Harem Scarem

Harem Scarem were a Canadian hard rock band from Toronto, ON. Harem Scarem achieved popularity in Japan and their native Canada in the early 1990s. Harem Scarem were active from 1987 to 2008. Throughout their career, they released 12 albums. The band was named after the first Bugs Bunny cartoon, which was called Hare-um Scare-um.

History

Early years

Harem Scarem was formed in 1987 by guitarist Pete Lesperance and former Blind Vengeance singer Harry Hess. They were signed to Warner Music years later and recorded their first album with them.

Commercial success

In 1991, Harem Scarem released their self titled debut album, which charted at #68 on the Canadian album chart. The band managed to score a major hit while they were at it; "Slowly Slipping Away", which charted at #25 on the Canadian single chart. They also managed to score two minor hits; "Honestly" and "Love Reaction"

In 1992, the little known band, Harem Scarem was able to gain some notoriety when 8 songs from their debut album Harem Scarem was predominantly featured in the Canadian teen series Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High's farewell TV movie, School's Out. There were many requests by excited fans for the songs on radio stations throughout Toronto.

In 1993, Harem Scarem released their second album, Mood Swings, which had more of a harder sound to it than their previous album. A fan favorite, Mood Swings charted at #83 on the Canadian charts. The album's lead off single was "No Justice", which managed to chart at #59 in Canada, but the other two singles failed to chart. Mood Swings caused the band to gain popularity in Japan and the band's previous album was quickly issued in that country the following year.

Short lived success

In 1995, the band released their third album Voice of Reason. The album introduced a change in the bands musical style, and was very different from the other two albums. The song "Blue" was released as a promotional single and had a music video for it. However, fans didn't give the album a chance and it failed to chart.

The next two albums; Karma Cleansing (which was released as Believe in Japan) and Big Bang Theory, saw Harem Scarem change their sound to go more modern. However, both the albums (and the singles from them) again failed to chart. In 1998, the band released their last single; "So Blind".

Rubber

In 1999, Harem Scarem changed their name to Rubber, and started releasing albums under that name in Canada. However, they still used the name Harem Scarem in Japan and the rest of the world. Rubber made a music video called "Sunshine", which had two guys that looked like Jay and Silent Bob and parodied movies which were released around that time, such as American Pie. The band released two albums as Rubber in Canada, but later dropped the Rubber name and switched back to using to their original name, Harem Scarem.

Later years

In 2003, Harem Scarem released their comeback album, Higher. The album's sound was more of a combination of classic melodic rock with a modern twist to it. The album also featured the power ballad "Higher".

In 2005, Harem Scarem released Overload, followed by Human Nature in 2007.

The Japanese version of Overload features a cover of the AC/DC classic, "You Shook Me All Night Long".

Recent events

On July 19, 2007, lead singer Harry Hess announced that Harem Scarem "will make one more studio record and then after 20 years we have decided to move on to other things".^[1][2] The final album is called Hope and was released July 2008.

Members

• Harry Hess - lead vocals, keys, guitar
• Pete Lesperance - lead guitar, vocals
• Barry Donaghy - bass, vocals
• Creighton Doane - drums

Former Members

• Darren Smith - drums, vocals
• Mike Gionet - bass, vocals

Discography

Albums

• Harem Scarem (1991)
• Mood Swings (1993)
• Voice of Reason (1995)
• Believe (1997)
• Karma Cleansing (1997)
• Believe (Special Edition) (1997)
• Big Bang Theory (1998)
• B-Side Collection (1998)
• Rubber (1999)
• Ultra Feel (2001)
• Weight of the World (2002)
• Higher (2003)
• The Early Years (2003)
• Overload (2005)
• Human Nature (2006)
• Hope (2008)
• Raw And Rare (2008)

References

External links

• Official Harem Scarem Website
• Harem Scarem @ MySpace.com
• Harry Hess Interview - Shipwreck Island Studios
• Pete Lesperance Interview - Shipwreck Island Studios