You may not have heard of Strange Advance, but there’s a decent chance you’ve heard their hit “We Run,” a New Wave song that has endured since it was released in 1985.
When keyboardist Rob Bailey tells people he’s a member of Strange Advance, he’s often met with a blank stare.
“Then I pull out my phone and go to YouTube and play ‘We Run’ and people say, ‘Oh, that song. We love that song,'” he said.
“We’re like this weird anomaly where everyone knows the songs, but no one knows the name of the band or where we’re from.”
Guitarist Ian Cameron said the band’s synth-heavy sound led many fans to think the band was European, but in fact, Strange Advance was formed in Vancouver in 1982.
In addition to their trademark hit, “We Run,” Strange Advance recorded three successful albums before songwriter Drew Arnott, who founded the band with Darryl Kromm and Paul Iverson, shut things down.
“We took some time off,” Arnott said.
How much time?
“Decades.”
Arnott said that as the music landscape evolved, and genres such as grunge started to gain popularity, Strange Advance didn’t want to change with the times.
“I didn’t want to do anything musical that I wasn’t interested in so I promised myself I would just do stuff that made me happy,” Arnott said.
“It takes a certain skillset to balance between genres, but it’s not necessarily an advantage,” Cameron added. “You know, sometimes it’s better just to be true to yourself and run with it.”
After a decades-long hiatus, the death of rock legend David Bowie in 2016 spurred them to get the band back together.
“He was our sort of unknown mentor and he’s dead and it was like, we’re next,” Arnott said. “So if we’re going to do something, we better do it now.”
Strange Advance is now on verge of putting out their first album in 33 years. The band has also come to realize that their music has connected with a new audience.
“The songs are available on Spotify, iTunes, and they find them. The kids are always digging, looking for interesting things,” Arnott said.
“The Facebook fan page is overflowing with people that could be my kids. It’s the most surreal thing,” Bailey added.
“The enthusiastic devotion to the legacy of this band is remarkable, and it’s a testament to the music.”