Persona Non Grata tour 2013

Hey all, great to see you again :) hope you’re having a great year so far.  We definitely are and what better way to kick it off than with a National tour into new Territory.  

The National tour for our debut album ‘Persona Non Grata’ which is going through NSW, VIC, SA and WA kicks off in just under two weeks and runs until the end of Feb.  We’re lucky to be taking some great bands out with us including good friends The Dead Love (NSW) and new friends Born Lion (NSW), The Pretty Littles (VIC), Further Earth (WA) and Covaleski (WA). 

Tickets have been selling really well, so if you don’t wanna miss out you can grab yours at;

www.oztix.com.au (NSW, SA, WA)

www.theworkersclub.com.au (VIC)

www.heatseeker.com.au (WA)

We can’t wait to get over to Western Australia as it’s our first time, so in true Strangers spirit we’ll be driving the whole way across the Nullarbor plain to make it a bit more memorable.  There’ll be plenty of photo, video and general updates during and after so keep a look out for our escapades across our facebook and instagram.

Hope to catch you at a show along the way, much love.

Mark, Benny, BK, Clav and Timmy

Nominations, Melbourne shows and Chistmas Oh my!

First of all we want to thank everyone who came out to our first headlining show in Brisbane at ‘Crowbar’ with our good friends ‘Breaking Orbit’ and ‘Epidemic Over’ on Friday night.  We had a great time catching up with everyone and meeting so many new people, not to mention a beautiful sunrise we were lucky enough to catch, keep up the good work Brissy.  

We’ve got two more shows booked before we ring in the New Year.  On the 12th of December we are honored to be playing at ‘The best of 2012’ at Cherry Bar in Melbourne and the last of the year for us with the Legendary ‘Shihad’ at the Espy St Kilda on the 14th of December, tickets available at oztix.

Anyone stuck for Chrissy ideas should head over to our merch store http://strangersau.bigcartel.com/  We have all sizes of shirts available and some great bundles with our debut album ‘Persona Non Grata’ for that special someone.

We’re very pleased to announce we’ve been nominated for a couple of the end of year awards with the Alternative Music Hub.  If you could head over to the following link http://alternativemusichub.com/amh-end-of-year-awards/ and give us a vote in the following categories you’d be doing us a massive solid 

Best song for ‘Persona Non Grata’

‘Strangers’ as Australian Newcomers of 2012

Australian album of the year for ‘Persona Non Grata’

Thankyou all kindly, look after one another and if we don’t catch you in Melbourne next week we’ll see you all in the new year.

Mark, BK, Benny B, Clav and Timmy.

W#@T$ NEk$T…

First and foremost thank you to everyone that came out and celebrated the last two shows with us.  Cherry Bar was absolutely packed to the brim and the Lansdowne show sold out, so if you were there, you’re a legend and it was great to have a beer with ya.  We had a blast (and even a 6am flight to Perth the next morning couldn’t bring me down).

We’re so appreciative and humbled by the amount of support we’ve received for our debut album ‘Persona Non Grata’ and we’re proud to announce that it debuted at number 3 on the AIR charts (currently at 18) and number 67 on the Aria charts, something we weren’t expecting but are absolutely stoked with.  If you haven’t already checked it, head to our online store and get your shit sorted.

http://www.strangersau.bigcartel.com/

The response we’ve had so far from the album release has pumped us up, so we’re taking full advantage of having the next few weeks off.  Today we moved into a studio and got everything all sorted to start writing and recording some new demos, so sure enough we’ll be updating our Instagram ‘strangersband’, Facebook and Twitter regularly with assorted updates and goodies from the cutting floor.

Last but not least, we’ll be back down in Melbourne for a couple of cheeky shows in December and as soon as we have further info we’ll be splashin some digital artwork your way.

All that Perth sun got to me last week, leather skin, and check out the bison in a bowler hat… See it??

Much much love, 

Mark, Timmy, BK, Clav and BB

What a great coupla weeks

Sadly enough we’re nearing the end of our Cherry Bar (Melb) and The Lansdowne (Sydney) residencies, it’s been an absolute blast the last two months and we’re so appreciative to both venues for the hospitality we’ve received and to any body that’s come out to a show so far.

In saying that we’ve got one last show in each state so we’ve gotta make these two count.  It would be great to see these last two shows really explode, and with it being the end of a great tour comes the big after party, so please come up and have a drink with us.  Both Shows are free and have drink specials all night.

Wed 24th Oct @ Cherry Bar ACDC Lane Melbourne w/ The Vagrants Doors at 8pm

Thurs 25th Oct @ The Lansdowne Sydney w/ King of the North Doors at 8pm

Our Album ‘Persona Non Grata’ came out last Friday and we couldn’t be happier with all the feedback we’ve received so far, we’re absolutely chuffed that people are enjoying music that we’ve spent years of our lives on, so a massive thank you.  We’re selling them at shows, on iTunes and we’ve got it available up on our merch page on it’s own and in a T-shirt bundle so head on over and sus it.  

STRANGERS MERCHANDISE @ http://strangersau.bigcartel.com/

We’re a little short on some sizes and styles however we’re in the process of reordering our merch at the moment so we should have them available asap.

Thank you all for your support so far and hopefully we’ll be seeing you at a show soon.

BB, Mark, Timmy, BK and Clav

Tennis anyone???

Letters to Mum part #2

                                                                                                Thurs 27th Sep 2012

Dear Mum,

                  Holy Shit! Cherry was absolutely packed last night.  Gary Clarke Jr. played a sold out showcase before we started our show.  He was amazing.  He’s been labeled the future of blues, he’s played to over 100,000 people, he was invited to play at the White House by Obama and apparently he has his own day in his home state in America.  Can you imagine “Mark Barnes day” in NSW? May God have mercy on us all.

So Needless to say last nights show was a lot of fun.  Really good crowd.  It was the last Melbourne show with King of the North as well so it was a massive party afterwards.  They’re such a fun band, stoked we’ve still got the Sydney residency shows to go with them.  We’ll definitely have to behave ourselves at the next few Melbourne shows if we’re gonna make it back to the Lansdowne in one piece.

I’m at the airport now, heading over to Adelaide for a few days to see Phae.  The guys will probably be getting in in a few hours to return the van.  It was a close call this morning.  I set my alarm for 6:10 and I did a cheeky snooze until 7:30.  I absolutely shat myself.  Why any of us make any plans to do shit the day after a Cherry show will forever allude me.  There’s a baby that will not stop crying and a group of girls that are arguing over the pronunciation of the word Nova, and I don’t think they’re talking about science.

I hope you’re digging the album.  I know you’ve already heard most of it, but hopefully you get more out of hearing it from start to finish.  I can’t wait to actually see it all pressed in colour and in a jewel case.  Two more weeks

Well I’m about to board, gonna have a breakfast beer on the plane i think, try and sort my life out.  Looking forward to seeing you down at the Cherry show on Wed night.

Keep well, I’ll see you soon.

xoxo Love you.

Mark.

Hi Mum

Thurs 13th Sept 2012

Dear Mum,

                 How’s everything going on your end?  I’m surprised I can even hold a pen properly, I’ve got the worst case of the shakes, it’s been a massive week but it’s almost over and we’ll probably be home Saturday morning.

The wedding on Sunday was unreal, everyone had a great night and everything seemed to go off according to plan.  The hotel we had was amazing it was massive and overlooked this really posh golf course we felt very upper class/out of place.  Love any excuse to get in a suit and sleaze it up.

We made our way up to Brissy for BIGSOUND Monday Morning, we filmed some stuff when we got here, it should turn up online sooner or later, it’s pretty much just me being a dickhead, you’ll be so proud haha.  Then we went out for dinner with all the label guys and gals and we’ve pretty much been drunk ever since.

Benny and I went and saw some of the BIGSOUND speakers on Tuesday, there was some pretty interesting stuff.  Tom was on a panel discussing ‘the future of heavy rock music’ it was a really good listen, plus we got to take the piss out of him on the live twitter feed that was streaming behind him.

We had our two shows last night and I think they went really well, we had a lot of fun with them, you just never really know with industry shows it always just feels like a bunch of suits with their arms crossed, but we got a good reaction.  The first show was at Tempo (that’s the place with the $15 super jugs I was telling you about), we were sharing the stage with the Closure guys so as you can imagine we were in our prime, and there were plenty of super jugs.

We killed a couple of hours and then made our way over to Electric Playground for the Permanent Records launch party (with an entourage of girls and winos we amassed at tempo) haha.

This show was a lot more fun, it was 1am so everyone was nice and loose, it felt a lot more like a Strangers gig.  I’ve enclosed one of the ‘free drink cards’ that Leigh handed out to everyone at the party.  Surprise! it’s me in my underwear, so proud.

So I’ve just woken up, and the rest of the night is a bit of a blur, Timmy and I ended up back at some chicks place drinking straight vodka that someone had back washed red bull into, a fucked colour but it went down all the same, but came up even quicker. Their room mate wasn’t too impressed haha, it was probably his vodka. Was definitely a walk of shame this morning. I looked like a cheap whore walking down the street with my boots in hand, and Timmy was a piece of shit.

Benny B and I are going to do some interviews this arvo and then the after party.  Wish us luck!  We’ll be leaving tomorrow as soon as we’re sober enough to drive.  All the guys say g’day and they’ll see you soon.

xoxo love you.

Mark.

P.S. Can you transfer over $20 or so for the trip home please. Xoxo