Harem Scarem: Classic Harem keeps taking melodic rock higher.
The voice of Harem Scarem, Harry Hess, talks about the new album Higher, all things to do with the band and other stuff like producing and screaming on new tracks for Jack Frost.
Hi Harry, good to talk to you as usual. Thanks for sending me a preview of the Jack Frost track. He was in a band called Sabotage or Savatage, I guess, for a while. He was the guitar player. He's done a bunch of different projects. I think one is called Seven Witches or something like that.
That's right… He's from New Jersey. He's a guitar player and he called me up and asked me if I'd do two songs on his solo record with him, so I'm doing that.
It's kind of funny. It's metal, and I'm yelling. It's hilarious. I thought, "Well that would be funny; I haven't done anything like that in like 20 fuckin' years." So I thought that would be entertaining and it sure is.
Not since Blind Vengeance! That's right, exactly. I haven't yelled like this in a long time.
I love your comment on the track rundown you did for me for Higher. Oh, right.
You said you were about to explode or something like that if you went any higher. Yeah. It's getting higher and higher every day.
Fantastic. Speaking of…did Blind Vengeance ever come out on CD? Yeah, it did. Some guy bought the rights to it here in Canada. I don't know what he did with it, to tell you the truth. I just heard that he did.
I've never heard it... It's awful.
Is it? <laughs> It's really bad. It really is.
Even more reason for me to track it down! That's right. Track it down.
You've had a little bit of time to live with the new album now. What do you think? You know what? I haven't listened to it in a while. I heard it after we mastered it. I thought the mastering job was okay. I didn't love it.
Really? Yeah. It's a little bit bright in the high end, a little bit harsh sounding compared to the masters we had, but for the most part I'm pretty pleased with it. We were loving it when we were mixing it, you know. I can't remember making a record where we liked so many songs on it, especially while we were working on it. So I don't know. If that's any indication, I mean, we really enjoyed working on it from beginning to end. Usually by the end of it we're pretty sick of it and don't have a whole lot of perspective, but this one, we never really got sick of the songs. I don't know.
I think it's a bit of... you always do something a little different and there's a few tracks on here that are a little different again….but there's a little bit of everything of you on there isn't it? Yeah. Oh, for sure.
A little bit of Mood Swings. A little bit of the debut, a lot of the debut. A little bit of Voice of Reason. A little bit of Weight of the World. Yeah, I think this record is actually pretty simple, but very melodic and I guess if you could go back and compare it to anything, the closest I can... I found the first record like that, you know? There wasn't really a whole lot of outrageous guitar playing or anything like that. They were just straight ahead rock songs and treated a certain way and I at least kinda felt this way with this, but when things do go off on a tangent, like things like "Reach" and some other songs, that's just because of where we've come from all these years and influences, and our influences like Mood Swings and Voice of Reason and stuff. Those types of elements, they always crop up in songs or parts of songs at least.
Yeah. Stuff like "Lies" and "Lost" and "Waited" are very much like the debut aren't they? Yep. Very true.
I really like what you did with "Waited". Oh, yeah?
I think that's my favorite track on the album. Yeah, I really like it too, I mean, a lot of people that have heard it think it's actually quite modern in the sense that it could be on American radio right now too. And same with "Torn Right Out". For me that's a good accomplishment because, you never want to just be, you know, doing... rehashing what we did 10, 12 years ago and stuff.
It's nice to stay current and stay fresh and not have it sound like a total '80s rock production, with still having all the elements that our fans like about what we do and enjoying it ourselves and at least feeling we're always moving forward and doing the types of productions that are contemporary and I guess worthy of what's going on today.
Yeah. In fact my favorite albums in the last--my tastes have sort of changed a little bit--my favorite albums in the last 12 months have been albums that have updated their sound... but stayed true to what the band were, or are, what they do best. Yeah.
And there's definitely some modern production and songwriting on Higher. Is there any hope in hell of you finally getting a U.S. deal and this stuff getting on the radio? It's so wrong that it isn't. We just don't have a real outlet for it. We're kind of in a position now where everybody knows us as that hard rock, heavy metal band from 10 years ago and it's really, really tough to get anybody to pay attention to what we're doing and most of the A&R guys out there, they're just looking to sign something fresh and new and get it out, you know.
You see what happens with Nickelback when someone takes a chance on it, you know?
Exactly. I know. And again, we might be a little bit guilty of not pursuing it to the fullest extent either. We just kind of go, well that's our situation and there you go. Because we tried so many times in the past and it's just one of those weird things with us now and we really haven't bothered in the last few years to tell you the truth. We've got a little Canadian Indie deal here in Canada for Weight of the World and he's just about to put it out now; it's taken him so long to get to it.
Is that not out already? Yeah. There's a little bit of debauchery there with all that stuff, but…
How many other bands are out there have 8 or 9 studio albums behind them?! I know. That's like this Jack Frost guy. He's... I guess that Savatage band were signed to Atlantic for a while and now he's doing records for Sanctuary, and he says the same thing. He says, "Look, everybody that... here's this stuff and I can't believe it never came out in America." And I say, "Well, you've got to remember, we were trying at a time when hard rock was just, I mean, you couldn't even tell anyone that you were in a hard rock band, like when we first started because it was all grunge and that's what we were dealing with.” And major labels, as you know, all they're interested in is what's happening right now. Not what happened two years ago, so fuck, it's really no surprise to me looking back that we never got a U.S. release, but at the same time, with our whole catalogue now and a bit of a resurgence in hard rock again, and when bands like Nickelback and Creed can go out and sell millions and millions of records, I think there's a place for us somewhere in the middle, you know?
Yeah, there's got to be. Not everybody... I sort of started off liking pop/rock and then started looking for something that was a little bit more of a harder edge, something with a little bit more impact, that'll blow you right through. There's got to be a lot of other people out there that want something between Avril Lavigne and Creed, you know? Yeah, for sure.
Any dates or promotions you'll be doing in Japan or just phone interviews? There's nothing solidified yet. We're talking to some promoters about an actual tour and that's just kind of ongoing right now. So we'll see what happens with that. And the European release is almost a month later.
Did you go to Japan for Weight of the World? Oh, yeah. We've toured on every record there except for the first two.
Right. Okay. It's a good little market, isn't it? Yeah, it's been great for us.
Yeah, great for a lot of people. The European release... any dates in Europe? Yeah. It's always been really, really tough and, you know, it's just a financial thing, it's not for the lack of not wanting to go, we'd love to go.
We'd love to go everywhere and play, but it's just the reality of how much it costs to fly 4 or 5 people around and deal with hotels and cars and all that crap while we're there and it's just so expensive that unless you're selling records, and a promoter is willing to take a chance and give you some money to come over and do it, it's really next to impossible, so we just pick and choose the opportunities that come up and make the most sense and try to get everybody on board to help us out and get down there.
So that's kind of the situation. It's very tough.
Absolutely. I get a lot of questions... a lot of people asking about Canadian dates. Do you ever play live in Canada any more? Very rarely. The last time we played was when the Rubber albums came out and it was actually received very well and we did a lot of dates and it went great, but we literally haven't put anything out since the first Rubber album in Canada because there's been no reason to. Even this last one, Weight of the World, it hasn't come out yet, so if it does, who knows, we might do some warm-up shows here in Canada, like before a Japanese tour or a European thing.
Yeah, I do get some emails from guys who say, “Look, I live 15 minutes from these guys and I can't get their records here.” It's complicated isn't it? Yeah. It's very, very odd.
How do you move on from here, where do you go from here? You've been busy - with Weight of the World, you've had the live album, the archive release. Any idea where you'd like to go from here? Well, I don't know. I think, you know, even what I'm doing here tonight, like doing something a little bit different, you know, and as far as side projects go I'd like to do things that take me in a little bit of a different direction because I don't want to do the same thing over and over again.
xx
Sure. But the Harem Scarem records, they're actually a lot of fun to make now because there's really... it's not like there's a lot of pressure on us when we're making them. It's just pretty much Pete and I doing what we do and then the guys come in and do their stuff and we've kind of got it down as far as what we want to do and what we're going to do when we make a Harem Scarem record. It is just a matter of sitting down and writing the songs and actually taking the time to do it. It's just become 2nd nature and a real pleasure to do, so as long as people want us to do them, we'll do them because it's actually quite fun and easy these days.
So you pretty much see yourself sitting down once a year to do that? Yeah. I think so, yeah.
That's awesome. Unless people say stop.
Haha…I don't think you'll get that just yet. What about solo records? I wouldn't do what I did again in the sense that... trying to do something on my own. Like I said, like doing what I'm doing tonight just maybe collaborating with more musicians. It's a lot more fun and to get more feedback working with other people. I just would like to broaden my horizons rather than just repeat doing what I do and just kind of staying in my own little bubble and only going with what I know, so I kind of would be interested in kind of expanding my horizons a little bit more and working on different material.
xx
That's cool. You did that with the Once and Future King track, didn't you? Yeah. I actually just sang background on an Eric Martin track for his next record too.
Did you really? Yeah, which is awesome. Really, really cool.
I love Eric… He's a great, great singer.
Isn't he just. I've been a fan of his since like his debut solo album in the early '80s. Yeah, he's such a nice guy too. Real down to earth and he's just really, really cool; I like him a lot.
Fantastic. I look forward to hearing that. Anything else sort of in the pipeline? I've been doing a lot of mixing for bands around here. What else? That's really it. It's been pretty crazy since we came off the Weight of the World album. We did a little bit of a tour and then I came back and did the solo record, and right after the solo record started the Higher record and here we are now. So really, like the last 2 years it's been every day going non-stop, and lots of mixing projects in the middle and recording stuff here at the studio. There's lots of records being done in my place too when I'm not in here that have done really well. There's a band from Canada called Three Days Grace; it's a young band and they're doing real well. They've got a U.S. deal, and then there's another band called Billy Talent that was done here, which got a deal with Atlantic in America. So lots of great things have been happening. It's all been good. No complaints.
I looked up your site and saw the resume on there. It's quite an impressive resume there now, isn't it? Especially yourself. You've produced a lot of stuff, haven't you? Yeah.
I really enjoyed the Crush album. Oh, yeah. Me too. I think it's very cool. I've got to remember to send that out to some people because I don't think they ever got that record released beyond Canada.
They did a new record now, which is great as well. I'm a big fan of those guys. They're great.
Again, stuff that just should be all over the radio. Yep. Yep.
You've still got a lot of unreleased stuff. Do you think you might do an Archive Vol. 2? Yeah, you know what. It's possible. We do have a lot of stuff. I don't know specifically how many tracks and the quality of it. That would be something I'd have to sit down and check out and see if it's worth putting together.
How about a boxed set? Yeah. I never thought of that, actually.
Just get a FedEx package, stick all the tracks into it, send it to me and I'll put it together for you!!! That'd be awesome.
I'll save you the time <laughs>. Yeah, yeah.
I'll start bootlegging it, start sending them over the net without you even knowing about it. Yeah <laughs>. Sure. Why not.
$995 for the Harem Scarem CD. Yeah, I tell that story in every interview.
It's great stuff, isn't it? Yep.
If only I had a box full of that. Fuck. I know. Crazy.
Good stuff. The Early Years turned out well. Yeah, it did turn out pretty good. It's a funny little package. I love the pictures and stuff. It's hilarious. It's funny to see.
I actually got a copy of the Japanese… of the video you put out. It's out in Japan on DVD now. Oh, yeah.
Yeah, your first 6 or 7 videos. They put it out on DVD, eh? Was it Warner that did that?
Yeah. Absolutely. Wow.
There were about 8 clips on there, after the Believe or something like that. They didn't even tell us.
Didn't they? <laughs> No. I didn't know that.
I'll e-mail you the cover sleeve. Yeah, maybe they'll send me a copy one day.
Yeah, that would be nice wouldn't it? Yeah, very nice of them.
There's some big hair on there isn't there? Oh, yeah. I had the real rock hairdo.
Pete was guilty too. Actually, Pete just sent me... he's producing a band called, One Short. Do you keep up with what he's doing? Who? Pete?
Yeah. Oh, One Short. Who sent you that?
The guys in the band. Oh, cool.
Yeah, they did a couple of Harem... a couple of your songs, didn't they? They did. They did. A crazy version or two.
What do you think of that? You know. I thought it was pretty cool. They're a good little band. Real nice guys. They're really young. I think they're like 17 or 18 years old.
Is that right? Yeah. Real young guys and they're good, you know? I don't know how much luck they're having with it, getting it out there, but they're a good little band.
I'm going to feature them on the site and do whatever I can. Oh, cool.
Give them a bit of PR. I enjoy them. You can't substitute the originals though. <laughs>
Anything you'd like to add, Harry? I think we've covered it all… Yeah. No, that's cool. That's great. Great talking. Thanks and take care.
Hess and Harem: Harem Scarem's frontman Harry Hess talks solo, the early years and what's coming for Harem 2003.
The Solo Album
Hi Harry….Why right now for your solo debut?
It came down to having a bunch of songs that didn't fit the H.S direction, so it was really born out of that.
How long did the album take to write and then record?
I did it off and on for about a year but doing a lot of other tings in between.
Does the end result match your expectations?
Pretty much, there's always things you'd change listing back, but I can't complain.
You write great pop songs, have you ever or will you ever, offer your catalogue of songs for license to pop artists looking for material?
Funny you ask! I'm in the process of sending out material right now to some publishers and such. I'm very busy doing other bands and mixing that I never take advantage of having some of those songs.
The solo style sees your love of good pop/rock and a little of the modern pop rock sound that Rubber was, will future solo albums be the soul outlet for this style, or can you see another outlet for this style?
I'm already getting a little tired of it, I think there will always be elements of it but maybe not so blatant next time.
Where does the subject matter of your song come from? They always seem so personal!
There is no rule, I just try to tell a story, or it's observation of things in my life and around me.
One issue that has been raised with this album and the last Harem album - running time. Is 35 minutes too short? Or ideally, what makes a good album length?
When you start to repeat yourself within a single recording! What's the point of a song "13 " if it's just a crappier version of something else on the record? (I tend to hope for quality not quantity). Too many records these days have one good song on them and the rest is shit, but there are 14 pieces of shit on it, what a deal!!!!!!!!!
Sentimental BLVD sounds like the original 1990 track - is that right? Did you have this version in the archives and what came about for Darren to end up singing lead?
I found the two inch tapes looking for material for the Early Years release and It was just a lot of fun to hear it again. On the Hess release you here a combo of the original demo and new tracks. The original background vocals were there as is, with Darren and me already mixed together. (Very familiar if you know the Mood Swings version ).
When we made Mood Swings I thought it would be cool to feature the fact that there were other people in the band that can sing, maybe like Queen.
The Early Years CD
Ok Harry, for those that don't know what happened - how'd the Early Years CD come into existence?
Well! I was made aware (from you) that someone was selling copies of our early demo on the internet for like $995.00 U.S for one copy. So the logical next step was to make it available to the fans at a reasonable rate.
So you can all thank Andrew or blame him, all depends on how you look at it.
Do you actually own copies of the original demo? You could place a copy a month on EBay and live off that for a while!!
Ya, I have two copies somewhere around, I wish I would have thought of it first.
Where did the 15 tracks come from - what source and years?
Eleven are the original demos we did to get our record deal and the rest are all demos for the first and 2nd records. I'm not sure what year exactly, but 89-93 I would guess.
But there are still others aren't there?
Maybe!!!!!!! ya there are still some other ones, probably another 10 or 15. (the not so early years).
Like why wasn't the monster ballad Don't Even Know I'm Alive featured on this CD?
I believe it's on the European version. (I borrowed my own lyric ten years later for my solo record). he he he!!!!!
Does that mean there will be a Volume 2, the middle years or something?!!
Sure! Why not.
How do you enjoy hearing the tracks now, these X amount of years later?
I cringe. It became evident how much we improved in a relatively short time from making those demos to our first record. Thank God.
The New Harem Scarem album
What point are you up to with the new Harem album?
We are done the writing, just in the process of recording right now and we will be finished sometime in June.
A couple of interesting quotes already from you - "More like WOTW and the debut" and also "If you like the older albums you'll love it, we finally figured out how to do that style just right"
These quotes are true.
VERY interesting stuff, so Harry, what does that mean? LOL! What style is the new album and what can we expect compared with previous albums?
It's even more song driven than the last one and it's backed up with a "Hard Rock" production. It reminds me of songs from the first record with elements of Moodswings with a W.O.T.W production. If that makes any sense.
When are you looking at completing the album and has a rough release month been set as yet?
I think it's August or September for sure.
And long term - what after that? Another Harry solo record or some other surprises?
I don't have any plans after finishing this record. I think I will just produce someone else and give the writing a bit of a break.
Do you still keep in contact with Darren much and what about Mike?
With Darren every now and then but with Mike being in L.A I don't get a chance to talk to him much. ( Looking for a reunion? ).
How about Jon Fiore? I've been trying to reach him for so long....used to be in contact. You guys made 2 cool albums together, I'd love to hear more...
I have lost touch with him as well. I definitely enjoyed making those two records with Jon.
Anything you would like to add Harry?
May the "Rock" be with you and whoever actually takes the time to listen to what I have to say for this long should win a prize or something, don't ya think?
Thanks for taking the time out to answer this lot!
The eagerly anticipated new Harem Scarem album Change The World is out March 6. There is a Japanese Deluxe Edition which includes a bonus track and DVD, which you can order now from CD Japan.
Most of the world went nuts at the brilliance of United, so what can the band possibly do to deliver a credible follow-up to one of their best records ever?
Well...they simply do it all over again! Change The World is every bit as impressive and memorable as United and maybe even better! Once again, the new album is chock full of massive choruses, huge harmonies and layers upon layers of guitars.
The album is a little heavier in places, with 5 uptempo rockers included, and features without doubt, some of the best Harem songs of their entire catalogue.
I can't see any Harem fan not being as blown away by this as they were with United. Change The World is another absolute cracker!
PS. Listen out for the 1, 2, 3 punch of tracks 2, 3 & 4 - Aftershock, Searching For Meaning and Death Of Me. Oh my!
On March 22, 2019, Harem Scarem band will release "The Ultimate Collection Box Set” a 14CD limited edition deluxe box set and four titles (“Weight of the World,” “Higher”, “Thirteen”, “United”) on limited edition color vinyl.
Given the "hard to find" nature of many titles in Harem Scarem's catalog, the band, in cooperation with Frontiers, has decided to make their catalogue available in an exclusive, limited edition box set. The result is a mammoth box set inclusive of 13 studio albums encompassing the entire Harem Scarem discography, including the original Warner albums (not available on digital!), plus a gargantuan amount of rare, unreleased, and bonus tracks which comprise a full bonus disc (only available on the box set), in addition to original bonus tracks added to individual albums. The 14 CDs will be packaged in vinyl replica slipcases housed inside a collector's box.
On top of this, Frontiers and the band decided to add a very special one time limited run of colored vinyl for the signature Frontiers' catalogue releases “Weight of the World,” “Higher”, “Thirteen”, and the band’s last studio album, “United”. These vinyl runs are EXTREMELY LIMITED. For example, ONLY 150 TOTAL will be available in North America, so act fast to secure one.
The full set will also be available digitally as well.
Tracklistings:
CD 1 Harem Scarem
1. Hard To Love
2. Distant Memory
3. With A Little Love
4. Honestly
5. Love Reaction
6. Slowly Slipping Away
7. All Over Again
8. Don't Give Your Heart Away
9. How Long
10. Something To Say
Bonus tracks:
11. Hard To Love (Acoustic)
12. How Long (Acoustic)
13. Honestly (Acoustic)
14. Slowly Slipping Away (Acoustic)
CD 2 Mood Swings
1. Saviors Never Cry
2. No Justice
3. Stranger Than Love
4. Changes Come Around
5. Jealousy
6. Sentimental Blvd
7. Mandy
8. Empty Promises
9. If There Was A Time
10. Just Like I Planned
11. Had Enough
Bonus tracks:
12. Change Comes Around (acoustic)
13. No Justice (Crazy Pants Remix)
14. If There Was A Time (acoustic)
15. Jealousy (acoustic)
16. Just Like I Planned (Acoustic)
17. Stranger Than Love (acoustic)
CD 3 Voice Of Reason
1. Voice Of Reason
2. Blue
3. Warming A Frozen Rose
4. Let It Go
5. And That's All
6. Breathing Sand
7. Candle
8. The Paint Thins
9. I'll Be Brief
10. Untouched
11. Necessary Evil
Bonus track:
12. Candle (Acoustic)
CD 4 Believe / Karma Cleansing
1. Believe
2. Die Off Hard
3. Hail, Hail
4. Staying Away
5. Baby With A Nail Gun
6. Morning Grey
7. Victim Of Fate
8. Rain
9. I Won't Be There
10. Karma Cleansing
11. Cages
12. The Mirror
13. Rain (Acoustic)
CD 5 Big Bang Theory
1. So Blind
2. Climb The Gate
3. Reload
4. Tables Turning
5. Turn Around
6. Seas Of Dissension
7. Sometimes I Wish
8. Never Have It All
9. Lying
10. Without You
11. Wasted Time
12. New Religion
13. What I Do
14. In My State Of Mind
15. So Blind (Acoustic)
CD 6 Weight Of The World
1. Weight Of The World
2. Killing Me
3. Outside Your Window
4. All I Want Is Everything
5. This Ain't Over
6. Internude
7. You Ruined Everything
8. Charmed Life
9. If You
10. See Saw
11. Voice Inside
12. End Of Time
CD 7 Higher
1. Reach
2. Waited
3. Torn Right Out
4. Give It To You
5. Higher
6. Run And Hide
7. Lucky Ones
8. Lies
9. Gone
10. Lost
11. Wishing
12. Higher (Acoustic)
CD 8 Overload
1. Dagger
2. Afterglow
3. Rise & Fall
4. Don't Come Easy
5. Can't Live With You
6. Forgive & Forget
7. All You're Getting
8. Leading Me On
9. Understand You
10. Same Mistakes
CD 9 Human Nature
1. Human Nature
2. Next Time Around
3. Caught Up In Your World
4. Reality
5. Hanging On
6. Don't Throw It Away
7. Give Love/Get Love
8. 21
9. Starlight
10. Going Under
11. Tomorrow May Be Gone
12. Human Nature (Acoustic)
13. Caught Up In Your World (Acoustic)
CD 10 Hope
1. Watch Your Back
2. Time Bomb
3. Hope
4. Days Are Numbered
5. Dark Times
6. Beyond Repair
7. Never Too Late
8. Shooting Star
9. Calm Before The Storm
10. Nothing Without You
CD 11 Thirteen
1. Garden Of Eden
2. Live It
3. Early Warning Signs
4. The Midnight Hours
5. Whatever It Takes
6. Saints And Sinners
7. All I Need
8. Troubled Times
9. Never Say Never
10. Stardust
11. Garden Of Eden (Acoustic)
12. The Midnight Hours (Acoustic)
CD 12 United
1. United
2. Here Today Gone Tomorrow
3. Gravity
4. Sinking Ship
5. One Of Life’s Mysteries
6. No Regrets
7. Bite The Bullet
8. Things I Know
9. Heaven And Earth
10. Indestructible
11. Here Today Gone Tomorrow (Acoustic)
12. Sky Is Falling (Acoustic)
CD 13 The Early Years
1.Whatever I Want
2. When The Morning Comes
3. Say Goodbye
4. Looking Back
5. All Over Again
6. Honestly
7. Lovin’ Like 90
8. One Step At A Time
9. Staying Away
10. Last Time
11. One Of The Wounded
12. Right Time
13. You’re The One
14. Out Of Love
15. Lost In Yesterday
16. I Can Hear Them Now
CD 14 Bonus Tracks (Only available on the box set)
I’ve always maintained that the writing partnership of Harry Hess/Pete Lesperance was the Lennon/McCartney of the melodic rock world and this, Harem Scarem’s 14th studio album, is not only further proof of that belief, it also proves that a long partnership can remain fresh, vibrant and exciting.
United is simply brilliant – a joyous celebration of the classic definition of melodic rock. Harem Scarem have never disappointed me. But I still have my favourite albums and I’m happy to add this one right near the top.
It’s just one glorious hook and chorus after another, but that isn’t the only thing that makes this album so extraordinary. It’s the intelligent musical bed that drives the songs and the contrast of unexpected twists and a quite varied palette of styles that all end up in the same place – melodic rock bliss.
The best aspect of this album is the diversity of the ways the anthemic choruses are delivered. Every song is different, yet every one is memorable.
And I love how the darker tone to many of these songs is seemingly cast aside for the many harmony drenched feel good choruses. It’s a contrast that’s almost impossible to pull off with such regularity.
Pete Lesperance shines with some of his finest riffing and soloing in years, Harry Hess is absolutely all over this record with what seems like a choir of harmony vocals and some really powerful leads.
United is essentially a 45 minute Harem Scarem history lesson. Fans will hear parts of Mood Swings, Weight Of The World, Voice Of Reason, Higher, Thirteen and Hope all in play.
There’s no track that doesn’t stand out on its own, but my personal favourites are the infectious Here Today, Gone Tomorrow; the fast stomping No Regrets; the moody modern rock brilliance of Bite The Bullet; the feel good stadium anthem Things I Know; another harmony drenched, lyrically brilliant The Sky Is Falling and the freeking fantastic bluesy-come-AOR anthem Indestructible.
Did I mention the great opening track and one of the band’s best ever ballads in One Of Life’s Mysteries? How about the hands-in-the-air Sinking Ship and the groove driven Gravity? Did I leave anything out?
How about the brilliant production and mix – among the best the band has delivered?
Jeff Scott Soto appears on backing vocals for Here Today, Gone Tomorrow and even more prominently, to great effect, on Bite The Bullet.
Why haven’t you purchased this already? What a wonderful, joyous, powerful statement from a band that just keeps delivering time and time again. Essential and perfect.
Frontiers Music Srl is excited to announce the release of HAREM SCAREM's highly anticipated 14th studio album, “United” on May 12.
The new recording offers up 11 tracks of trademark Harem Scarem music from Harry Hess (lead vocals, keyboards), Pete Lesperance (guitars, bass, keyboards), long-time drummer Creighton Doane, and backing vocals from original sticksman Darren Smith (who will be playing live drums for the band on tour dates). The band is back and stronger than ever!
Frontman Harry Hess says: "This year will mark the 30th year of Harem Scarem and I can tell you that we are just as excited about writing and recording today as we were then. The brand new " United " album is one of the best collection of songs we have ever put on one release and I can't wait for everyone to hear it!"
Harem Scarem make it clear they still have something to say right from the start with the title track, "United", a chunky slice of guitar-driven melodic rock nirvana that kicks off their strongest studio outing since the early 00’s. From there, the album lifts off with well-crafted songs featuring big choruses with simple and addictive hook-laden earworms. Each track carries a power-rock-packed punch, swaggering riffs, and hooks to die for. Hess and Lesperance without a doubt show the world that their partnership still works, that they indeed are still "United".
With sales well over a million records in 43 countries and 12 top 40 hits around the globe, 2017 will see Harem Scarem return and ready to dominate while touring the world in support of their 14th studio album, “United“!
“United” tracklisting includes:
1. United
2. Here Today Gone Tomorrow
3. Gravity
4. Sinking Ship
5. One Of Life’s Mysteries
6. No Regrets
7. Bite The Bullet
8. Things I Know
9. The Sky Is Falling
10. Heaven And Earth
11. Indestructible
HAREM SCAREM:
Harry Hess - lead vocals, guitar
Pete Lesperance - lead guitar
Stan Miczek - bass guitar
Creighton Doane - drums
Darren Smith - background vocals, live drummer
TOUR DATES (More to be announced soon)
- 30 September – The Music Hall, Oshawa, Canada
- 6 October – Norma Jeans, London, Canada
- 14 October – The Brass Moneky, Ottawa, Canada
- 20-22 October – Trent University, Nottingham (Rockingham Festival), UK
MelodicRock Media is a new arm of the MelodicRock organization, which will concentrate on non-music related merchandise and services.
One aspect of this is Apparel , and first up for the MRM launch, I am excited to bring fans an exclusive Tshirt design featuring HAREM SCAREM and their classic ‘Mood Swings’ release.
This fully authorized Tshirt is a limited edition run, for which you must pre-order to receive. This ensures the correct sizes are ordered.
Pre-orders are being taken now and for the next week until Friday 17th at which time the shirts will be ordered for shipping out by July 1.
The mighty Canadian legends Harem Scarem mark time between studio releases with this career spanning double live CD/DVD. Supporting their brilliant second comeback album Thirteen, the band rip through 20 tracks that take in nearly every album of their 25 year career.
This is an absolute must have for all fans of the band.
Do yourself a favor and start the playback at 1.10 so as to avoid the awful stage introduction.
The recording starts a bit rough with the new track Garden of Eden, but the mix improves as the band launches into some of their most memorable tracks.
The debut is represented by spirited versions of Hard To Love, Distant Memory and Slowly Slipping Away.
The classic Mood Swings has Saviors Never Cry, Change Comes Around, No Justice, Sentimental Blvd and Mandy.
The brilliant new album shines via Garden Of Eden, Troubled Times, Midnight Hours, All I Need and Saints And Sinners.
Turn Around and So Blind appear from Big Bang Theory as well as the anthem Killing Me from Weight Of The World.
The title track from Voice Of Reason gets a run as does the hard riffing Dagger from the underrated Overload album.
I actually find myself skipping some of the earlier tracks to enjoy the more recent and modern tracks as I feel Harem is on band that just nailed the crossover from old-to-new with their constantly evolving sound.
I’d love to comment on the DVD, but I’ve been sent 2 Disc 1’s instead of the actual DVD disc, so I guess I’ll have to sort that out.
No matter your preference for albums by these guys, there is no understating what gifted songwriters the guys are. The Hess/Leperance team has delivered to me more all-time favorite songs than just about any other artist I enjoy listening to.
This disc features 20 of them, but there’s so many more. This is a great testament to the band’s longevity and creative brilliance.
Harem Scarem's homecoming show at The Phoenix Concert Theatre
in Toronto on 2CD/DVD & Blu Ray
Out in December on Frontiers
Frontiers Music Srl, is pleased to announce the upcoming live release by the Canadian rock group HAREM SCAREM, entitled LIVE AT THE PHOENIX on December 4th.
Available in 2CD/DVD, Blu-ray and Digital formats, this new release, marks the first proper live album recorded by HAREM SCAREM in front of their “home” audience. Singer Harry Hess explains “Canada is where we started touring all those years ago and to be able to invite our friends, family and fans to this show was cool.”
Recorded live on Saturday July 11th, 2015 at the Phoenix Concert Theatre in Toronto, this happened to be the perfect time and venue for the band to capture live recordings of numerous songs from their latest record "Thirteen" and also to revisit their classic early material. It was an honest and raw performance showcasing the repertoire of a band which is at the top of their game.
“It wasn't easy coming up with this set list but I think we got to all the important stuff plus it's always fun to play the new material that you haven't been playing for 20 years.” Tells Harry “It is definitely the most extensive live recording and video that we have ever done and the quality of both the video and audio are by far the best of anything we have ever done.”
For fans around the world that were not able to see Harem Scarem on their "Thirteen" tour, this special Blu Ray DVD and double audio cd is a must!!
Enjoy the live rendition of the band’s classic song “No Justice”:
LIVE AT THE PHOENIX tracklisting includes:
CD1 - Garden Of Eden; Hard To Love; Saviors Never Cry; Dagger; Distant Memory; The Midnight Hours; Mandy; Killing Me; Slowly Slipping Away; Troubled Times.
CD2 - Sentimental Blvd.; Turn Around; Stranger Than Love; All I Need; Saints And Sinners; So Blind; Human Nature; Voice Of Reason; Change Comes Around; No Justice.
DVD // Blu Ray - Garden Of Eden; Hard To Love; Saviors Never Cry; Dagger; Distant Memory; The Midnight Hours; Mandy; Killing Me; Slowly Slipping Away; Troubled Times; Sentimental Blvd.; Turn Around; Stranger Than Love; All I Need; Saints And Sinners; So Blind; Human Nature; Voice Of Reason; Change Comes Around; No Justice.
HAREM SCAREM Guitarist PETE LESPERANCE has takena fall on the ice and has broken his arm ahead of planned tour dates for the band in April.
Official Statement: "Hi everyone Just a quick update on the Harem Scarem shows for April. Unfortunately a couple days ago Pete took a serious fall on some ice, broke his arm and will not be able to play the HS shows in April. However, the shows will go on as scheduled! Long time friend of the band, Michale Vassos will be standing in for Pete. We'll post updates on Pete's recovery as things play out. Thanks for understanding guys. Team HS"
Pete has added this comment to his FB page: "Harem Scarem: Oshawa Show - Well, accidents apparently do happen! While walking to my car, I managed to slip on some of winter’s final ice and broke my arm. As a result, I won’t be able to play the upcoming Harem Scarem gig in Oshawa. I am obviously totally bummed to be missing a hometown show. The good news is that we were lucky enough to convince Mike Vassos to take over for me. Mike is a long time friend of the band, a great guy and an fantastic guitar player. The show is going to be awesome. It will definitely be a surreal experience watching Harem Scarem form the audience and I hope to see you all in Oshawa on the 2nd! Pete"
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