(Oshawa, ON) – On the eve of the Easter long weekend, Harem Scarem played the Oshawa Music Hall. Supporting acts included Suckershot, Valyear and Honor First. The downpours that evening, coupled with the intense traffic, delayed my commute to the “Shwa”, missing out on Suckershot and Valyear. Arriving at the venue, it was apparent not all people succumbed to the same delays as I did, the venue was near capacity.
Honor First, a melodic hard rock act, took the stage. Earlier reports on facebook indicated that Jesse Jack, front man for the band was suffering from a chest infection. Although under the weather, Jesse didn’t disappoint their fans, putting on his usual intense, energetic stage performance. A few times it was apparent that he was struggling slightly, but not to the extent that it was off putting to the performance. His own special guest to the show, his mother, was standing nearby, beaming proudly and enjoying her son’s performance. This band has a fantastic stage presence and delivers a heavy set every time. This night was no exception. The amp controlling the floor monitors started to smoke, sending a stench of melted plastic through the venue. Andy (bass) joked about how they are so heavy they broke the monitors. Performing that night were Michale Vassos on guitar/backing vocals, Andy Narsingh on bass/backing vocals and Dave Langguth on Drums. This is a band that is well worth seeing. If you’ve never heard of Honor First, make it a point to check them out. They will be performing at the Phoenix in Toronto July 11th, 2015. You won’t be disappointed!
Harem Scarem, who recently released their 13th studio recording ironically called Thirteen, where next on the roster. Guitarist Pete Lesperance took to the stage, right arm in a cast, beer in hand, explaining that he had slipped on some ice and broke his arm. Instead of cancelling the show and disappointing their fans, they decided to recruit the very talented Michale Vassos (Honor First) to fill in until further notice. Pete endorses Michale and admits it’s weird to be introducing his own band and to be a spectator. With that, he screams “Give it up for Harem Scarem” and the crowd goes wild!
They kicked off their set with the song “Garden of Eden”, a song about the perils of war, from the album Thirteen. The guitar starts off with a successive trill, eventually leading up to Harry Hess’ trademark vocals. He starts the song in a slightly subdued drawn out manner, conducive to the lyrics. But then kicked it up a notch after the harmonizing vocals for the pre chorus. A kick ass rendition of the guitar solo done by Michale proves he fits in nicely. “Dagger”, the only song from Overload followed up. The crowd went wild when they performed the easily recognizable “Hard to Love” and “Slowly Slipping Away” (#25 on the 1991 Canadian Music Charts). Harry, experienced technical difficulties when his guitar had no sound. He put that snafu aside, as well as his guitar, and belted out the tune. After the song, since the venue was extremely warm, Darren decided to pull his hair back, while Harry was messing with him saying he preferred Darren’s hair down, causing laughter throughout the crowd. This prompted someone in the crowd to toss a pink “Birthday Girl” pin to Darren, which he put on, accompanied with a big grin. They returned to new material with a song called “Trouble Times”. The song consisted of a build up of cymbals into a mid tempo, technically savvy guitar riff, accentuated with their typical harmony vocals. Tempo started to slow down with “Distant Memory”, the last selection from their self titled album Harem Scarem. Continuing the ballad trend, next up was “Honestly”. A piano track played the intro to this popular early 90’s song. Speeding things up next with “Sentimental Blvd”. Drummer Darren Smith, who recently returned to Harem Scarem after a brief jaunt with Jake E Lee’s band Red Dragon Cartel, took over the lead vocals. He looked like he was right at home, enjoying every moment of the show. Technical issues with Hess’ bad patch cord was resolved, and the guitar returned with “Saviors Never Cry”. Next was “Stranger than Love”, a song reminiscent to Def Leppard both musically and vocally. “All I Need” and “The Midnight Hour” rounded off their set. The band left the stage briefly while the crowd chanted for their return. For their encore they played “No Justice”, much to the audiences delight.
As expected , these highly talented and seasoned musicians from Harem Scarem brought their “A” game to the packed house. They are currently touring in Europe and Asia promoting Thirteen, however will be back on Canadian soil for a show at Norma Jean in London, Ontario June 27th, 2015 and at Phoenix in Toronto, Ontario on July 11th, 2015.
For more info on Harem Scarem please visit:
https://www.facebook.com/harem.scarem.band?fref=ts
https://twitter.com/HaremScaremBand
For info on Honor First please visit:
https://www.facebook.com/honorfirst01?fref=ts
Reviewed and photographed by Sue Sadzak
Pete Lesperance (Harem Scarem)
Harry Hess (Harem Scarem)
Stan Miczek (Harem Scarem)
Jesse Jack (Honor First)
Michale Vassos (Honor First/Harem Scarem)
Andy Narsingh (Honor First)
Dave Langguth (Honor First) Stock image
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