Strangelander formed at Kyle White's recording studio, Full Moon Milwaukee, in 2015. The music was written in about a week and recorded in just over three hours. The players delivered great performances and gelled into a band right away. At that time the band was called The Middle West, and there was no intention of adding lyrics and vocals.
I had been working with saxophonist Aaron Gardner and drummer Jeremy Kuzniar for years in many configurations including Jamie Breiwick's Choirfight!, the Static Chicken, the Hush Ensemble, and our keyboardist David Wake's legendary world music orchestra, De La Buena.
Dave was a founding member of the Static Chicken and a well travelled wizard of many genres. One might think that all this recycling of the same players would get old. Never with these cats. Aaron, Jeremy and Dave are family. If I'm on a gig with any one of these men, I am happy. They bring all they have, every time.
Bassist Michael Ritter is perfect for this band. He sounds like Jimmy Garrison (Coltrane's bassist from The Quartet), but also has a knack for strange effects and palindromes. There is so much subtlety and love put into everything he plays.
I had only worked with Patrick Reinholz once at one of Dave Schoepke's Blank Radio sessions before this date. I was impressed with his versatility, subtlety and power, which you will no doubt hear on the record. If you don't know which one of os is making a particular sound, it's probably Pat!
I was thrilled with the results of the instrumental session, but waited awhile to figure out how to present it. Then one day in my office at MATC, I told Aaron that I wrote lyrics to one of the pieces on the record (Strangelander). He immediately said, 'you should call Amanda Huff.' She came in to the studio and blew us away. Amanda had only heard a few rough mixes the day before the session. Her penchant for East Indian tonalities, her power, and her strong melodic sensibilities make her the perfect singer for this band. Amanda raises the music up levels and is a joy to be around. Thanks for listening.
Thank you for the love you have shown us. We hope to see out there soon.
Skal, Steve Peplin
