Don’t be a Stranger to Surrounded by Strangers
Surrounded by Strangers is an upcoming post-punk band centered in Orange County, California. The band members include Nathan Guerrero for rhythm guitar, Dylan Kosel on bass guitar, Jake Merideth on lead guitar and vocals, and Paul Vogelsohn on drums.
“I was working at a bar here in Huntington and these two, Dylan and Jake, came in and we ran into each other. We are old friends from way back, and I just happened to quit my last band Swaying Us. They just happened to kick out their drummer, so, they needed a drummer, I needed a band and Nate also wanted to work on a project. We all got together and started something original,” Vogelsohn explained.
Photo courtesy of Nathan Guerrero.
"We just started writing songs. Jake had a bunch of stuff already, so we started there with whatever he liked.”
The band’s name, Surrounded by Strangers, came from Vogelsohn’s experience at parties and events.
“After the 4th day in a row, I was thinking dude, I am always surrounded by like strangers. I am like, oh, that is a cool name. So, I presented that to the band, and they thought it was a cool name and it really grew on us. So, we are happy with coming up with that,” said Vogelsohn.
Surrounded by Strangers focuses on their original work and their unique style of music. Although closely related to post-punk, their actual genre is undetermined. The members see their music eventually falling into many other genres like rock, punk, and metal.
Although these genres seem heavy, the band’s music has just the right amount of a catchy kick to it to make listeners want to keep listening. In this way, they don’t cater to one type of audience but rather hope to reach everyone with o their songs.
“I think the fun part of being in a band is just like bringing all that together…melting all those ideas together and producing something that sounds unique. A lot of people tend to have a hard time labeling it because you could hear the fusion of different genres all in one,” Vogelsohn said.
Photo courtesy of Nathan Guerrero.
Their goal is to continue making music, playing as a headliner at festivals like EDM, getting a label deal and touring. The members are extremely passionate about what they do and want to take the band all the way to the top.
Surrounded by Strangers was also open to explaining the types of challenges they face.
“Getting everybody together for practice because he (Vogelsohn) lives in Whittier,” Guerrero said, “We are in Orange County. He (Meridith) is a flight attendant, so he is gone sometimes for weeks throughout the month. So, I think getting together is the second hardest to getting gigs.”
"Even when we argue and fight, at the end of it it's always positive. You always come to a solution, and it just makes our friendship even better,” Vogelsohn said, “So, we have a good, strong set of people. All of us are really committed. We all are in it for the long haul and really, really trying to see where this goes.”
Kosel, Meridith and Guerrero collectively agreed that their favorite song from their released EP, Buried Alive is “Humiliation Ritual” while Vogelsohn’s favorite was “Sudden Death Syndrome”.
The band is celebrating their one-year anniversary next month, and their next EP has some exciting titles that the members are looking forward to including “R.E.M”, “Black Medley”, and “Spontaneous Combustion”.
Photo courtesy of Nathan Guerrero.
Surrounded by Strangers played on February 10 at “Feel the Good Warehouse” in Santa Ana and have plans to perform within the next month in Long Beach.
One aspect of this band that was intriguing was how down-to-earth the members are and how much respect they have for each other. As individuals they play to each other's strengths, and in return the entire band seems to enjoy making their own path and starting off a new generation of music here in California.
“We want everybody to come to our show,” Vogelsohn said, “I would never want anyone to feel unwelcome or uncomfortable with our show. You know, it is for everybody.”
You can keep up with Surrounded by Strangers on their Instagram @surrounded.by.strangers and listen to their music on Spotify.