Courtesy Photo/Evan Stracqualursi, 19

SCARBOROUGH — Local band Strac is teaming up with Children of the Earth organization, which is working to find housing for families fleeing Ukraine.

Scarborough residents Noah and Evan Stracqualursi began their band Strac in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The two brothers who once didn’t have much in common found that music brough them closer than ever.

“Before quarantine, Evan and I weren’t very close,” Noah said. “We were brothers but we never really hung out a lot. Evan was always skateboarding and I was always doing soccer all year round, so when quarantine hit I noticed that he was making music and we couldn’t leave the house so that our only option was to work together. I noticed how good he was getting in a short period of time and I was honestly blown away. It was just a lot of fun and a way to pass the time in such an incredibly weird and scary time we were all in.”

Courtesy Photo/ Noah Stracqualursi,22

“Throughout school our nicknames were Strac we were never in the same school system until I was a senior and he was a freshman at Scarborough High School and that’s when we noticed that we had the same nickname because people would be calling him Strac and I would answer,” Noah said. “So when we started making music together we knew it was a combined effort so Strac became the nickname for that as well.”

Evan, 19, currently attends the University of Tampa for electronic music. When quarantine began Evan decided to make music on his own. Evan said that music has been a way for him to express his feelings and has always been interested in music, he plays the piano and sings.

“Noah’s bedroom is right next to mine and I was working on making music for a month or two or three and then he started to hear something he kind of liked and he came into my room,” Evan said. “Ever since then I would be making the instrumental side. I guess you can say I am more vocally talented I have been singing for a lot longer than him so I am a little bit more vocally trained. I would do the singing and the instrumental pieces but he has always been really good at the lyric side of things so that is where he really came into play.”

In October 2020, Noah and Evan released their first project titled “Nothin’ to Do;” the song was created under the name Strac. This was a five-song project where Noah created the lyrics and Evan sang as well as created the beats for each song. Since then they have released a new song each month. Strac has grossed 58,000 streams on just Spotify alone.

“It has been really awesome working together because before this Noah and I never really connected on too much and now I would go to say he is the closest person to me, he is my best friend I would say honestly, along with a brother and that really helps,” Evan said. “We can fight about everything but at the end of the day were always going to come back together because we are family so I love that about it and just having that person that I can really say that they have been and always will be by my side.”

The brothers wanted to find a way to do something positive with their music. The band contacted Children of the Earth Organization (COE) a that helps less fortunate children gain opportunities to follow their dreams. The Children of the Earth organization is currently working on a project to help find housing for families fleeing Ukraine. Noah and Evan found a lot of similarities in the message of COE and in their May project. They believed that this was a great opportunity to donate 100 percent of their streaming revenue to COE and create as much exposure for this organization in any way possible.

Our goal is to support children in following their dreams, Evan said.

“We have a platform to do something like this and with what is going on in Ukraine we wanted to help out the children that don’t get to play music or don’t get to do whatever they want to do that is creative or even if it is focused on something scientific whatever it may be,” Noah said. “We wanted to find a way to help. I ended up emailing Children of the Earth and they really liked the idea of doing a little collaboration between them and us. They wanted to push our music and any streams that come out will go straight to them in terms of money, they are working on some incredible projects to help find housing for Ukrainians that are fleeing. It is a great organization that is really focused on helping Ukraine right now but also focuses on children in general.”

Strac has decided to do another EP to show the progression since their last album; their second song from their EP will be released on April 1. The project as a whole will be released in May. Their song “Loaded,” featuring NS & Matt Giard, has been released — it can be heard on youtube. The revenue for “Loaded” as well as the song being released in April will be donated to the Children of the Earth.

“We grew up in a home where our parents were always donating to organizations and they still are and this is kind of our way to try and follow their footsteps,” Evan said. “The organization is great, it is giving kids a chance to do things that I really never had the struggle of doing. I always had the freedom to do what I want and opportunity which has been great, so if I can give that to anyone else I am absolutely there for it were just trying to give back any way we can.”

Noah and Evan hope to raise $100,000 and have created a GoFundMe page at https://linktr.ee/strac

Strac’s music can be found on Spotify and Apple Music. To see what their band is up to next follow them on Facebook, Instagram or TikTok.