By Samantha Castro
An alternative rock start-up band from “the forgotten island,” The Wayward Strangers, popped by WBCR on Friday to talk about the upcoming release of their album.
The Staten Island group is made up of Nick Allums on vocals, Anthony Aquino on guitar, Thomas Aquino on drums, Brian Raleigh on the keyboard, and Sean C.F. Scotto on bass.
The band began making strides in January 2015. Since then they have performed at multiple venues including Webster Hall, the White Plains Performing Art Center, and the Bitter End.
“The individual talent of everyone in the band is just incredible,” said Raleigh. “It really is amazing to play with these guys. I think that’s what makes our band rock. We literally just sit down and start to play something, and it just clicks. There’s almost no discussion.”
The band previously released an EP, and is now set to release an album. Anthony described the 12 songs on the album as “testing boundaries.” Songs in the album range from slow songs to heavily distorted ones.
“We have like the best of both worlds coming out in this,” said Anthony Aquino. “I’m testing the far boundaries of where I can go with this and how that sounds with this group of people.”
The quintet originally started as a duo. Anthony Aquino, the founder of the band, first started the group to fill his time. His former band from high school broke up because of members moving away. So, it was meant to be when he met Dave Rajput, a former, but second original member of the band, on a bus and talked about music.
They introduced a drummer into the mix, but he left because of school. That’s when Anthony Aquino decided to bring in his brother, Thomas Aquino, especially since they were using his kit to practice anyways. Scotto trickled in because he is friends with Anthony Aquino. Raleigh knew the Aquino brothers from an early age, so when Anthony Aquino messaged him about the band, he jumped in too.
Rajput eventually left the group, so Anthony Aquino was on the hunt for singers. That’s when Allums came along and became the group’s “saving grace” according to Thomas Aquino. Allums met Anthony Aquino at an open mic and it was history from there. Allums described that it was tense when he first met the group because it’s his first band. He also felt the pressure of memorizing lyrics to the already written EP, called Laminar Hearts.
During WBCR’s live interview with the Wayward Strangers, the group discussed their potential name for the new album, “The Most Truthful Weather Channel”. They picked the name because it is made up of some of the most commonly Googled words. They believe it’s one of the best ways to be found online as silly as it may be. Scotto, who is known to be the business person in the band, explained that since they think of themselves as a business they need to market themselves as one too.
“It’s very tough to play a venue that doesn’t want you to play covers. That’s a distraction from what we’re trying to do. We’re just trying to play our own music” Raleigh said.
“It takes money to grow a fanbase,” said Raleigh as he discussed how finance is a major factor for the band.
Anthony Aquino explained that it’s gotten easier as they’ve gotten more recognition. More and more venues reached out to them to perform original songs and perform for more than one hour. Even one of the bar owners from Staten Island, Steve Nos, paid for their recording of the upcoming album.
The group’s next goal for the band after finishing the album is to go on tour, even if it’s a small one. However, their ultimate goal is to be able to play music for a living.
“We’re just a bunch of dudes who play music,” said Scotto. “People will think of bands as like a group of superheroes. I’m not saying we aren’t. We’re just guys who play music. It’s a fun thing. It’s still fun. We haven’t gotten to the point where it’s obnoxious.”
The Wayward Strangers are set to perform at the Brooklyn Knitting Factory on November 3. Tickets can be purchased by texting 917-928-1000 or by direct messaging any of the band’s social media pages.