Strange Parade Share New Single 'Bag Of Blood'

Los Angeles-based Strange Parade pleased to share "Bag Of Blood," the latest single to be lifted from the band's album The Watchers out May 6 (pre-order). The song debuted at Rock And Roll Globe and will be on all streaming services this Friday for any playlist shares (pre-save).

"Bag of Blood," the second single from The Watchers, is an amped-up storytelling affair that marries early 80's new wave with a 60's girl group beat, landing somewhere between The Chiffons and Echo & The Bunnymen. The story paints a picture of an individual's paranoia, starting with a social incident, blowing out into a paranoid vision of a chemically-fueled sleepover/feeding frenzy with the subject's blood morphed into a drug the 'partygoers' feed on: "The powder it falls, loose lips and diaphanous slips. Connie spills all by the end of the night." The song ends with the bad dream coming true and ending and a sobering realism: "They told me one day, some day, I'd have these days. No one ever promised I'd find out why."

To celebrate the release, Strange Parade has a hometown record release show coming up on May 7 at The Silverlake Lounge in Los Angeles. The show will include support from Purple Witch of Culver and Happy Hollows. Tickets are available HERE.

Last month the band released the album's title track which debuted at Music Mecca along with an exclusive interview with Strange Parade's Brian Cleary. "The Watchers" is an acoustic guitar-driven rocker that builds off an early country-blues-style riff as shimmering guitars and lap steel ride hovercraft over a driving, rhythmic hook, culminating in an insane 3-minute multi-layered piano, synth, lap steel frenzy at the end.
Strange Parade's sound blends psychedelic Americana, art rock, and the quieter side of early 80's post-punk and shoegaze. Its keyboard atmospherics and urban steel get along well. Deep pockets and enveloping low end grooves gliding under deep swaths of emotion.

In the 90's, Strange Parade's Brian Cleary, a self-taught, minimally-trained pianist since childhood, moved to Boston and started a solo experimental act called Very, playing shows and occasionally sitting in with friends The Vehicle Birth (Crank). By 1999, that band broke up and Cleary co-formed The Movies with The Vehicle Birth's singer and Movies' bassist. They eventually moved out to Los Angeles where Cleary was pulled into Radar Brothers, playing keys and co-writing songs for their 2013 album, Eight (Merge).

It was during that time Cleary started writing the songs that would comprise Strange Parade's debut, Between Us All. The LP was made with friends and former bandmates, pulling in members of Trans Am, Eels, DNTEL and Radar Brothers. Now it was time to form an actual band.

Cleary saw Ashley Berry filling in on bass for a friend's band when he asked her to join. Shortly after, he met drummer Dan Allaire at a wedding in New York. Allaire had recently left Brian Jonestown Massacre after 16 years and had also played with Cass McCombs and Darker My Love. Cleary sent him songs and Allaire was in.

With all three inspired by similar tastes and sensibilities, the universe then threw their sound a curve ball in the form of guitarist/lap steel wizard, Paul Lacques. Living two houses away from each other, they could hear each other practicing. In this way, they auditioned each other candidly. Lacques' rich background brought some unexpected elements to the sound, meshing the post-punk/early shoegaze-inspired songwriting with his swirling lines and deep-woods twang.

The band started playing live and decided to record the new record where they practiced. Tucked into the comforts of Cleary and Lacques' homes, they recorded The Watchers as live and organically as possible. The 9-song journey recalls a range of sounds, from early Roxy Music and Fairport Convention to John Cale, Lloyd Cole & The Commotions, and even Elton John. After a few pandemic-related delays, the LP was mixed Dave Trumfio, mastered and completed by late 2021.

The band are currently back at the drawing board, evolving their sound into something stranger as they write material for the next album.

Listen to the new single here: