Stormzone at FIREFEST 4 – ‘Crying In The Rain’.
Stormzone at FIREFEST 4 – ‘Spellbound’.
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Harv's BiographyI was born in, and grew up in East Belfast, Northern Ireland and watched throughout the years as political violence here threatened to destroy a beautiful Country. It always amazed me that the divided people here in our province always greeted visitors so warmly, had excellent personalities unmatched world-wide and, although appearing to the outside world so friendly, we just couldn't get on with each other! I noticed, however, that although growing up we learned, as separate religions, where it was and wasn't safe to venture, when it came to the music scene then all divisions were forgotten and, for a brief few hours during a band’s performance, whether it be Thin Lizzy in the Ulster Hall or local bands in smaller venues like the Pound, Labour Club and Viking, we forgot about our differences and united in our love for rock music!
It wasn't too long before watching bands turned into a desire to be a part of one, and that decision was to guide the course of my life after that. The following is a very brief run-down of a very complicated band family tree and if you’d like the full biography it can be found in my blog, but here goes. My first school band was called 'Trojan', in which I was the bass player!! I carried on as such until I was asked after leaving school to join up with an act called 'Cairo Flame'. The singer, Laurence, was a bin man who got mangled in the back of a bin lorry and, obviously couldn't make rehearsal, so I decided to sing and play bass that day just to get us through the session. Whether it was flattery or a case of the guys reckoning I was a crap bassist, it was decided that it would be easier getting a new bass player and for me to keep on singing, and that, as they say, was that! Two acts followed suit during which time I developed quickly both in range and the ability to learn from more experienced musicians. 'Testament' I really enjoyed my time with, and the demo we cut was my first try at recording (do you know of any other band who would write a song totally devoted to a can of beer (Breaker), I still have a copy and listening to it brings back memories of a band who, I think, were well ahead of their time. A major chunk of the band decided to throw their lot in and go work in America, I had just got married and couldn't join them, so we finished on a good note and, probably while we were still ahead. Just after that came 'Ashanti', a superb bunch of guys and I developed vocally during my time with them because of the amazing singing of guitarist Stevie Boyd. Seriously, this guy sounds effortlessly like Glenn Hughes. Connie Overton, keyboard player extraordinaire who featured in our tribute bands, was also a member of 'Ashanti'. We wrote and recorded a lot of quality melodic rock songs, some of which still feature in our set today. During these formative years I was also a member of a fledgling No Sweat and played with Ian Wilson and Davy Bates in Seventh Dawn.
During the years I spent in those mentioned bands, local stars 'Sweet Savage' had been making waves all over the UK supporting the likes of Thin Lizzy and Motorhead, they featured guitarist Vivian Campbell (currently with Def Leppard) and were destined, seriously at the time, for world domination. Unfortunately for them, Ronnie James Dio was also quick to see the potential in Vivian and snapped up the talented guitarist to form Dio. Ian 'Speedo' Wilson was recruited to replace him and Raymie the bassist/vocalist had tired of both guitar and singing duties combined and wanted to recruit a vocalist to ease his workload. I was approached as Speedo had remembered me from our 'Seventh Dawn' days together, Sweet Savage drummer Davy Bates was also a member of that band, so it was a reunion of sorts with the three Seventh Dawn guys, Raymie on Bass and the addition of Stevie Prosser ..boards. Because of the new, more melodic, sound of the band (we sounded more like Journey and Whitesnake than Motorhead) it was decided to bury the ghost of Sweet Savage and we became 'Emerald' (it made sense with us being from the Emerald Isle and an Emerald being a 'hard rock'!) Emerald progressed very nicely for several years and we cut some decent demos with excellent material, supported acts such as WASP, Rory Gallagher etc and we were touted for big things, but then just as we were about to sign a deal with BMG records, Metallica decided it would be nice to record a Sweet Savage song, 'Killing Time' as a B Side for their 'Unforgiven' single (Lars Ulrich had always claimed Sweet Savage as an influence on their early Metallica days). Obviously interest in Sweet Savage was again ignited, and it was decided that Emerald would be put on the back-burner as it was the original version of Sweet Savage that the Neat record company wanted to sign, and there was no place for little old me! First time I ever felt my nose out of joint, but I still wished the guys all the best. Emerald were together from around 1986 - 1991.
While the Sweet Savage guys were having a major second shot, local act 'Tyrant' approached me to do some gigs with them in the meantime. This turned out to be about 300 gigs as we stayed together as 'Den Of Thieves' from 1991 to 1997. During this time we recorded two CDs having been signed, at last, to the Zero Corporation in Japan, a subsiduary of EMI in the Far East, although both albums were sort of a combination of Emerald and Den Of Thieves as there were several Emerald songs on 'Honour Amongst Thieves' and some of the returning Sweet Savage/Emerald members appeared on the second 'Conspiracy' CD. Both albums were very popular in Japan, haha! Yes it’s a cliché, but honestly true, we were ‘big in Japan’! It was during this time, of course, that I met and worked with one of my best mates Dee McNeilly, having known him since 1985 and eventually teaming up with him from 1991 to the end of the Den Of Thieves days along with various other projects.
Being a rock singer on the Irish circuit now for over twenty years, I'm currently gigging with my long-term bands 'Best Of The Beast' (a tribute to Iron Maiden) as well as 'Rock Of Ages' and 'Snakebite' the former being a tribute to all the various rock Eighties Rock Gods we love so much and the latter solely a tribute to Whitesnake (embracing all phases from Northwinds to Slip Of The Tongue. The same guys are in each band and we also have a large catalogue of original material and of course formed ‘STORMZONE’ with our own songs recently supporting Danger Danger and Danny Vaughn. The songs you can hear on the player above are demo versions of songs and finished recordings currently available on our new album ‘Caught In The Act’. Much of our time is spent rehearsing (having a large quantity of songs to keep in our heads) and also trying to figure out just how the hell we've managed to stick each other for so long! Only joking, we really are great friends as well as colleagues in rock!
By day I'm also involved in the art world and my main medium is very large and detailed pencil drawings, mostly of Ulster scenes and people through recent history (which generally end up in America). I've just completed a 40 portrait (phew!) commission for Linfield F.C., the largest and most successful local team in Ireland, the results of which are now displayed in their new Hall Of Fame at Windsor Park (their ground and also our National Stadium). I've also just completed a large George Best portrait which is being auctioned off at a Gala Celebrity Liver Foundation event later on the year. You can view some of my artwork by checking out the artwork page at my website: http://harv-harbinson.com
Apart from all that I enjoy a good drink (maybe too much!), the company of my friends, reading, movies and football (Liverpool fanatic!). I have one gorgeous daughter Lynzi who is 22. Life is pretty good at the minute considering I've just recovered from a serious back injury which was diagnosed as prolapsed discs. I declined to have the operation to replace the damaged discs with carbon discs as it would have meant surgeons going in through the front of my throat, the operation was only 50/50 where full recovery was concerned, but 100% that I’d have damaged vocal chords, so I’m relying on Mother Nature and crossing my fingers that she’s gonna be kind to me. it's all now a matter of focusing on what's important in this old existence and tempering that attitude with my desire to rock on 'til I drop! I’m in full swing with Stormzone, promoting the new album and making plans for some big shows and festivals next year and we’re also trying to combine all this with a Rock Of Ages ‘80’s rock tribute tour. Thank you so much for taking the time to digest all the above and hopefully I'll see you at a gig near you soon.