Victor Stranges
Fusing Classic Rock, Powerpop, Folk Rock and New Wave influences into a self styled, self produced kitchen sink drama…
Victor Stranges
The music of Victor Stranges fuses the driving force of classic power pop, great melodies and singer songwriter musings delivered with a new wave urgency. Beatlesque turns, traces of a Phil Spector approach and unusual chord arrangements create a unique sonic landscape that occurs when certain sound waves collide.
Victor Stranges grew up in a city in industrial Melbourne (Australia). As a teenager in the 1980s he played in underground punk group, Drunk ‘n’ Disorderly. This Clash/Stiff Little Fingers infused experience was a common one for Melbourne bands at the time; loud music, beer, violence and, er…more beer. Some fourteen people were hospitalised from one show alone. Billed with other acts at the time including Weddings Parties Anything, The Johnnys, Celibate Rifles and Bastard Squad, the band gained a reputation for drawing a loyal and enthusiastic following.
The punk movement was the catalyst for an interesting musical direction and drawing from such great writers as The Clash, Elvis Costello and Ray Davies, Victor embarked on a journey of thumbing through their songbooks. He played in several Australian groups including Caravan and more recently, Victor Stranges & The Methinks. One of the line ups included Men At Work bassist and Grammy Award winner, John Rees. Rees departed in the late 1990s and Victor’s brother, Michael, was recruited.
Michael Stranges brought a Paul McCartney sensibility to the band’s sound which propelled the group into new areas of fine pop. Victor Stranges & The Methinks debut album, “Heading Back To You” (2002), featured Darren Aquilina on drums (Dada, Klown) and David Milne (Red Ant, Ice Cream Hands/Charles Jenkins & The Zhivagos) on piano/organ/keys. Michael later went on to play in The Morning After Girls and Ripe and is currently working alongside other Melbourne musical luminaries Kim Salmon, Dave Graney, Clare Moore, Ash Naylor and Matt Walker in guitar supergroup, Salmon.
After a hiatus of building a new recording studio and working as producer and musician on other people’s recordings, Victor’s new album, “Hello Me To You” was recorded, engineered and produced at his new home studio in Melbourne, Australia. It was subsequently released in September 2009.
The first single (Hello Me To You) from the new album was released to radio in Australia on September 4th 2009. Nearly 100 stations nationally added the song including the Home Brew Network covering 60 stations alone. The single was released to Australian commercial radio in early March 2010 and has just been released in the United States and Europe (July 2010).
The single has gained traction from various industry types including Charles Foskett (producer for Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Richard Thompson, Elvis Costello) and Edwyn Collins (U.K. singer songwriter), who are both fans of the track. In addition, “Hello Me To You” was named as one of the Best Albums of 2009 by Pop Underground. A distribution deal in March 2010 with Bruce Brodeen’s Not Lame Recordings has ensured that the album receives exposure to the worldwide powerpop community.
As songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer, Victor has followed an artistic vision and produced music that has been spinning around in his head for years. This is ear candy that speaks to the soul…turn it up!
Discography
Hello Me To You (2009)
Hello Me To You, is the first “solo” album for Victor. It was recorded, engineered and produced at his new home studio in Melbourne, Australia. Having the home set up has enabled Victor to have a lot more control over the final production and the result is a bona fide pop record. “I’ve been listening to a lot of Matthew Sweet and The Kinks lately,” he says.
The album kicks off with the only co-written track on the album (with Matt Swanton), Morning Star. Weaving through an almost endless complex chord structure in the verse, the song resolves to the dumbest of dumb and infectious pop choruses (“do, do, do, do”). The second track, Hello Me To You, is probably the most hook laden song that Victor has committed to a recording. The Kinks styled song points to the late 1980s/early 1990s era when vinyl was “well and truly gone” from the mainstream. The song describes a mismatched romance (“I thought you liked The Replacements but Bon Jovi was what you meant”) and is also a glimpse into the record retail business (“on Fridays we were rigging the charts, my contribution to modern arts”).
Other stand out tracks include the Wilco meets Neil Finn song, “When The Morning Comes” which has a hypnotic piano that keeps you humming along. “Memories” is an interesting pop ballad; very Roy Orbison/Elvis Costello, both in its lyrics and sweeping 1960s Phil Spector production. “Is There Someone To Thank For All Of This?” could well be the perfect pop song on a parallel universe with strings in the middle eight section a la Paul McCartney.
The album jumps around different styles of music frequently. None more apparent than “The Colour Of Your Street Is Gold” which is a gospel song that Al Green could easily cover, complete with Motown style backing vocals. Though stylistically different, “You Can’t Buy Happiness,” is a seven minute closing track and plainly asks the question, “where is my Lord today?” Not that different to something that Chris Bell from Big Star would ask on his most personal songs.
Hello Me To You is an ambitious pop record with a spiritual yearning thrown in the mix. This is ear candy that speaks to the soul…turn it up!
Reviews for Hello Me To You
“Hello you to me and me to you and you to hopefully millions of others too!! Love it! Especially the cock-eyed instrumental run up and energy of chorus vocals! How to make a discordant out of tune guitar sound great!”
- Charles Foskett (Veteran UK Record Producer)
“Australian multi-instrumentalist Victor Stranges has arrived. Take note, my fellow music lover, Stranges is going to have something say in the coming years. Like the humming of a well-worn turntable or the buzz from a magical amp, Stranges’ songs feel familiar yet fresh, comforting yet ready to explode with new information. His melodic pop transmissions flow from the center of the galaxy, circle the planets and hover like shadows in the four corners of your mind. All of gentle, sweeping harmonies here are tender and accent each corner of every note. The immediate touchstone, hard to miss, is the horn-rimmed sophistication of Elvis Costello but he reminds me of Willy DeVille other areas but, yes, Costello is the elephant in Stranges’ room and I find no fault as these songs sink deeper and deeper into each listen. While some may be off-put with the Costello histrionics, you either are down with the program here or you are not. I am trusting fans of intensely high-crafted songs from an artist in command of his wits and talent will win you over as it has me. Wow, the talent Victor Stranges possesses is immense and I can`t wait for his next exploration. A Winner!”
- Bruce Brodeen (Not Lame Recordings, USA)
“Australia has given the music world AC/DC, Icehouse, Men At Work, Midnight Oil, Crowded House, and INXS amongst others. If there is any justice in the world, Victor Stranges will be amongst those great names in terms of recognition and accomplishment. Stranges’ 2009 album Hello Me To You is a piece of Pop/Rock near-perfection. There’s very little here that Stranges doesn’t do well; a striking accomplishment considering that the album is almost entirely written, produced, and performed by himself… there’s no doubt that Hello Me To You is one of the best examples of how enjoyable and well done Pop/Rock can be.”
- Heath Andrews (Review You, USA)
“The shovel that Victor holds on the cover of his album is the very one I think he used to dig up an absolute nugget of a tune with Hello Me To You, and boy did he tap into a wonderfully rich vein of instantly contagious garage/pop! If you’re not singing the chorus after one spin…you may need the shovel to strike yourself a fatal blow!”
- Rob Stewart (Music Director, Gove FM)
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