Darryl Kromm (synth guitar, guitar)
Drew Arnott (keyboards, drums)
Paul Iverson (bass; 1980-1984)
David Quinton (drums; 1985 tour)
Rick DeGroote (keyboards; 1985 tour)
Ian Cameron (guitar; 1985 tour)
Joe Alvero (bass; 1985 tour)
Kromm and Arnott played together from 1974 to 1977 in a group called Slan. Kromm and Iverson were playing together in the late '70's including being part of Bryan Adams' first tour. In 1980, while working on original material in keyboardist Drew Arnott's own studio, the trio were playing the bar circuit in Vancouver as Remote Control doing rock and roll cover tunes. A copy of their demo eventually made it into the hands of production wunderkind Bruce Fairbairn in 1981.
Fairbairn had just finished up work with Prism and Loverboy and took the project on. He would forward the act onto manager-guru Bruce Allen for representation. The heavy clout landed the trio on Capitol Records. But, upon the release of the band's debut album, 'Worlds Away', in February 1983, Strange Advance signed to Management III (Frank Sinatra, Neil Diamond) in Los Angeles and not with Allen due to stylistic conflicts.
Within a week of the release of the first single, "She Controls Me", and the title track, Canadian radio stations were all over Strange Advance. A dance mix of "Love Games" became a club hit in England and "Kiss In The Dark" was released as single #4. The album went gold (50,000 copies) and the band was nominated for a 'Most Promising Group' Juno Award. The album featured guest appearances by Bryan Adams, Bob Rock and Paul Dean (Loverboy).
In early 1983 Strange Advance approached Ed Shaw (lead guitar) and Derrick Gyles (drums, vocals) from a group called The Instructions to join as touring band. They were to tour with Kajagoogoo
in Europe, then return to Canada opening for David Bowie. They were with Strange Advance for about a year rehearsing and doing promotional spots on TV and radio and new material for the band's follow-up album. Unfortunately, Darryl Kromm's father has passed away during the rehearsals and the tour was cancelled. Shaw and Gyles moved on and joined Images In Vogue.
In 1984 Strange Advance relocated to Toronto and began recording their follow-up, but Kromm and Arnott found that three was a crowd and allegedly fired Iverson (he would later sue the group for back royalties). Arnott produced the second album, '2WO', with the exception of "Nor Crystal Tears" which was handled by famed soundtrack orchestrator Michael Kamen. The album boasted a name-dropping roster of special guest talent including Spider Sinnaeve (bass), Gerald O'Brien, Steve Sexton and Howard Ayee (keyboards), Andy Newmark (drums), Earl Slick, Keith Scott (Bryan Adams) and Domenic Troiano (guitars) and John Jones (piano).
The first single "We Run" became an AOR radio hit weeks before the album was released. In 1985 Strange Advance became a 6-piece for their first Canadian tour including two nights at Ontario Place in Toronto. The album went gold in Canada.
They switched to indie label Current for 1988's 'The Distance Between' (which was still being distributed by Capitol). The album was once again produced by Arnott with musical assistance from Owen Tennyson (Rational Youth, Blue Peter), Greg Critchley (FM), Randy Bachman, Simon Brierley (FM, Lee Aaron), Ed Shaw (Images In Vogue), Allan Holdsworth (UK). The lead off single/video was "Love Becomes Electric" and the band returned to the road throughout Canada.
The bottom finally fell out of the synth-pop market and both Current and Capitol Records passed on Strange Advance. Several 'best of' projects have since been released including 1996's 'Worlds Away' which featured new recordings of the title track.
with notes from David Quinton and Derrick Gyles.
Singles
1982 She Controls Me/Lost In Your Eyes (Capitol-EMI) 72896
1982 Kiss In The Dark/Prisoner (Capitol-EMI) 72907
1982 The Second That I Saw You/One Chance In A Million (Capitol-EMI) 72968
1982 Worlds Away/Prisoner (Capitol-EMI) B-5232
1982 Love Games (Dance Remix)/Kiss In The Dark [12"] (Capitol-EMI) 75032
1985 We Run/Nor Crystal Tears (Capitol-EMI) 72960
1985 We Run (Extended Mix)//We Run (Single Version)/We Run (Dub Mix) [12"] (Capitol-EMI) V-75089
1985 Running Away [Remix]/Home Of The Brave (Capitol-EMI) 72982
1988 Love Becomes Electric/This Island Earth (Current/Capitol-EMI) B-73041
1988 Till The Stars Fall Wild Blue (Current/Capitol-EMI) B-73056
Albums
1982 Worlds Away (Capitol) ST-12232
1982 AOR Sampler [3 song 12" EP] (Capitol) SPRO-217
1985 2WO (Capitol-EMI) ST-12349
1987 Over 60 Minutes With...Strange Advance (Capitol-EMI) 746887-2
1988 The Distance Between (Current/Capitol-EMI) CLT-48550
1996 Worlds Away: The Very Best Of Strange Advance (EMI Canada)
Video
1983 She Controls Me
1983 Worlds Away
1983 Love Games
1983 Kiss In The Dark
1985 We Run
1987 Love Becomes Electric
Compilation Tracks
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