epk - press kit

I’m currently hard at work on my second album. My first Christmas single (not on the album), “I Wanna Believe,” released on November 8, 2024, thanks to my record label, Hygh Tension Records, which will also include it in a fall 2025 compilation album, A Punk Christmas. The first single off the upcoming album will release in January 2025. In the meantime, check out my 2023 debut album, GOLDEN GIRL!

A few review highlights:

“...just the right level of pop addiction is balanced with just enough rock swagger ... Throw in a touch of Americana and a few more funky vibes, and you have the sonic fingerprint for her debut album, Golden Girl ... [T]wo things are obvious. Firstly, this album explores the various aspects of love, loss, longing, and life itself. Secondly, Mary Strand has, even on her first long player, reserved herself a seat at the ‘ones to watch’ table.”

            - Dave Franklin, The Big Takeover

 “A variety of styles crop up ... the Lesley Gore assertions, the Dixie Cups, the Angels, the Crystals, Reparata & the Del-Rons ... with a potent dose of Shangri-Las’ Mary Weiss’ tough girl vocalese (‘Leader of the Pack’) ... it’s a welcome sound.”

- John Apice, Americana Highways

“…infectious and excellent first record."

  - Take Effect

* * * * *

I wrote many of the songs on the Golden Girl album as part of the Singer/Songwriter Songwriting Challenge on Facebook, but I’ve done all of this - songwriting, conceptualizing, recording, and producing - with major inspiration and help from Ryan Smith and Mark Wade. I play electric guitar and sing lead vocals on all tracks. Ryan (Soul Asylum, The Melismatics, Ryan And Pony) adds acoustic and electric guitar, mandolin, sitar, ukulele, keyboard, harmony vocals, and every other instrument he could think of. Mark (The Melismatics, The Mood Swings) adds bass guitar and harmony vocals, a gong, and on one memorable track he added his own electric guitar to the electric guitar tracks that Ryan and I had already laid down. Because you can never have too much electric guitar, right? RIGHT. Last but not least, my son, Jack Strand (Outta Cuentro, Loondale), plays drums on all tracks.

One song, “I Don’t Want to Be Your Yesterday” (feat. Sarah Morris), was co-written by Sarah and me as part of the Singer/Songwriter Songwriting Challenge, and Sarah adds her gorgeous harmonies to my lead locals on that track.

​Every song on the album is about love, love, love: new and old, good and not so much. And every song experiments with a different type of rock music, all of which I love. As we produced the tracks, some of our specific song influences included The La’s, The Muffs, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, The Ramones, The Replacements, Juanes, and the Beach Boys. So I guess you could say that we get around!