Famous Strangers, the heavy metal band from Sherwood Park, Alberta drop their self-titled debut album on 21st August 2026. Their tag of “Rooted in the classics, built for today” pretty much sums up their philosophy.

Famous Strangers vocalist Amanda Kiernan joins us to talk about the influence of, and why she loves, Pink Floyd.

ARTISTRY

There are too many bands and artists that I love, but if I have to pick one, it’s Pink Floyd. They’ve been a huge part of my life since I was a young teen, figuring out life and finding who I was as a person.

I love them because of their artistry. The artwork has always been so cool. Back in those days, I was definitely smoking a lot of weed and doing mushrooms, so Pink Floyd’s artwork and The Wall movie were a massive part of that world for me. The imagery has such a strong message, but it’s also the trippiest, most insane art you’ve ever seen. It stands out, and to this day it’s still a huge part of the music scene. Our venue here in Edmonton, the Starlite Room, which is owned by my friends Tyson and Andrea, has the hallway downstairs painted with The Wall creatures and characters. I got very excited the first time I saw those paintings. Shout out to the Starlite Room.

BLAME THE PARENTS

It all started with my parents. My mom and stepdad would listen to Pink Floyd all the time, so I was surrounded by it before I even realized. My stepdad Robert would sit around the table and play his acoustic guitar, a lot of The Beatles and other cool stuff. Those were my favourite moments with him. He and my mom bought me my first acoustic guitar, and he taught me how to play Day Tripper. That was the gateway. The Beatles move you into Led Zeppelin, then The Doors, and along with that comes Pink Floyd. It just goes from there.

It really clicked for me during high school. I’ll never forget sitting in my basement with a friend in the pitch black. No cell phones, no internet, so you did a lot of weird things as kids. We were smoking weed with a strobe light on in the dark, and we listened to The Wall front to back. You don’t even need to be on anything to feel the effects of that. That’s a core memory for sure.

PATIENCE

When you take the time to go through a whole album, especially bands like Pink Floyd or Tool or Opeth, it takes patience to listen and understand. Even after thirty years, you still find new things. If you’re patient and take the time, it hits different. It really gets under your skin in the best way.

In high school, a teacher told us to choose what we wanted to write about for a project. I chose Pink Floyd: The Wall. I talked about one of the early scenes where he’s sitting in front of the TV and the cigarette ash is burning his finger, what that meant, how he’s so out of it he doesn’t even notice. I got one hundred percent on that project, the one and only time I ever got one hundred percent in high school. I usually skipped class and went to smoke weed. But she let me choose something I was passionate about, and that’s the secret ingredient. If you let students connect with what they care about, they’ll show up.

It felt like all we learned about in grade eleven and twelve was the Nazis, which is important to know, but it seemed like that was all we covered. And The Wall is deeply connected to all of that. The imagery Pink Floyd created around it just meshed together in such a beautiful way. They sang about things that were happening and put it in a way that I honestly learned more from Pink Floyd than school ever taught me, because I learned differently. I’m visual. I like pictures and videos. That’s what got me.

SAME TERRITORY

Pink Floyd inspires and influences me to this day. My band, Famous Strangers, has a song coming out called As Your Leader, which is about the government, the same territory Pink Floyd wrote about. Our graphic designer, Art Szabo, just finished planning and storyboarding an animated music video with cartoonist-style visuals, and that is one hundred percent influenced by The Wall. In any of my writing and singing, Pink Floyd is in there. When you grow up with these bands, they become a part of you.

I toured with Vicious Rumors when I was with my old band, The Order Of Chaos. Thirty nights in a row in Europe. I went up to the guitarist Geoff Thorpe one night and told him his playing reminded me so much of Pink Floyd. He said, “That’s exactly my influence.” Not just me, but a whole generation.

I was honoured to see Roger Waters’ The Wall live at Rexall Place here in Edmonton. I went by myself, which was meant to be. It was such an intimate experience. I was side stage, and they had the entire wall built up across the back. Parts of the wall would open and Roger Waters would be there singing, or you’d see Pink sitting in front of the TV. At the end, they tore the wall down. I cried. I bawled my eyes out the whole fucking time. It was an experience I’ll never forget.

SO MANY

Favourite albums? The Wall, parts one and two. But there are so many incredible songs. Sorrow gets my heartstrings every time, that opening guitar tone is just beautiful and epic. High Hopes, Run Like Hell, Waiting For The Worms, Breathe (In the Air). And favourite lyrics, there are too many to count, but I love: “Look around, choose your own ground. Long you live and high you fly. Smiles you’ll give and tears you’ll cry. And all you touch. And all you see. Is all your life will ever be.” Deep lyrics that can mean so many things to so many people. Pretty magical.

I’ve also heard there’s a Dark Side Of The Moon laser show coming up at the Telus World of Science here in Edmonton. I would love to just lay there and watch that, because it’s not just music. That’s my childhood.

Music is the most important thing. It’s the background music to our lives. I always think of life like a movie, and you’ve got to have music with it. It’s really cool to walk around and see young kids wearing a fucking Pink Floyd shirt, or AC/DC, or Pantera, or Slipknot. It’s all still there. Rock and roll will never die. Hey hey, my my.

Our thanks to Amanda – and here’s Ghosts Of Men that draws from Amanda’s personal, vulnerable writing and explores forming connections with people, only to be ghosted in the end.

You can read more from our extensive archive of Why I Love pieces from a wide array of artists on an even wider array of subjects, here.

Famous Strangers: Website

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