Strangers Family Band

3 songs from our opening set for Os Mutantes in Kentucky

2009-12-02T09:45:00.000-08:00

come see us in New York!

2009-11-23T13:24:00.000-08:00

11/23- Trash Bar w/Charter 77, Scary Living, In Pencil
11/24- Pop Show @ Bruar Falls w/Specific Heats, Lord Jeff, Family Portrait
11/25- Sonic Youth After Party @ Glasslands w/MV+EE, Lord Jeff
11/27- Don Pedros w/Backwords, Devil Eyes, Univox
11/28- Hex Fest @ The Living Room w/Delta Spirit, Hymns

Review in Decibel Tolls

2009-10-29T13:52:00.001-07:00

Strangers Family Band offers a fine pastiche of the various splinter genres of flower power much like The Brian Jonestown Massacre’s finer catalog (czech “Wooden Hands” and hear how the vocal interplay is almost dead-on Anton Newcombe and Mara Kegal via Their Satanic Majesties’ Second Request). However, also like the BJM, Strangers Family Band do not amalgamate old sounds with new. They are unquestionably channeling the various strata of late ’60s mindbending west coast pop art experimental jangle – light garage rock timbre, pinch of British blues a la John Mayall, and homage to Ravi Shankar that became nothing but en vogue in the post-druggy Beatles summer of love. With that said, they take full advantage of recording technology today to really sharpen the feel and sound of classic true-blue psychedelia to cultivate a truly polyphonic headtrip. Nowhere is that more apparent than the seven minute “Transmission,” bolstered by crisp Twin Reverb distortion, lots of sitar (real sitar, not effect-created), and dark, thick Rhodes organ, punchy tablas – all of which almost play second fiddle to the distant, dark, saturated vocals.

I understand that, as either Kickergaard or Dick Van Patten said, to label me is to negate me. So I’ll stop the labeling and comparisons and let you all just peep the group. However, and this is the last thing I’ll say about Strangers vs. Jonestown – they also adopted the excellent “give your shit away from free and worry about sustainability later” model that Anton discovered when he started digging on the Interwebs. And it’s a great idea. Get your stuff out there, and if it’s good (which it is), people will come to the show and buy your merch. So to that end, czech the MySpazz, have a look at their dates, and see them live. Admire their sitar. Get lifted.

http://thedecibeltolls.com/strangers-family-band-frees-your-dome-with-free-music/

Live From Coral Castle free download up:

2009-10-25T10:09:00.000-07:00

review from Quart.hu

2009-10-21T22:09:00.001-07:00

A Strangers Family Band orlandói zenekar majdnem teljesen olyan zenét játszik, mintha a hatvanas évekbeli pszichedelikus rockzenekar lenne, ennek minden kellékével: olyan a gitárhangzás (némi bluesos beütéssel), az ének, de még a kötelező szitáros betét is megvan. Bemutatkozó, 28 perces ep-jük ingyen letölthető innen. Túl azon, hogy tisztességesen összerakott számok ezek, ott az a "majdnem" is, vagyis van hozzáadott érték is. Egyes számok fel- vagy levezető részében kicsit elengedik magukat, és játékosan megidézik a vurlitzer- vagy éppen a cirkuszi zenét is; az orgona mellett a vendégfúvosok is ilyenkor kapják a legnagyobb szerepet. A legjobb szám, az utolsó Beware The Autumn People pedig a szokásos pszichedelikus-álmodozós szétcsúszásba némi mániákus pattogást is bele tud csempészni.

http://www.quart.hu/cikk.php?id=4304

E.P. reviewed on Dirty Sexy Karma

2009-10-17T17:22:00.000-07:00

The intriguingly dark & groovy sounds of Strangers Family Band have drawn me in. I have been playing their EP, Beware The Autumn People, a lot, found from reading the amazing all-psych-all-the-time blog Trip Inside This House. I mention these words 'dark & groovy', but there is soooo much more here, so much more. The seven songs that comprise this psychedelic gem of an EP have been crafted by five young men who have been musicians practically their entire lives, and came together two years ago as a complete band with the talent and desire to create songs that are as compelling as they are catchy.

The title track, Beware The Autumn People, kicks in with carnival-like keys, which slide into a stomp of drums and guitar reverb, and lazy vocals, slurred over the stomp. Strange Transmission, with its unmistakable Doors-vibe, is just brilliant: from the deep, slightly ominous, Morrison-style vocals, to the organ keys in the background, to the imagery of a spiral staircase leading you to a midnight splendor. This song meanders its way through image to image, hypnotically. Tangerine is two precious minutes of space cadets and sweet dreams, set to a lovely little organ melody. Wooden Hands is.....a mysteriously dark, unique, quite catchy....love song?? Not your ordinary love song, I assure you! Enochian is a spooky little minute of whispery effects over possibly a sermon. Girl I've Been Taken, with its sly-sounding vocals and little organ jam at the end is probably the grooviest slice of psychedelica I have ever heard. No One Sees Her comes on as a happy little jaunt, with horns over plucky guitars and light, bouncy drums, but still......something dark lurks in the background......

The members of Strangers Family Band seem to have been born to make music. Scott (bass) and Rick (guitar) are brothers who have been playing music as long as they can remember. Rick and Juan (who plays drums) played music together in high school, and Scott and Ates (vocals) became song-writing partners in college. Kevin, their bloody brilliant keyboardist, was the last addition to the Family, and completes it oh so well. The band name, well, that just seemed to fit perfectly as they are truly either blood or close enough to it, and strange indeed, intriguingly so.
Currently on heavy rotation in the Strangers' house is music that comes from some of the most creative minds of the 60s and 70s, albums that take you on theme-park rides through their concepts, albums by The Kinks, The Pretty Things, The Beatles, early Donovan, 13th Floor Elevators, and Syd-era-Floyd, to name just a few. Conceptually, Strangers Family Band is planning on taking us on their own musical-mind-trip beyond the Beware The Autumn People EP, with the full-length they are currently working on. Scott cites some interesting influences that go beyond even obscure psychedelica or concept albums: Balkan folk music and Carnatic music. This is one band who is so left-of-center, I have to admire and love it!

Somehow, Strangers Family Band take their talent and their love of so many different styles of creative, interesting music, and make their own quirky, hypnotic, darkly enthralling music. Besides the requisite drums, guitar, and bass, Strangers Family Band utilizes Hammond organ, sitar, electric sitar, ukulele, upright bass, quattro, and tablas. On the upcoming album, a multitude of local musician friends of the Family play guest. For now, go to their site and download Beware The Autumn People. What are you waiting for?! Go check out Strangers Family Band!
A big, warm thank you, to Scott from Strangers Family Band, for enlightening me about the band, and big thanks to the whole band for making this amazing psychedelic music and sharing it with us!
http://dirtysexykarma.blogspot.com/2009/10/strangers-family-band.html

Funny Blurb from Future Rocket Soul

2009-10-15T20:10:00.000-07:00

"Here’s a little mix of retro psychedelia and just flat out weirdness from Strangers Family Band. It’s like finally getting a date with that gorgeous girl, taking her to see a revival showing of Blowup, then getting so lost in the movie you forget to make your move."

http://www.futurerocketsoul.com/

You Ain't No Picasso writes about our Os Mutantes opening set

2009-10-15T19:59:00.001-07:00

"I’ll be honest; I had originally intended to arrive at Buster’s just before Strangers Family Band ended. But, just like all the other days, Sunday was running a bit behind schedule. So when I showed up around 8:30, it was still over a half an hour until SFB would take the stage and about an hour and a half before Os Mutantes would be on. It wound up working out in my favor, though, because Strangers Family Band was pretty good.

While their set felt like one that I’d seen variations of before, it sounded great. They’d been described to me as “a more psychedelic Doors,” but I’d throw some Brian Jonestown Massacre into the mix as well. They had a friend who dripped food coloring into bowls on an overhead projector and spun them around. The resulting light show was cheap but effective. In fact, it was so well done that it made me wonder why I’d only occasionally seen that technique done before.

Also, they were the only band I’ve ever seen to play the sitar. So big points for dragging that thing around on tour and actually playing it pretty well!

(sidenote: I had originally planned to comment on how good the lead guitarists’ solos were, but Os Mutantes had like 10x better solos. Still, nice job, dude)"

http://www.youaintnopicasso.com/

Our E.P. Reviewed on Trip Inside this House by Valis

2009-09-25T13:38:00.000-07:00

Here's my take on this EP:

If the Doors & Kennelmus had a baby, the Strangers Family Band is their love child!

At seven tracks this EP never wears out welcome, nor-just like a good Stranger, overstays. From the mood-setting/changing opener "Enochian", (well, it would be an opener wouldn't it?), we know we're entering another world. Sound creating a travel ticket. Perfectly segueing into "Girl I've Been Taken," from all sides of the spectrum-in my Sennheisers, this reminds me substantially of those 70s desert-dwelling, peyote-munching psychsters Kennelmus. That's a compliment where I come from.Stylistically, this track also seems to lean more on the early 70s period of psychedelic music.

Track 3, "Wooden Hands", further bids you to come into their funhouse mirror world o' weird. A Music Hall romp with horn-backed chorus.

Track 4, "No One Sees Her", maintains the vibe of the prior tack, set up nicely by a small-stringed instrument-ukelele? Mandolin? and shuffles along right past the tilt-o-whirl, a la The Seeds "Nobody Spoil My Fun."

"Strange Transmission" should be familiar to regular readers of this blog for its inclusion on this year's Summer Solstice, Volume II compilation. Opening with SITAR (!), this is pure Doorsian wobble, a long-lost companion and heir to "The End." At seven minutes it's also in the right proportion, too.

"Tangerine", to these ears wouldn't sound outta' place-at all, on the Brian Jonestown Massacre's albums, say circa Methodrone. Complete with Anton-like affected Engle-accented vocals.

The EP ends with "Beware The Autumn People", a trip into an alterniverse where the only song anyone's ever heard is "Soul Kitchen"! Yet these guys manage to somehow break the stranglehold. A slow-burning center to propel it and a swagger which demands attention from your third eye.

I'll stand by my assertion, made earlier, these guys are a product of a Doors-Kennelmus tryst, made one night out near the old prison town of Yuma, a bag of peyote being passed around, and after enough digestion the guitars and percussion come out as a crescent moon slowly rises overhead...those sounds? They entered the Noosphere and were caught in transmission many moons later by a group of guys trying. Trying. As long as they're doing so I'll keep buying the string of tickets from the barker...

Thanks Scott & Co.! Listen and tell 'em "-valis sent me!"

http://tripinsidethishouse.blogspot.com/2009/09/holo-hagiography.html

Cacteye

2009-09-09T20:43:00.001-07:00

Fully Evolved Pet Rock

2009-09-09T19:50:00.000-07:00

You'll be able to purchase these and more at our live shows soon.

L.A.Y.L.A.H

2009-08-30T09:36:00.000-07:00

Samsara Parable

2009-08-29T20:24:00.000-07:00

"where are we heading?"

who are you asking? don't you know?

"i haven't been behind the wheel in years....."

i am a passenger as well. i know as much as you do.

"well we're heading somewhere...."

according to who?

"well we're moving..... some place is ahead...."

and what is after that place?

"some other place... that doesn't matter yet. i would just like to know what the next place is like. where we'll be soon."

some times it is sad to see you so stuck. like a bee trapped in honey slowly sliding down the side of a tree. you could be at the top of the tree or the bottom, but you'd still be stuck in honey. you are more concerned with your destination than you are your predicament. would it not be wiser to escape from the honey?

"i'm not stuck in honey....."

well..... you are stuck.... and in something sweet

Strange Transmissions

2009-08-29T20:02:00.000-07:00

wrote this to Daniel Pinchbeck to see what he thought:

"I am the king of gods. I merely wear this mask as a ruse to astound myself at the beauty and strength of my knowledge. Not a vision. There is no mirage. I am the oasis. I am the oasis. I am the oasis. I am the oasis. I am the oaisis. I am thieas sis isis. I am the dfgiasids. I am the oasiss.s. I am osiris."

I am not one to grip to every strange idea or metaphor I think of at any given moment, especially not those that I dream up on hallucinogens. This particular quote, however, came back to me as I was reading some of Robert Anton Wilson's works.

I am sure it is something, though I am also just as sure it is nothing. The reason it is so interesting to me is because at that time I had relatively no knowledge of Egyptian mythology, or of any sort of mystic connection between Isis, Osiris, and the star Sirius.

Does it mean anything to you?

Curiously yours,

-Ates Isildak

and he was nice enough to reply:

Thanks for the email.

I have other friends who have beamed into osiris during lsd trips without knowing much of egyptian mythology. That’s what past lives will do for you!

Yours,
Daniel

Daniel (Hebrew: דָּנִיֵּאל, Modern Daniyyel Tiberian Dāniyyêl ; Assyrian: ܕܢܝܐܝܠ, Daniyel; Arabic: دانيال,Persian: دانيال, Dâniyal or Danial, also Dani, داني ; Danyal; Greek: Δανιήλ, Dhanil) is the central protagonist of the Book of Daniel. The name "Daniel" means "God is my judge", Dan = judge, "i = a 1st person singular possessive suffix, and "El" = God.

Here is a link to a website about his groundbreaking book Breaking Open the Head (for those unfamiliar with his work, the book is spectacular) http://www.breakingopenthehead.com/

FREE E.P. DOWNLOAD

2009-08-28T20:50:00.000-07:00

Strangers Family Band E.P. now available for free download through:
LastFM
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BandCamp