One Year Anniversary

One year ago today we played our first show together.  

We’d met and started collaborating a few weeks before, and the opportunity of a Tuesday night show at the Skylark suddenly presented us with urgent tasks:  Pick a band name, build a setlist, and try to get some friends out to the show.  In the process of preparing for that show, jamming quickly became rehearsing. Then shooting-the-shit became planning.

And we loved it.

So as the two of us stepped up to that leopard-print stage, propped ourselves up on barstools, and sang our first six songs and a few covers, there were already plans in the works.  Studio time was booked and photographers contacted. Ideas and aesthetics were bubbling up to the surface.  We were already deeply inspired both by the music we were starting to create and the ambitious journey that we were beginning.

In one year that journey has already taken us further than we could have hoped and surrounded us with more love and care than we knew was possible.  

We have been able to share our music in extraordinary ways.  Some almost unreal highlights include:

- Creating a beautiful music video with Tim OHara
- A sold-out CD release show at the Columbia City Theater with Andrew Vait and The Elderly
- Touring 3,500 miles up and down the West Coast
- Playing a Sunday afternoon set at Doe Bay Fest, singing to the San Juan Islands.
- Rowdy crowds singing our words back to us at shows – especially our tour homecoming at the Tractor Tavern
- Playing on the Marty Reimer Podcast
- KBCS 91.3 in-Studio appearance on The Outskirts with Scott Farley
- Countless Sunday night open-mics at Conor Byrne

The most significant things from the past year, however, are the endlessly generous and supportive people we have met.

Let’s start with the wonderful people in our band – Katrina Charles, Melisa Holman and Justin Howard. Their creativity, talent, energy, and big hearts have made every show so much more fun and every practice so rewarding.  A year ago we hadn’t met any of them, and now it’s hard to think of daily life without them.

Then there are the folks who made our debut EP possible with their talents, time, and tireless dedication.  Our producer/engineer Yevgeniy “Eugene” Frid and amazing musicians like Bradley Carter, Andrew Joslyn, and Josh Lava believed in what we were doing before we even knew what it was.  Then Brandon Busch and Kory Kruckenberg made it sound amazing with their mixing and mastering skills.

Most importantly, we want to thank the friends, fans, and family who have shared this year with us.  Especially those in Seattle and on the road.  Through the exceptional Seattle music community fans have become friends, friends have become fans, and we’ve all started to feel like family.  You know who you are.  Even while on tour, thousands of miles from home, we felt connected to Seattle; proud to represent it, and part of something much bigger.

We are so excited to share year #2 with all of you.  If it’s anything like the first, we’re in for a real treat.

So much love and thanks,

Matt & Aubrey
The Local Strangers