“Keep it Strvnge!” One year with Strvangers.

Hello guys! Great news today!

I've been listening for some time to a band that I love, have become my favorite, one of the I admire the most both for their work as well as their interaction with fans witches and warlocks.

Strvngers are an independent Canadian duo whose work is in free download on Bandcamp. I found them by chance and now I KEEP LISTENING TO THEM, so i decided to give them a space in my blog ^^

Read in Spanish here!

Have you ever feel like you found the kind of music you’ve been searching all your life for? I recently felt that. I’ve always liked dark music: Pop, rock, metal, electronic, anything with a dark sound or lyrics, it will be in one of my playlists, but I wanted something else, something different. And I finally found it.

Bandcamp has become one of my favorite places to discover cool music, and it gave me sound I dreamed with for many years: Strvngers, a Canadian dark wave/electro-pop duo. People, you really need to listen to these guys’ music; I even tried to do a critic about it and I found it impossible: It was a perfect track after the other!

I consider myself a fan of them from now on and since it was so difficult to do the first thing, when I saw they were having their one year anniversary, I decided to opt for the second option: an interview.

Here is what they have to say, and after reading it, please download their debut album and first cover (both for free download in Bandcamp!) and follow them in their social networks; all links at the end of this article.

1. Why did you guys decide to start making music?

MARIA: Kc and I have both been playing in bands for the past 10 years.

I wanted to make an electro/synth/pop sort of project and approached KC because I had heard some of his solo stuff from years ago, and I really really loved it. It was a no brainer to work with him and he was just as excited to work with me.

KC: We decided to make music almost exactly one year ago after Maria had approached me online about doing a couple instrumentals for him for a self-titled E.P. he was working on at the time. After I had sent him two or three instrumentals it transitioned into us deciding that we just might have something here to build from. We continued to send tracks and demo's back and forth for about a month until we met for the first time in real life and tracked our two tracks "Nostalgia" and "Dressed to kill". Those two songs really built the foundation for what later would become our trademark sounds. We haven't stopped making music together since and are very close with each other in our personal lives as we continue to build and grow our project.

2. Which are your inspirations? Is there any band or singer you would recommend?

KC & MARIA: Man, this is a hard question for us to answer, haha. Um, where to start? 

MARIA: I grew up in an hispanic household (my parents are from El Salvador) so I listened to a lot of my parents spanish music as a kid, music ranchera y cumbia, stuff like that. As I got older I really gravitated toward heavier music, bands like KoRn, Deftones, Slipknot, Coal Chamber, Brujeria, Puya, ORGY, Tool, among others. 

Nowadays, I'm into pretty much anythyng that I can vibe to. As far as singers go, off the top of my head, Florence Welch, Damien Rice, Bjork, Jonathan Davis, Chino Moreno, theres sooooo many! Check out Cygnets! They are from Alberta too! And are a really rad darkwave group.

KC: Well, I have always been a huge fan of 80's pop, synth wave and goth wave music. Bands like, Pink Turns Blue, The Cure, New Order, The Birthday Massacre and a band called The panic Division, out of San Antonio, Texas, are all very big inspirations to me. I take a lot of notes from the synth's, structures of songs and melodies and put my own current spin on them to produce what I like to call, The KC Sparkle. If I was to recommend any band or singer at the moment I would have to recommend the act 'Iamwhoiamwhoami' and Deftones' side project,  'Crosses'.

3. How did you come with the name Strvngers? Why change the "A" by a "V"?

MARIA: KC and I were literally strangers. So it was very suiting. Hahaha!

KC: We had been mulling over names for a while as we continued to write under a nameless title. We had ideas like the name 'Ghosts' and even 'Kurt Hustle' crossed our minds before one day deciding that "Strangers" was the right way to go. After all, we were really, pretty much strangers in real life. It wasn't for a while after that that we realized that there is in fact another band named Strangers already so for copyright reasons we changed the 'A' to a 'V'. Easy fix! Technicalities haha.

MARIA: It worked out for the best. I like how the v looks. Looks Vamp-y to me.

4. Many of your songs seem to have a duality, a balance between love, hate, sex and obsession. Is there any personal experience that may cause this or is it just a matter of style?

MARIA: Lyrically, for me, these songs are about my personal experiences. My insecurities, fetishes, desires, fears, anxieties, heart break and being in Love. I feel the songs are very raw and honest with what I was going through at the time. And a little revealing of who I am. But I feel a lot of people can relate because, for the most part, we all go through relationships and relation-shits! Music is art. And art for me is a therapeutic release. 

KC: Well, personally, I think everyone has experienced these above emotions at some point or another. I know I have. We are both very in touch with our inner beings and I truly believe that if it were not for all the personal gains and losses in life, we would have never given birth to Strvngers. It is simply all fuel for the time machine. Yes, I said time machine. In a sense, Strvngers can go to any point and time, any emotional memory and take what is needed for the sake of the music.

5. Nostalgia was your first video and Tension the second one, why did you decide to choose them?

KC: I believe that Nostalgia was chosen because it was our first song that we did together that we were pushing for quite hard from the start. We wanted a romanticized song to really bring the attention of the outside world into our minds. Something that people could listen and relate to. Nostalgia covers all of that and then some.

MARIA: We did Tension because we wanted to put something quick out to show people how fun our live shows are. I dare anyone to come out to a Strvngers show and not wanna dance or at least bob your fuckin' head!

6. What made you decide to do a cover of Cyndi Lauper's song? Should we have more it was one time experience?
MARIA: KC and I are children of the 80's. I've loved that song and wanted to cover it before this project and was thrilled when KC suggested it.

KC: This was a joint agreement. We are not a cover band in any way shape or form but we felt like we could do this song justice and pay tribute to one of the biggest pop icons of this century. It is also hella fun to play live! 

MARIA: But we wanna have fun with this project. So if we feel like covering a song with our twist, we gonna do it!  

7. You just had your one year anniversary, what does that means to you?

KC & MARIA: It means the world to us. We wake up everyday to messages from people from all over the world who tell us we are their favourite band! Which is crazy! We started this project out of pure love for wanting to make art/music. We had no idea people would vibe it so much! We read posts from people sharing our songs and really really loving them and connecting to the lyrics. 

KC: It also marks the anniversary of my friendship with Maria. What can I say, he is one of the closest friends I have now. He has this light about his darkness. Not only has he been there for me through some personal situations in my own life, but he truly brings out the very best in me, my music and my everyday life. I still listen to our first album and thank god that I got teamed up with such a dope human and phenomenal vocalist! Blessed is the word I'm looking for here.

MARIA: Hahahah, KC is fuckin' rad!

8. How do you feel about your fans? Is it all as you thought it would be?

MARIA: I've never liked the term 'fan'. So we like to refer to people who dig us as, 'Witches and Warlocks'! And from what we can gather, they seem really really fuckin' rad! And it's awesome that we can genuinely interact with them because of social media. So much love!

KC: I absolutely LOVE you all! We find that we have a very interesting demographic of people who dig us. We get comments of all kinds and from all walks of life. We had someone offer to dress up in drag and lip synch our song 'Tension' and make a video of it! We are about that life and encourage people to do whatever they feel like doing when listening to our music, as long as it's not harmful to themselves or others (disclaimer) hahaha. 

9. What has been the best experience you have had so far as a duo?

MARIA: I love people. Despite all the assholes I've met, I love people, well, most people ;)  So for me it's meeting rad people and connecting with strangers from all over through our music. It's delightful. Working with KC has really brought out a different side of me vocally, which is very cool for me. I feel I've grown a lot as a vocalist the short time we've been together.

KC: For me it has been the live shows. Getting on stage with Maria, the lights down, our lasers and smoke filling the room as our intro begins to ominously play. The driven beats filling the room as the crowd cheers and dances..mmm...yah. Other than that, just hanging with Maria over recording sessions and vegan food. I absolutely love his company and having that bond really helps us bring out the best in our writing!

10. You've chosen many paranormal topics in your songs, style and even merchandise, have you ever had an experience with ghosts or something similar?

KC: Yes, I have had many paranormal things happen in my life which I really can't get into too much detail about due to the length of the stories, but I will say this, I am a firm believer in ghosts and the supernatural. If anything, It helps us write the darker songs. I am also a huge goth at heart and am absolutely obsessed with anything horror related. 

MARIA: Hahahah, yeah don't get KC started, he's seen thangs! We both love the horror genre and things of that nature so it only makes sense that it would bleed into our music and merch.

11. Is there any advice you would give to those who want to do music in the future?

KC: I would say that you need to really treat your project like a newborn baby. You have to invest the time to grow it, take care of it and look out for its best interests. That is if you want it to go somewhere. It is hard to make it in the music industry these days. We are still on our journey ourselves. Don't set your sights too far ahead, focus on each day and work within your means. What you do in life reflects on your project. Carry yourself in a professional manner and be grateful and fully invested in what you are doing to get you to that next level. You're not going to sell out shows off the start or get a record deal as soon as you release your E.P. or album. Be realistic. Try to create something that stands out, something that is different from the "now".

MARIA: Do it for the pure unabashed Love of it. If anything comes of it in terms of 'success', great. If not, it doesn't matter. Do it for the Love.

12. What are you guys working on now? When are we going to hear from you again?

KC: We can't go into that much detail about this right now but you can expect some BIG NEWS from Strvngers very soon! We wish we could tell you but you'll have to wait. But in the meantime, we have begun writing for the next album and we currently have new tracks in production. So it's a safe bet to say that our Witches and Warlocks will be jamming some new Strvngers soon!

MARIA: Yeah, we are always working on new tracks! Last time I checked we have about 30 songs that we're playing with since Sonic Erotica. We Love this shit. WE. LOVE. THIS. SHIT.

13. Many thanks for your time! I hope to see new songs and videos, as good as the ones you've already released!

KC: Anytime! Keep It Strvnge!

MARIA: It's our pleasure! And you bet your ass you will!

NOSTALGIA VIDEO: https://youtu.be/LZcdzndwxbI

TENSION VIDEO:   https://youtu.be/G2Wxj8K4siE

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/strvngers

INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/strvngersband

BANDCAMP: https://strvngers.bandcamp.com/  (FREE ALBUM DOWNLOAD)

Greetings and hugs!

¡Un saludo y un abrazo!