#darrykromm

From the Canadian Pop Music Encyclopedia:

STRANGE ADVANCE

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)Darryl Kromm and Drew Arnott played together from 1974 to 1977 in a group called Slan. Later, while writing original music together, Kromm played in the band Remote Control. While touring with Bryan Adams, Kromm gave him a demo tape of the tunes he and Arnott were working on. Adams liked what he heard and passed it on to producer Bruce Fairbairn. Fairbairn also liked what he heard, did a quick remix then played it for Deane Cameron, who was the Canadian A&R rep for Capitol Records L.A. The band, originally known as Metropolis, were then signed to Capitol Records in Los Angeles. Fairbairn had just finished up work with Prism and Loverboy and decided to produce the band’s debut album, ‘Worlds Away’, which was released in February 1983. 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” became 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 1984 Strange Advance worked with famed soundtrack producer Michael Kamen on the follow-up album but the results weren’t satisfactory and the band returned to Canada to start fresh by recording in Toronto. Arnott would produce the second album, ‘2WO’, with the addition of one of Kamen’s tracks, “Nor Crystal Tears”. The album boasted a name-dropping roster of special guest talent including Spider Sinnaeve (bass) of Streetheart, John Jones (piano) of Bond , Gerald O’Brien and Steve Sexton of Exchange, Howard Ayee (bass) of Rough Trade/The Arrows, and world renowned session drummer Andy Newmark  of Roxy Music, plus guitarists Earl Slick (Stray Cats, David Bowie), Keith Scott (Bryan Adams) and Domenic Troiano (Mandala, James Gang). The first single “We Run” became an AOR radio hit weeks before the album was released followed by the reggae flavoured “The Second That I Saw You”. In 1985 Strange Advance became a 6-piece for their first Canadian tour which including two sold-out nights at Ontario Place in Toronto. The album eventually went gold in Canada and Strange Advance were again nominated for a Juno (Best Group). For album #3 Strange Advance switched to Gerry Young’s independent label, Current Records, for 1988’s ‘The Distance Between’ though they would maintain distribution through Capitol-EMI Canada. The album was produced by Arnott, Howard Ayee and Joe Primeau with musical assistance from Owen Tennyson (Rational Youth, Blue Peter), Greg Critchley (FM), Randy Bachman, Jim Hubay, Ian Cameron, Howard Ayee, Ken Greer (Red Rider), Mathew Gerrard (Regatta), Peter Fredette (Kim Mitchell Band), Simon Brierley (FM, Lee Aaron), Ed Shaw (Images In Vogue), and Allan Holdsworth (Soft Machine, UK) and Drew Arnott’s father Andy Arnott playing sax on “This Island Earth.” The lead off single/video was “Love Becomes Electric” peaking at No.20 on the RPM100 Singles Chart the week of April 30, 1988 which lasted a total of 22 weeks on the chart and eventually reaching #2 on the RPM Cancon Singles chart. The video managed to break the Top10 on MuchMusic. The second single/video “Till The Stars Fall” was released in July 1988 and peaked at #23 on the RPM Cancon Singles chart. Constant touring and the release of a third track, “Hold You”, in August 1988 helped the album itself reach #46 on the RPM100 Albums Chart.The bottom finally fell out of the synth-pop market and both Current and Capitol Records passed on Strange Advance. A’Worlds Away’ ‘best of’ was released in 1996 and featured new recordings of the title track; a re-issue of ‘The Distance Between’ came out on Bullseye Records in 2016; the band announced in September 2018 that they’d be touring in summer 2019

with notes from David Quinton and Derrick Gyles

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Singles 1982 She Controls Me/Lost In Your Eyes (Capitol-EMI) 72896 1982 Kiss In The Dark/Prisoner (Capitol-EMI) 72907 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 The Second That I Saw You/One Chance In A Million (Capitol-EMI) 72968 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 1988 Hold You/Rock and Whirl (Current/Capitol-EMI) B-73064