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Album Details
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· Produced By: Harry Hess &
· Pete Lesperance
· Running Time: 37.40
· Release Date: September 15
· Released: EU
· Genre: Melodic Rock
· WebLink: Harem Scarem
· LabelLink: Frontiers
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Artist Bio
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After spending many years in Oshawa's heavy metal band Blind Vengeance, in 1988 Harry Hess and Darren Smith were ready to move into a new musical direction. Teaming up with their buddies Pete Lesperance and Mike Gionet, they sat down to write some songs together. Deciding to make a go of it and try to get a record deal, they rehearsed for a full year before they ever played live. Putting together an 11-song demo in Hess's 24-track recording studio, they sent their manager out to shop it in early 1989 while continuing to write more material.
Their eponymous debut on WEA was released in 1991 and received instant airplay on rock radio stations across the country. With videos to support the singles and tours of the nation's bars, the album quickly climbed the rock charts, going on to sell a respectable 30,000 copies in Canada. It was also released by WEA in Germany, Benelux, Portugal and Spain.
Getting off the road in the fall of 1992, principal songwriters Hess and Lesperance started writing once more, and the result was 1993's "Mood Swings", a decided departure stylistically from the pop-metal of the first album. The album is considered by many to be the best melodic rock album of the 90`s and tracks from it are still filling dance-floors around Europe.
The first album got released in Japan in 1994 and quickly garnered a strong fan response. Such was the reaction that the band went to Japan in 1995 and did some dates to promote the first two albums. Subsequent support from the Japanese audiences has proven to be their strongest market.
No other band in the melodic rock genre has delivered such a varied discography throughout their career as these heroes from Canada. From the high quality poser rock of their early days, over the melodic rock with almost progressive song structures ("Voice Of Reason" album), to the power pop of the last releases as Rubber, this band always surprised their fans with new ideas. No album sounds like the other, but due to the distinctive voice of Harry Hess and the harmonic guitar playing of Pete Lesperance, the unique style of Harem Scarem is always recognizable.
With their 2002 come back album “Weight Of The World”, Harem Scarem gained finally their first European independent release with much critical acclaim (including the cover story on the Melodic Journey magazine plus a #1 place in the German Rock Hard soundcheck!). The band also performed at the GODS festival 2002 in the UK and their performance was recorded to give birth, a few months later, to a successful live cd/DVD release.
In January 2003, the band went back into the studio to work on the new songs. In Harry Hess words: “Higher is a continuation of the last record, but even more defined as far as its sound, with a definite taste of the band's classic debut and the follow-up “Mood Swings” included”. To sum it up, “Higher” marks a definite return to straight-ahead melodic anthems, but still gathers a very contemporary melodic hard rock edge and will definitely please both the fans who appreciated 'Weight Of The World' and all the ones who still have a soft spot for the first two albums.
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