Stranger Danger

Go see Strangers live and the Sydney quintet's presence is established well before they hit the stage. “Oh, Barnsey,” the band's frontman Ben Britton chuckles, referring to the life-size cardboard stand-up of lead guitarist Mark Barnes that travels everywhere with the band. It turns out two of these replication Barnseys have already gone missing. “One guy tried to steal one from Cherry,” Britton marvels. “Like, he just blatantly picked it up and started walking out with it and we had to run after him and grab it off him.” Another one went AWOL during the band's recent Good Charlotte support slot at Sydney's Luna Park. “Some 15-year-old girl's got this lifesize cut-out of Mark and she's gone, 'I'm gonna take it home and put it in my room.' And I'm like, 'Poor parents',” Britton sympathises. “To see that guy – all her teenage years growing up it's just sitting in the corner, with his hand half down his pants. Ugh!”

Barnes also imitates his 2D representation's outfit of black shorts and Ugg boots as onstage attire – the sheepskin-lined footwear must reek! “They're starting to get bad,” the singer concurs.

As well as warming up Good Charlotte's stages recently, Strangers have also been busy playing weekly residencies in both Sydney and Melbourne. That equals loads of time spent in the tour van. “Generally, we'll leave Sydney on a Tuesday afternoon and then on Wednesday we'll rehearse in South Melbourne at Deluxe Studios, the rehearsal space there, and then we bail from there in the late afternoon and just go straight to Cherry,” the band's other Ben [Kinsela, guitarist] elaborates. All band members then pile back into a people-mover and drive north to Sydney for their Thursday night Lansdowne Hotel residency. “There's five of us and you've got the gear, so we just bought a 12-seater about three months ago and we've done 34,000 'k's so far,” the guitarist continues. “As a matter of fact, when we came here, on the way, we're just like [sniffs], 'It fuckin' stinks in here, dude',” Kinsela laughs. “We've accepted the fact that we're never gonna be able to sell the van, that's how bad it smells.”

Taking time out on this particular Wednesday arvo to sink a couple of jugs of liquid gold with Inpress at an old man's pub in Fitzroy North, the pair certainly stand out in their muso threads. And it seems the constant gigging is paying off when both speak in animated tones about their band's progress. “It's a good feeling when it all clicks together,” Britton extols. “When the room kinda feels alive and the groove's there and the melodies are soaring, and the guitars are loud as shit and the drums are loud as shit and the harmonies are all aligned…“ His bandmate interjects, “The whole band musically just gets together and it works. It's the best feeling in the world... It's just the chemistry. Honestly, that's what it comes down to. I mean, when you get a bunch of guys together and you're playing music, the chemistry just has to be there and, look – some nights it's on, some nights it's not. But some nights you get together and by the first note of the first song you just know it's there and you just lock in and everyone's in the same mindset and it just fuckin' works.”

“It's a great buzz,” Britton agrees, “but there is a point where you go – if it's not on, you make it on.” Kinsela assents –“You force it, yeah. We like that 'cause it adds some danger to the show. You kinda almost want something to happen just to create that… If you wanna hear something perfect, you may as well just stay home and listen to the CD.”

Strangers will be playing the following dates:

Thursday 31 January - The Great Northern Hotel, Newcastle NSW
Friday 1 February - Annandale Hotel, Sydney NSW
Saturday 2 February - The Patch, Cabbage Tree Hotel, Fairy Meadow NSW
Thursday 7 February - Ed Castle Hotel, Adelaide SA
Thursday 14 February - Newport Hotel, Fremantle WA
Saturday 16 February - Capitol & Amplifier Bar, Perth WA
Sunday 17 February - The Indi Bar, Scarborough WA