Interview with the band Famous Strangers
Cosmick View: Hello, and welcome to The Cosmick View. Thanks for taking some time out of your day to speak with us. It's greatly appreciated.
CV: Every artist experiences highs and lows. Many struggle just to move forward from one level to the next, and some unfortunately never do. What would you consider a pivotal point in an artist's career that would take them from one level to the next? Is that something a struggling artist should be aware of? Is it an individual mindset, does it equate more to opportunity, or is it something altogether different in your opinion?
Beej: I think it's a little bit of both, to be honest. If you really want to take your band from being a garage band, just playing for your buddies to something more serious, you need the right people around you with the right frame of mind. Everybody has to be on the same wavelength. I've been through so many bands in my life and at first, everybody always says they’re all in, but then people drop off. Life happens. Sometimes it doesn’t jive with them anymore. You have to move on and try to get that same level of energy from the next group. Getting a band to move forward professionally is tough. You really need to find the right people. So yeah, that part is huge.
Jeff: Finding your team is more than half the battle, maybe even three quarters of it. And on the personal side, it’s all mindset. You can’t be afraid to put yourself out there. You need to be willing to be vulnerable, to step into situations without knowing what the outcome’s gonna be, and to face that head on. You just keep telling yourself it’s going to be okay, because it will.
There’s a moment in every artist’s journey where you realize that this is what you want to do. And once you hit that moment, you have to commit. If music is what you want, then that’s what you do. People talk themselves out of it — like they need a better job or they need to be better players before they take the leap. But the truth is, you just have to go do it. Get out to every show, meet your local scene, talk to other artists, find recording studios, connect with venues, just fully immerse yourself.
If you’re spending ten hours a day painting houses or roofing or whatever, that’s ten hours you’re taking away from your dream. You’ll miss chances. So you’ve gotta go all in. Give everything you’ve got, and the universe will give it back.
CV: What do you feel an artist can do right now to stay relevant, especially in an environment such as the present where performing in front of live audience is not an option?
Jeff: I think that has a lot to do with social media and the level of competition out there. There's so much young talent and so many ways for people to see and discover artists online. These days, you need to be fresh, you need to be real, and you need to be yourself. Consistency is everything. If you just post once and think it's good but never follow it up, it'll get lost in the noise. Thousands of others are showing up every day, working just as hard and fighting to make a living at this. Everyone who puts in the work deserves a shot, but unfortunately, not everyone gets it. So, yeah, be consistent, be yourself, and stay present.
Beej: Especially ever since COVID happened, the online presence for bands has become way bigger than it ever was before. Everything changed when that hit. You had bands doing live shows online, streaming from wherever they could. And even now that things have settled down, you still need to be active online. You need to be visible in all forms and keep putting yourself out there. At the same time, you're competing with the entire world, so you have to keep pushing.
Jeff: Also, I just want to add something about that part of the question that says performing in front of a live audience is not an option. I hope that's just hypothetical, because nothing will ever replace playing live. Having that connection in person with an audience, that real energy, that's everything. Live shows are still the most important way to share your art and truly connect with fans.
CV: What have you found to be the balance and point between relevance and oversaturation when it comes to being an artist? Is there a fine line between the two or can it be looked at as two essential parts of the same thing?
Jeff: I’ll be real with you… I think oversaturation is a myth, especially with everything I’ve seen over the past few years since COVID and the rise of online everything. If anything, you need to oversaturate just to get noticed. Posting once a week or even twice isn’t enough anymore. These influencers and artists out there are posting morning, noon, and night, it’s a full-time job just to stay in the game. If you’re not showing up constantly, the algorithm buries you and people forget fast. This being said I only apply this to online promotion, playing live is a completely different beast. You need to give people a chance to crave you and experience new things. If your playing the same show in the same city every week it gets stale and old fast I find. People lose interest and stop showing up.
Is there a fine line between relevance and oversaturation? Maybe. I mean, sure, it’s nice to have some mystique and not give it all away, but if you’re not active enough, you’ll just get lost. It’s that quick. One day you’re on people’s feeds and the next you’re completely gone. You’ve got to stay loud and stay visible and authentic, faking it gets you nowhere fast.
Beej: Yeah, and I’ll add this, social media now is kind of like what MTV used to be. It’s not just a place to post random clips anymore, it’s this ongoing storyline. People want to feel like they’re following a journey, not just getting hit with promo. If you’re not giving them that bigger picture or that running thread, they’re gonna scroll past. It’s not about spamming, it’s about building a world they wanna stay in. Keep it real, keep it consistent, and give them something they actually want to come back for.
CV: Is there any level of consideration or even concern to deliver on expectations, whether it be your own or those of the fans, when working on new material?
Jeff: I think it really depends on what you're trying to create. For me, it's always been about satisfying myself first. Maybe that’s been a bit of a hindrance sometimes, but I’ve got to be happy with what I'm playing and creating. Whether people like it or not, that doesn’t come first, because if I don’t like it, it’s not gonna feel real. And if it’s not real, people can feel that.
Do I try to cater to certain things at times? Sure. There are formulas in music that work and some that don’t, and I’m always thinking about how to share our art with as many people as possible. But I can’t do it right unless I’m fully behind what we’re putting out. I’ve got to believe in it one hundred percent.
Beej: Yeah, totally. First and foremost, you gotta love what you’re writing yourself. But I also find that when we come up with something that we think is pretty sick, usually most people feel the same. We haven’t run into too many cases where we’ve written something we love and everyone else hates it. So that’s kind of reassuring in a way.
CV: What’s first when it comes to songwriting? Is it a matter of lyrics, melody, chords, beat, attitude? Or is it more organic than that, where the moment dictates the process and outcome?
Jeff: For me, it’s usually about capturing the moment. I love when it happens organically, when the vibe and the attitude are there right away. That’s definitely first. Right after that, I’d say it’s about having some direction, a riff, a melody, something to latch onto.
It’s pretty rare that I’ll start with lyrics first, but sometimes it works out that way and all the pieces just fall into place. I think what matters most is capturing that specific moment in time, that emotion, that energy of where you are right then and there. If you miss that moment, it doesn’t feel real to me anymore.
Beej: Yeah, for me, it usually starts by bringing a riff to the table. Once I’ve got that, I try to feel out what the drums should be doing and go from there. But honestly, some of the best stuff we’ve done has come out of just jamming as a full band. Sometimes a song just shows up out of nowhere when we’re all in the room playing and it ends up being something everyone loves. That’s as real and organic as it gets.
CV: What do you believe makes songwriting more honest and impactful — something that both the artist and listener can share?
Jeff: I think once a song is written and released, and both the artist and audience can truly share in it, that’s when it becomes really impactful. But honestly, from the start, it has to hit the band first. It has to matter to the people writing it. If you’ve got three people writing a song and only two of them are really feeling it while the third one isn’t into it, that lack of enthusiasm drags everything down.
Everyone in the room needs to be fired up about what they’re playing. That’s when the energy translates. If someone’s not invested, it shows. So to me, songwriting becomes powerful when the whole band believes in it from the beginning. That’s what makes it real.
Beej: Yeah, and I’ve always felt like music is one of those things where, no matter what the song is actually about, people are gonna hear what they want to hear. They don’t even need to read the lyrics. They just take whatever message hits them at that moment and make it personal.
It’s about where they’re at in life, what they’re going through, and how the song fits into their story. That’s the cool thing… it becomes something different for every person. Music’s just rad that way.
CV: What do you feel has been the greatest contribution to your success as an artist?
Jeff: I’d say the people I’ve worked with and the environment around me have probably been the biggest contributions to my success. I wouldn’t push myself to be a better player if it weren’t for my friends and other musicians being way better than me. I take every compliment, every piece of criticism, and turn it into a learning experience.
And honestly, I’d have to give a lot of credit to my dad. He put a guitar in my hands, and that was the beginning of everything. That kickstarted the whole reason I do this, so that’s gotta be the foundation of it all.
Beej: Yeah, Beej here, and I’d say it definitely comes down to what you allow yourself to be around and who you choose to have in your circle. That’s a huge influence on how you write, grow, and evolve as a musician. Your team matters.
You don’t get better by hanging around people who are worse than you. You surround yourself with people who push you, who inspire you, and not just musically either. That goes for life in general too.
Jeff: I’ll also add this, knowing the difference between practice and rehearsal is massive. If I didn’t put in the hours to practice on my own, I wouldn’t be in the same room as some of the players I call friends now. It takes serious work across the board. Being a hard worker, that’s definitely one of the biggest contributions to where I’m at.
CV: What's next for you? What can fans expect to see coming up?
Beej: We’ve got a lot going on, and it feels good to finally be building some momentum. First up, we’re playing a cancer relief benefit show in support of Cam Kroetsch’s wife and her battle with cancer. Cam’s a close friend of ours from the band Gravemass, and it means a lot to be a part of that night.
Jeff: Then we’re heading out on a mini-tour through Alberta in November. Just a few dates, but it’s gonna be heavy. We’re also locking in plans to write and record new music this fall. There’s a ton of ideas flying around right now, and we’re stoked to finally carve them into something real.
Beej: Oh yeah, and keep an eye out for the official video for “Deepstar.” We’ve been working behind the scenes on that, and it’s shaping up to be something special.
CV: Thanks again for taking the time to share with our readers. We wish you all the best and continued success.
Check out Famous Strangers at:
https://www.famousstrangersband.com/
https://www.famousstrangersband.com/
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My name is Mick Michaels...I'm an artist, music fan, songwriter, producer, author, show host, big dreamer and guitarist for the traditional Heavy Metal band Corners of Sanctuary. Writing has always been a creative outlet for me; what I couldn't say in speech, I was able to do with the written word. Writing has given me a voice and a way for me to create on a multitude of platforms including music and song, articles, independent screenplays, books and now, artist interviews. The Cosmick View is an opportunity to raise the bar and showcase artists in a positive and inspirational light. For me, it's another out-of-this-world adventure.
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