Strange Advance -

Strange Advance was a Canadian new wave band that released the 1982–85 Capitol albums Worlds Away and 2WO, followed by the 1988 Current release The Distance Between.

Members: Darryl Kromm (vocals, guitar), Drew Arnott (keyboards, drums, vocals), Paul Iverson (bass, backing vocals, 1982-84)

Formation

They assembled in 1980 when singer–guitarist Darryl Kromm and keyboardist–drummer Drew Arnott teamed with bassist Paul Iverson in a Vancouver-based studio project named Metropolis: a name already in use by acts in Germany and Venezuela. Upon their discovery of the German band, Kromm, Arnott, and Iverson adopted a new name, Strange Advance.

Worlds Away

Strange Advance released their first album, Worlds Away, in 1982 on Capitol Records. It’s split into the “Top Side” (one) and “Bottom Side” (two). The album features one song by Kromm (“Sister Radio”) and four by Arnott (“Love Games,” “One Chance In a Million,” “Worlds Away,” “Hold On to the Nite”), plus the co-written numbers “She Controls Me,” “Automatic Sighs,” and “Kiss In the Dark.”

The Bottom Side has an interlude (“Watermusic”) performed by auxiliary keyboardist Robert Minden. Worlds Away closes with “Prisoner,” a co-write between Kromm and Vancouver sessionist Peter Bjerring with supplemental lead guitar by Loverboy’s Paul Dean.

Longtime Prism soundman Bruce Fairbairn (Skids, Loverboy) produced Worlds Away in sequence with albums by Shanghai and Kasim Sulton. Soundman Bob Rock (Bighorn, Survivor, Chilliwack, Honeymoon Suite) engineered Worlds Away apart from two tracks (“One Chance In a Million,” “Automatic Sighs”) engineered by British-Canadian Lindsay Kidd (Bloodstone, Caravan, Greenslade, Turning Point).

Worlds Away spawned four singles: “Kiss In the Dark,” “She Controls Me,” “Love Games,” and the title-track.

After Worlds Away, Iverson quit and Strange Advance continued as a duo with Kromm and Arnott supplemented with session players.

2WO

Strange Advance released their second album, 2WO, in 1985 on Capitol. It features ten originals written mostly by Arnott, including “The Sounds of Life” and “I’ll Be the One to Cry.”

2WO generated three singles: ” We Run,” “The Second That I Saw You,” and “Running Away,” the last of those one of three Krommand compositions.

2WO credits multiple backing vocalists (Bernie LaBarge, David Roberts), guitarists (Domenic Troiano, Earl Slick), and keyboardists (Gerald O’Brien, Michael Kamen). English musician Andy Bown (The Herd, Status Quo) guests on bass and 12-string guitar. Sessions occurred at multiple studios across Canada and England.

Strange Advance toured 2WO with a four-piece backing band that included keyboardist Ric deGroot (Quickflight) and drummer David Quinton (The Mods).

In 1988, Strange Advance returned with their third and final album The Distance Between. Allan Holdsworth guests on two tracks, “Who Lives Next Door” and “Alien Time.” The songs “Till The Stars Fall” and “Love Becomes Electric” were issued as singles.

Arnott and Krommand were largely absent from the industry for 30 years until a late 2010s reunion. Worlds Away was reissued for the first time in 2018 by Russian archivists Sound Philosophy.

Discography: