Wednesday – On a sunny Manhattan afternoon, the Strange Familiar and I imagined bottomless brunches unfulfilled. They were preparing to perform a free show at Rockwood Hall in the Lower East Side later that day, and planned to return to Los Angeles soon after. Native Ohioans, the pop group consisted of four ambitious band mates: Kira Leyden the “creative” (piano, vocals), Jeff Andrea “the worrier/tech” (guitar), Frank Freeman “the brain” (bass), and Nick Sainato – as he jestingly coined – “the youth” (drums). The group immediately emitted a relaxed aura, every one of them as supportive and humbler than the last. Evidently an eight-year relationship kept TSF a tight-knit group.Kira and Jeff played music together since the sixth grade. Initially friends and now a married duo, they performed in previous bands that all broke up. “The change from playing in one band for years and suddenly to another was strange, but at the same time familiar [since they’ve played together for years]”, Kira recalled. “In an anthropology class, there was an excerpt that said ‘it was a strange familiar; a familiar strange.’” Thus spawned the inevitable ensemble.When The Strange Familiar first started, the group was amidst a music scene that did not coincide with their style. They played primarily in Cleveland and quickly accepted that it was above all a metal, rock, and punk scene. “It drove us to want to differ from that. We tried to go for a more rock approach in the beginning but in the end, we would rather play pop,” Jeff explained. In light of the revelation, Frank encouraged the group to move to Los Angeles and to break out of the Cleveland scene, all while he pursued a Harvard degree. With only a months rent under their belt, the team had split into multiple charges: Kira and Jeff worked on songs and wrote daily, Nick attended college and Frank worked as a math tutor on the side. The dramatic change of environment sent a sense of urgency and inspiration in the group and within a month one of their songs debuted on “The Vampire Diaries”.“It was fate!” we proclaimed in unison.As they remembered dreaming of having one of their songs played on a show, smiles lit up their faces and they proudly revealed, “that was one of our goals [to be played on Vampire Diaries].” Working on their new extended play, the band concentrated centrally on its completion. “’Surrender’ has a newer approach. It’s a little darker and a little grittier, with songs like ‘Painkiller’ and ‘Gone’ but I’m glad we did it.” Although it was a new turn, the album embodied their usual empowering messages. Their ominous climactic song “Surrender” ended with a hopeful message singing, “love keeps us marching on.”“As Kira said: we don’t want to put out something negative since there is enough of that nowadays,” Jeff clarified. “We want to keep our message of hope and prevailing strong.” Naturally their feel-good songs brought a notable following of inspired fans, who in return, elated them. “The album art for ‘Surrender’ was drawn by a fan!” Kira beamed. Filled with rich red tones and purple hues, the hand-drawn cover displays a soldier facing a battleground, which “really matches with the music.”“We’re mostly excited about our new album. We’ve been working on it constantly. We’ve taken old songs that were never publicized and revamped them – renewing and bringing back old ideas,” Nick inserted. As for long-term goals, everyone agreed with Jeff’s statement “to keep going as long as possible. Even if its only small clubs or in huge venues, I want us to keep on performing.” Kira added that she wanted to maintain inspiring lyrics for future songs. “I want to keep on evolving, to keep improving the current state of being, worker harder and keeping things healthful. Stagnancy is the end and I want to keep moving and progressing,” Frank followed up.Since the bands surface in 2006, they encountered multiple boundaries, which aided in their evolution that Frank mentioned. From the members sharing beds and building pillow forts in such scenarios to their car breaking down in the middle of Chicago in 103° weather: the band had faced some hilarious endeavors. “I remember Nick had to carry his whole drum set for half a mile on rocky gravel road,” Jeff laughed as he shot Nick a quick apologetic smile. “We didn’t know it was that far, buddy.” Kira added that one of her fondest memories was performing at the South by Southwest Festival, “meeting new people, running around preparing for shows. I would do it all over again.”With the support of their families and friends, the band continued to strive for bigger goals like performing in “an arena” grinned Nick as he formed an imaginary rainbow with his hands. “How awesome would it be to play in front of thousands of people! To see all these fans enthused about our music.” You can already see the lighters waving in harmony. “Our biggest supporters are our parents,” Kira and Jeff said. “Since our childhood, they’ve been to every one of our shows and supported us even when we didn’t attend school for a little bit.” This is your football game, I suggested which was followed by “exactly! They would come to this show if they could but they’re babysitting”, they chuckled and explained that they had a four-month old baby girl named Rayn back home. “We want to be successful for her especially since she will be in the midst of all this.”One can only imagine the struggle of promoting oneself when first emerging. During their modest beginnings, the band sponsored themselves independently. “We had to promote ourselves rigorously and social media is so hectic. There are so many platforms available and you have to be creative to really sell yourself. It can be stressful,” Jeff said, he managed most of the website and social media.“It was the right timing though,” Frank complemented. “I felt like this sort of career was more evident [for other bands], during high school or college but they don’t always stick, and I’m glad that we started now when we can be serious. It all just followed through like it was on a trajectory.”  PHOTO SOURCE: thestrangefamiliar.com