Fast-paced, loud and danceable are some of the first words that Zoe Way, lead vocalist of Making Strangers, uses to describe her band’s music. Shying away from labels, Making Strangers produces a unique eclectic feel — under genre, the band’s Facebook page lists rock, grunge and punk.
“Basically, I like to call it rock and roll when people ask what genre it is,” said Way. “It’s really hard to pinpoint the actual type of music that it is.”
The three piece ensemble hailing from Vancouver consists of Way on bass and vocals, Andrei Stadnyk on guitar and Geoff Price on drums. According to Way, their name, “Making Strangers,” alludes to what she has observed to be the Vancouverite culture of keeping to existing social circles – and in doing so, “making strangers instead of friends.”
While Way and Stadnyk have been a team for over seven years, Price was a recent addition to the group, joining after meeting Way through a mutual friend in 2013. The trio practice one night a week, balancing their day jobs with their musical careers and performing at local events – a highlight being the opening act of the Enigmas concert in Vancouver last month.
Their first album, Get Acquainted, was released in March of this year after several attempts at mixing and mastering the tracks — but the group is still not satisfied with their product.
“It doesn’t quite capture the sound of our band. It’s quite clean and crisp,” Way said. “We have more of a raw sound with quite a bit of feedback and distortion ... my vocals are supposed to be more ambient, have more echo.”
“It’s a little bit too professional sounding,” she laughs.
With help from her bandmates, Way writes original songs for performance, drawing on themes that “range all over the place from drugs to love, depression or sadness” – even touching on religion and politics.
Way describes her musical inspiration as stemming from 90s nostalgia. “I’m a huge Nirvana fan and all those bands from the 90s — especially girl rock bands,” she said. “I guess it just comes naturally to me to write that type of music.”
Making Strangers is slated to perform at CiTR’s upcoming Shindig event – an annual “battle of the bands” competition – for their first time this month. Although the group had initially missed the deadline for application, they received an email from CiTR inviting the band to apply and were surprised when their late submission got approved.
“I’m really looking forward to playing at Shindig,” said Way. “I really hope that we get somewhere because I know a lot of people pay attention to it.”
Leading up to their show, the group plans to continue to work hard and jam regularly. On stage, they exude energy and spontaneity with an ability to keep their audience entertained in the moment without much forethought.
“I’m thinking of how we can just go out there and be ourselves and be unique,” said Way. “The first day is Andrei’s birthday, so maybe that will give us some good luck.”