Today we’d like to introduce you to Familiar Faces.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Familiar Faces is an alt-rock band from Long Beach, CA, blending psychedelic textures, funky, or high energy grooves, tight harmonies, soulful vocals, and soaring guitar solos. Led by identical twins Chad & Sean Bierman (both guitar & vocals) and bassist/vocalist/keyboardist Nonso Ikeji, the trio draws from a wide palette — think Tame Impala, The Black Keys, The Killers, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and Marvin Gaye.
Known for their high-energy, fun, and jaw-dropping live shows, Familiar Faces has performed at iconic venues like The Troubadour, The Whiskey a Go-Go, The Viper Room, headlined a festival in Utah’s Salt Flats and played many more festivals (Love Long Beach and New Blues Festivals), toured the California Coast and Southwest Regions, (Utah Concert Series) and won the Jam in the Van Battle of the Bands LA , Dec. 2023.
Their single “Don’t Stop Us” debuted nationally on SiriusXM Deep Tracks with the late Jim Ladd, and they have aired on SoCal’s largest rock station KLOS Heidi & Frank Show, (shoutout to Jordan & Johnny Ice).
Their music video releases have collectively garnered over 100,000+ views.
Sean and Chad started off watching their older brother and family friends jam, and saw the beauty of the instrument and picked up the guitar at 8 years old. In sixth grade, they heard Led Zeppelin for the first time, and began lessons to up the game.
Three years ago, they met, the already talented, Nonso Ikeji at Cypress Community College in The Jazz Program led by Gary Gopar, and after a few gigs, Nonso joined the band.
They completed their first collection of original music in 2023 with GRAMMY-nominated engineer Erik Zobler, and they are currently producing their debut album with Bob Clearmountain’s team and UK’s 2024 Upcoming Producer of the Year Winner, Tayte Nickols, alongside writing sessions with hitmaker Larry Dvoskin (David Bowie, Beach Boys, Bon Jovi, MGMT, and more).
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Along the journey, we’ve had several drummers. Due to the abundance of original music, it can be difficult to have a drummer learn an original set with little time to spare. Also, touring is not cheap so as any musician would know, we have to grind to pay for tours, recording, mixing, mastering sessions.
Another challenge is time. We don’t have enough of it to work our jobs, write, record, practice and perform, tour! If there would be more hours in the day…
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Chad – I’d love to be known for my talent as a producer, songwriter, guitar player, vocalist, bass player, and for my showmanship on stage. I also love producing, recording and mixing other artists from my home studio and to be known for not just the talent I bring to my band but to others would be truly special. I’d love to make an impact into the future sound of music.
Sean –
Beyond being a musician, songwriter, and performer, I also spend my time working in the Audio Visual Industry as an Event Technician. There, I specialize in creating seamless experiences for weddings and corporate events by handling all of the technical details in power, sounds, and lighting. This work helps me build the expert skills in Audio, Lighting, and Video that are necessary to provide the best quality in my productions on stage and in the studio. I feel very blessed to be able to be creative and technical at the same time in my work, and to have both of my crafts compliment each other as I grow in both industries.
Nonso –
For my professional job, I’m the music director/ mentor at The Boys and Girls Club of Buena Park. I started a program called Club Rock which acts as our music program. It gives kids the opportunities to try playing instruments and being in bands together. It’s something I’m super proud of because a lot of these kids now are always playing music and found a new love for it that they didn’t even know of until joining.
In the next 5-10 years I see myself playing plenty of shows around the world and touring with Familiar Faces! With that said, I would also want to help Boys and Girls Clubs all over America to fund music programs to their facilities so that kids who never have the opportunity to try music for themselves now have one.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
With AI music coming out, if people end up actually enjoying it and record labels continue pushing it to make money, I see live performances being the future of the industry for musicians. Thankfully, we excel in performing, and so if that happens, of course we hope people continue loving our released music, but we also hope to see people at our shows!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://familiarfacesofficial.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/familiarfaces_official
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/familiarfacesmusic?mibextid=wwXIfr&mibextid=wwXIfr
- Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/@familiarfaces_official?fbclid=PARlRTSAM-mA5leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABp_nRiugpnyuvkRqPOppvX4Q4cneOEOioBLobk8W_wIwV2n_HKcKPT889acj2_aem_WTVDEBZa_fV41glmFbnjdA
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1eL7yixixWvHIIA30rRjhO?si=xhjY0wqdRwKhqfjqex4O_g
Image Credits
The first four photos are by Sarah Naccarato and the last four are by Dylan Gianella
