Q&A with Amanda Kiernan of Famous Strangers
For Famous Strangers front artist Amanda Kiernan, based in Sherwood Park, bringing the band’s music home to Edmonton has been an emotional and unforgettable experience. After years of writing, performing and touring, playing packed hometown release shows gave the band a chance to celebrate with the friends, family and community members who have supported them from the beginning.
Read more in this Q&A Interview with Amanda Kiernan of Famous Strangers.
What did it feel like to finally present Famous Strangers to a packed hometown crowd after years of writing and touring?
It was the best feeling, honestly. Having your friends and family in the crowd is something special, especially when those are the people who've supported you from the very beginning, through every phase of life and every band you've been in, and they're still standing there. It was such a magical night. There's something about a hometown show that brings you back to your roots. I just love seeing my friends and family out there, it's the best feeling ever. We were overwhelmed with joy. Thank you so much to our hometown for all your support, always.
How did the energy at your Edmonton release shows feel, and what stood out about the audience response this time around?
The energy is always amazing, the Edmonton scene is incredible, and even more so for us because we grew up in it. No matter what, when you walk into the room there's everyone you know, and new friends too, since the four of us bring different corners of the scene together, metal, punk, a couple others. That's usually true at our shows anyway, but this time it felt especially intense, like everybody from every scene came out. The energy was so special I ended up just rambling on the microphone, because it felt like being at a house party with all my friends.
What stood out was how nervous we've been to play our slower stuff, like the blues song, since it doesn't always fit when we're opening for someone else. It's been a challenge figuring out when to play it. But for our own release show, we played it, and the response was magical, a couple people were tearing up in the crowd, which really shows our music is getting through to people. Those two nights took everything out of me, but my cup was also filled overflowing. Hearing honest reactions from people who've known me my whole life, people who wouldn't lie to my face, some of them in tears, that's how you know you're on the right track, when your family and friends are in awe of your art because they've watched you from the very beginning.
How has the music scene in Edmonton changed from when you were first starting out to now playing at the Starlite Room?
It's changed in so many ways, but there's still a familiarity, you see the same people, just a little older and more mature, and there's a new generation coming in now, the way we once were that new generation. It's beautiful to see, especially now that we play a lot of all ages shows. Costectomy opened for us, a very young band, and they slayed, brought all their friends out, crowd surfing and moshing the whole time.
There's also a bit of sadness in it, the nostalgia for the old days. So many incredible venues in Edmonton have shut down over the years, and I think every town has that. You miss being twenty, feeling like you're on top of the world, a completely different time. It was easier to live in the moment before cell phones, you didn't realize the shows you were at were legendary, or that the memories you were making were going to be all anybody talked about later.
But it's beautiful watching the metal scene go through its phases and grow with the newcomers. Everyone in that scene can tell you about the moment they fell in love with it, probably at the Starlite Room, or the Pawn Shop, or Filthy McNasty's, the Mead Hall, all those old places.
Thankfully, the Starlite Room has stood the test of time. Those moments are what inspired a lot of us as kids, so I'm really excited we're still providing that for the new kids coming into the scene, and I hope it inspires them the way it inspired us, whether that's music or any other kind of art. It's bittersweet, but the scene is still strong, and I'm really proud of everybody, because it's hard to get people out at all these days. Rock and roll never dies. Metal will never stop.
Looking back at your earliest gigs to your most recent gigs, what advice would you give to the next wave of Edmonton bands trying to break through today?
It's a lot different than it used to be, and it depends on where you're at as a band. Do you just want to play and have fun, or do you want to go all the way? Those are two very different paths.
If you just want to play shows and have fun, do what my bass player Braden does, he's out at a different show almost every night, in a bunch of bands, not just metal, folk too, all kinds of genres. That's networking, even if it just looks like going out and having a good time. I think it's really important to show up for your scene and for other bands, because how can you expect people to support you if you never show up yourself? I know I need to go to way more shows, but I love that Braden shows up for everybody, because that's how you make friends, make family, and build real connections. Before you know it, those connections turn into opportunities, people calling to ask you to play a show, or inviting you out to one, and going out to shows is where you get inspired in the first place.
So if you just want to play, play as many shows as you can with as many bands as you can, make connections with promoters, sound guys, other bands, build a good reputation. And it's not really about reputation, it's about being a kind person and being good to one another. Do that, and people will think of you when they need something, like, hey, we need a bass player, what about Braden, he's such a nice, chill guy, he's at every show. On top of that, it's practice, practice, practice, and passion. But if you just want to play and have fun, then do that, and don't take it too seriously.
Then there's the other path, if you want to take it all the way. I feel a little silly saying this, because after twenty plus years I should have been learning the business side of music, and I didn't. So it's all coming at me now, and it's overwhelming, but also exciting and fascinating.
There are moments where you really have to ask yourself, how bad do you want this, because it gets expensive fast depending on how you're doing things. It's kind of sad that you need money to get your music into the right hands, but that's how the business works. So just be smart about where you put it, if you want really good merch, find a local merch person you trust, and if you want a manager or a label, that's its own decision, a lot of bands are doing everything on their own these days.
We don't have a label, but we do have a manager helping us, and over the years we've built a solid team around us. That team is the reason all these opportunities keep showing up, but it comes with a lot of emails, phone calls, Zoom meetings, and money. If you want to make it to the top, it's a full time job, and it doesn't stop. I've done interviews at three in the morning because of time zones, friends have told me, you have an interview right now, it's four a.m., and I just say, yep, that's what you've got to do. It comes down to, how far are you willing to go, what are you willing to put in.
I don't really feel like I'm in a position to hand out advice, honestly, I'm still learning and growing and making mistakes along the way. But if there's one thing that's helped us in FS, it's that we support each other and communicate as best we can, and when we're not doing that enough, we sit down and talk about it honestly. Because we've all been in the scene for twenty plus years, we've built a team of people we've known our whole lives who are all in on helping us get where we want to go.
We're so honoured to have Art Szabo, who started out as our graphic designer and is now our manager, we've known him for decades, and we're blessed to have someone who believes in us the way he does. Same with our mentor Byron Stroud, every bit of advice he's given us has turned out to be exactly right, it's a trust fall, I can leap and know he'll catch us, because he's been guiding us through this whole journey. And John Asher, who we brought on to get our name out there and land us interviews, which led us to CMM out in Europe, that's where a lot of these opportunities have been coming from.
None of it comes without a lot of work, and I think everyone will tell you the music business is tough, but that's true of any business you want to run yourself. Famous Strangers is our business, and there are real challenges, some days you'll feel completely defeated, but the key is to never stop. I haven't, and I won't. That's what keeps me going, having people around me who support and love me, and a team that has our best interest at heart and is leading us in the right direction. It's all love and good vibes, that's the only way I know how to work. So thank you to our team, I really mean it. And sorry for the ramble, I hope that helps somebody, I'm still learning as I go too.
When you first started out, how accessible did the Edmonton metal and hard rock scene feel, and what barriers or gatekeepers have disappeared (or appeared) since then?
Unfortunately, when I was with Order of Chaos, I didn't know anything about the business side, so it's hard for me to compare directly. I feel like there are more barriers now in some ways, back in the day it just felt more authentic, like I was just playing music with my best friends. It still feels that way now, but the business side of things sometimes takes over completely, even writing music gets pushed aside for content and admin.
There may have been a couple of barriers back then too, just not having the internet, but that almost didn't matter, because word of mouth, posters, and tickets did the job. There was something raw about it. Nobody had a phone in their hand, everybody was completely in the moment. It might have been harder to connect with people around the world, but bands managed just fine before the internet, they'd send people out to scout shows. So honestly I don't have a clean answer, there were barriers back then, and there are barriers now, they're just different.
I guess the online side is one, everybody's watching your every move now, which can be good or bad, if you post something a label or promoter doesn't like, they can just drop you. There are pros and cons either way. But I'll always miss the nostalgia of back in the day.
What's next for Famous Strangers?
We can finally announce it, we're honoured to be playing 70,000 Tons of Metal in January, sailing from Miami to the Dominican Republic. We're overwhelmed with excitement, and so thankful to our team for getting us there.
We've also got one show before that, a Halloween show on October 31st with the Loud As Hell crew, we're playing Neighbour's Pub in Drumheller for Halloween. We love supporting the whole Loud As Hell crew, it's our favourite festival here in Canada, it's been going for over a decade now, and I'm so proud of them. So we'll head out to Drumheller for a cute little Halloween party.
Check out Loud As Hell, it's an open air festival in Drumheller, Canada, and it's honestly the best.
That's everything confirmed for now, but the pot is cooking. There's a lot going on behind the scenes, a lot of conversations happening, so we're excited to see what comes next. On top of all that, we're working on new music, we've got around ten new songs in progress, nothing finished yet, but we're on it.
So, new songs, great shows coming up, and who knows what next year brings.
Anything can happen!
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