L'Étranger (The Stranger or The Outsider) was a Canadian punk rock band based in Toronto, Ontario. Named for the novel L'Étranger by Albert Camus, the band played a politically minded brand of punk music that drew on both Clash influences and the band members' social justice-oriented Roman Catholic faith. The band was best known for their anti-apartheid single "One People", one of the first independent videos ever to gain airplay on MuchMusic.
History
L'Étranger was founded in 1980 in Toronto, Ontario. by childhood friends, singer/songwriter and guitarist Andrew Cash and bassist Charlie Angus, along with drummer Peter Duffin. That lineup released one six-song EP, Innocent Hands in 1982. The songs were composed by Cash and Angus, and some had political themes; some critics referred to the band as "Gang of Four with a sense of humour". The band was by then performing more widely around Ontario, managed by James Booth. He went on to record several albums as a solo singer-songwriter and as a member of The Cash Brothers, and also worked as a freelance journalist. Duffin later co-founded the acoustic pop band Barnhouse Static with Canadian songwriter Kathy Evans.
As of 2011, Angus and Cash were both in politics, sitting in the House of Commons of Canada as members of the New Democratic Party caucus.