Hard rock, alternative metal outfit FACE OF A STRANGER have element's within their music, going on to release some EPs, single's, with all new music in the works as well. The band talks of their music, creativity, and what the future holds for them below.
1. Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.
(J) Myself and Mitch have known each other since 2011 and jammed together a couple of times when he asked me to come down and jam in early 2012 with a band he was putting together called “Loud Thought” which also contained current member Ben Slater on bass at the time. During that jam we actually worked on “The Road” and “Swallowing Grenades”, two of the songs off our first EP. In the time since then the line up has changed numerous times however recently we seem to have landed on quite a solid line up comprising of long time members myself, Mitch and Slater(now on guitar) and two old school friends of mine Dan Brewer on Drums and Stan McDonald on bass duties for live shows.
2. What’s the origin of the band’s name?
(J) We came up with the band name back in 2012, we were looking through many different themes and ideas when I heard an Alter Bridge lyric in a song called Find The Real that i thought was really good, “There's a face I put on all my life Face of an angel I look in the mirror only to find, Face of a stranger” i took that back to the rest of the band and they all really liked it as a band name. We thought it was pretty striking and unique as there was no other bands we could find at the time with a similar name.
3. Where is the band based out of and what is your music scene like there? Are there any local bands you could recommend?
(J) We are mainly based around Birmingham and The Black Country in the UK. 4 of us currently live in and around that area and Dan currently lives in Maidenhead and travels up every couple of weeks for rehearsals and gigs. This works pretty well as we do quite a lot of writing virtually and are always sending each other ideas so that when we do get together we have a pretty good idea of where the songs should go. The rock/metal music scene currently in Birmingham is really active with so many great bands, promoters and venues constantly putting on great events nearly every night of the week. We have played a couple of gigs recently with a band called Stoneload who are long time personal friends of the band and have a really cool grunge, stoner rock vibe going, they're definitely worth checking out.
4. How would you describe your style?
(J) I’d put us somewhere in the middle of Hard rock/Alt metal and metal as we have all of those elements in our songs. We have slow songs such as The Road which is this big emotional rock ballad and then all the way to a song like Sacrifice which is a fast, heavy song which features an outro section with layers of screams and really aggressive vocals throughout. I think something that people like about us is that no 2 songs sound the same and feel like there really is something for everyone.
(D)We take some distinct influences from the likes of Alter Bridge, Staind and Metallica, combining heavy but listenable guitar riffs, melodic bridges, punchy breakdowns, all sitting underneath powerful and commanding vocals. Not to sound cliche, but in recent years we have tuned down a couple of notes to help express the grit and aggression that we are trying to communicate to our audience.
5. What have you released so far and what can someone expect from your works?
(D)We have released a number of EPs and singles over the years, but since 2020 and after a bit of a shake-up, we have released Oblivion, Stonewalled and Sacrifice, three tracks which we are very proud of. Our aggressive but melodic style is well represented in those three tracks, with more on the way.
6. Do you have any new music in the works?
(D)We do! We have just heard the final mixes of a new 5-track EP which we expect to release early next year. We have really stepped up our game from both a production and composition perspective for our latest project and are excited to share it! The tracks combine uptempo riffing, huge, layered choruses, a swung, southern rock track and even a somber ballard thrown in for good measure.
7. How about playing shows and touring, have anything planned out?
(D)We’ve played quite a few shows this year and our live performance feels like a very well oiled machine, now. October was a pretty busy month for us, with a gig every weekend in the West Midlands. We’re very much looking forward to our headline EP release gig, which is planned for February next year in Wolverhampton. We’ve toyed with the idea of putting a mini tour together and would love to make that happen. Maybe a goal for 2024.
8. What plans do you have for the future as a band?
(M)We have a new single being released on the 1st December, and will be getting in front of the camera for our debut music video featuring the 2nd single off the new EP: 'Monsters Among Us'. We're hoping to jump on some festivals bills too and take our music to more ears and push ourselves just as hard as ever.
9. Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
(M)We're all across the board, from Apple Music to Spotify & Google, we have a YouTube channel with lyric videos available to view, and a new development is up and coming: we will be appearing on our YouTube channel performing acoustic versions of our own original songs, and some of our guilty pleasures, and downright great tracks that we've always wanted to cover...with suggestions from our online audience across the world, there will be competitions on there too, to win a free t-shirt, etc. Very excited for that. www.faceofastranger.co.uk is where our gig dates go, and merchandise, and more.
10. What is it you’d like a listener to remember the most when hearing your music for the first time?⁰
(M) So if you're a first time listener, the most important thing I'd say is: "there's always gonna be something for everyone". When we approach a song, it's all about the mood: what's going through our heads when writing it, and how do we interpret that when recording it, or playing it Live?! It could be a fictional story, or a belief, or opinion, or personal experiences, or an observation That's what Face of a Stranger's songs are, they're a mood. And like moods, they strike different feelings. We just hope it grabs you and rattles your bones and makes you feel something.
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