Sometimes you have to come back home to find the one you want for the rest of your life. After a decade away, Stacey and Gary Strickland say that getting back to Tallahassee led them each back to each other.
“We had a lot of mutual friends and would run into each other at the local punk hangouts during our teenage years,” she told CL. “It wasn't until I came back that we connected in a romantic way. I definitely had an instant attraction, it just took a while to get together.”
“We both moved away,” he says about the slow build of their relationship. “We became friends first and things moved on from there.” Today, Gary and Stacey — who’ve been together for 17 or 18 years, depending on who you ask — are two parts of St. Petersburg garage-gaze quintet Seafang, who are gearing up for some local and out-of-town dates in support of a new single that will see release via Arizona indie imprint Emotional Response Records (which is also run by a husband-and-wife duo, Jen and Stewart Anderson). The Strickland’s romance has only grown stronger because of the creative relationship.
“We absolutely write songs together, although I will say that Gary is the driving force behind the majority of them,” Stacey said. “I think bandmates in general have a special connection but to actually be married and in love with your bandmate takes it to the next level. It's fun to create music, practice, play gigs and dream about music together.”
“Sharing a passion for music strengthens our relationship,” Gary said, adding that any band that puts a strain on their relationship and friendship wouldn't be worth doing. “Some couples develop separate lives or a different set of friends — we kind of keep growing in the same direction.”
