The Biz With D: Interview w/ The Strange Familar x K-Slick

Who hasn’t indulged the childhood fantasy of playing in a band with your best friend and promising to stay together forever (and ever)? Only in the case of Kira Leyden and Jeff Andrea—co-leads of the Akron Ohio based The Strange Familiar. The pair met and played in their first band together as pre-teens at Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.

Lead vocalist & keyboardist Leyden and guitarist Andrea parlayed their musical partnership into a bond of matrimony. The couple recently had their first child, daughter Rayne. Alongside talented band-mates and fellow Ohio-bred musicians Nicholas Sainato on drums and Frank Freeman on bass, The Strange Familiar has certainly earned its namesake. In 2008, they made their recorded debut with the indie EP release You Can't Go Back and followed up it up with two indie album releases This Is Gravity (2009) and Chasing Shadows in 2012.

Their songs have been prominently featured on popular shows such as Pretty Little Liars, NBC’s The Biggest Loser and The Vampire Diaries, “Switched at Birth,” ABC’s “Brothers and Sisters,” Teen Nick’s “Degrassi” and LMN’s “The 19th Wife.” Their song “Courage" was used for the series premier of “Secret Life of an American Teenager” and became the un-official theme song by the show’s fans. With all this growing exposure, the band was nominated and won MTVu’s Freshman Challenge.

Signed to Krian Music Group, their new album The Day The Light Went Out, will be released April 2014.The first single  “Rain” is now available on iTunes