by 1978 they were playing locally and had opened a few shows for the Ramones. Successful and still in their teens, they lost two key members in late '79.

Intense drummer Mad Mike Czekaj and Tom recruited Bunnell High School buddy Dave Flynn to join up and the newly named Stratford Survivors continued their quest. By this time the novelty of punk rock had faded a bit, and the guys dug deep into their record collections & developed a harder sound that included garage, soul, and sixties instrumental influences.

Anything went and it did, these guys played ALL the time & loved it! Gigs ranged from opening for The Thompson Twins and Bow Wow Wow to playing deserted biker bars with all the lights turned off. Three way drum solos & serious versions of Dave Brubeck’s Take Five rounded out the sets of furious R & R. They traveled up the East Coast and back and made many friends. They jammed & did EVERYTHING together. They found kindred spirits in the Replacements and RI’s Plan 9.

Their one 45 was produced by their friend Daniel Rey of Ramones & Pet Cemetary fame. By the mid-eighties they burned out and up rather than do a slow fade.

They remained friends, along with Tom Hearn, who was more an inspiration than a manager, and with them solidly from their very first gig to the end.

Well, other than myself...let me think. No, I´m kidding...let´s see...There´s this one band I really like from Alabama called Carnival Season. They´re a good, really young pop band and they´re excellent musicians. And then there´s this other band called the Stratford Survivors from Connecticut...God those are the only two I really like; you couldn´t help but like ´em, they were just that good.
Bob Stinson of the Replacements, Trouser Press Magazine 1984

The thing is--I knew that punk rock was not dead. Magazine sales were never stronger, and I could sense from our reader mail that it was just beginning to get big out there in the hinterlands. New bands like The Misfits were amazing--they absolutely knocked me out. I still imagine what it would have been like to continue to publish PUNK with a great cover story on them! The Cramps were still around, bands like The Fleshtones, B-52s, Red Transistor with Von Lmo--lots of great stuff! The kid punk bands like The Stimulators in NYC and the Stratford Survivors in Connecticut.
John Holmstrom, PUNK Magazine

No one, that is, except "Mad" Mike Czekaj. "I´d seen Mike with his band, The Stratford Survivors, several times. They were from Connecticut and would play NYC maybe once a year. The other guys in the band were really average, but Mike was incredible! He looked just like Moulty (the infamous one-handed drummer for 60´s icons, The Barbarians) and was just as wild. For seven years I came to his shows and pestered him to join my band." By 1986, the Survivors finally broke up, and Mike moved to NYC to join The Fuzztones.
Rudi Protrudi, The Fuzztones, on how Mike Czekaj joined his band

Stratford Survivors
STRATFORD, CT
DAVE FLYNN - GUITAR/VOCALS
MIKE CZEKAJ - DRUMS/VOCALS
TOM ANDRUKEVICH - BASS/VOCALS
TOM HEARN - BEHIND THE SCENES
           MASTERMIND

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