We are so excited to finally be streaming our debut album in full to you. What you are listening to is a real, breathing, living thing created by four extremely diverse people from different parts of the globe, with different personalities and creative influences. When you put the four of us together, you get the sound that is We Are Harlot, a sound that shines through on the 11 tracks that lay before you. This one is for you: The Harlot Army and our friends and families around the world.
We believed that music was missing the individual personality and fun that it had in the past, and honestly, things had just started to sound the same. So we started this band, and after years of struggle to release this album, finally, it’s officially yours. Music is meant to be available and heard by all… always!
When we write, it’s always Danny, Bruno and I in a room with a completely open floor for creativity. It doesn’t matter who plays what or who sings what or writes which part. It’s always us three bouncing and playing ideas of each other and whatever part fits best is what sticks, which is exactly how every song on this recored happened. Recording these songs was just a fast, natural process. It always starts with Bruno laying down the foundation. Then I bring in the guitars and various musical layers and arrangements. Then Brian will record his bass parts. Danny will then sing the main melodies and add any additional arranging ideas. We’ll add the Harlot harmonies, and usually a guitar solo is added in last.
Many of these songs were completely written and recorded in a day, and six of them go all the way back to our first writing sessions back in early 2011.
This album was actually recorded in three different places. It started at 8611, the now infamous house that Danny, Bruno and I lived in (and threw parties that have become almost mythical). Then we finished some of it up in the Gem of the Desert down in La Quinta CA., in a little poolside casita. Things moved to the place Danny and I share in Beverly Hills, but it wasn’t fully and properly recorded until we knocked it out at Steakhouse Studios with Kato Khandwala. We’re a band that’s very focused and has a very clear and certain vision, so we produced the album primarily ourselves, along with Kato’s direction. Kato was the choice for this record because he knew how to let us be us. We all have huge personalities, and he knew exactly how to work hand in hand with us maniacs.
Another thing that sets this record apart from many contemporary artists’ albums is that it was 100% written by the band. In this age of collaborating with writers, this is a pretty odd scenario. We tried writing with a few different people, but for us it never ever worked. I wanna write with my best friends, and my favourite writers are the guys in this band. And we already have albums two and three in the can, ready to go, so get ready for a lot of We Are Harlot coming your way.
Every song on this record is different and there are a ton of different textures going on, including quite a lot of piano. Take our current hit single Dancing on Nails. This is a good example of the diversity in a single song. It has an almost punk-feeling guitar riff coupled with a Motown-esque baseline and a double snare Brazilian-feeling drum pattern, completed by Danny’s almost Maroon 5-infused vocal swagger. All wrapped up in a neat 2:42.
Then you have something like Denial, which was the first song we put out. It starts with a country feel and then morphs into straight hard rock and by the time you reach the bridge you’re in Pantera-ish land, with Danny’s trademark growls and my solos. I feel this track really shows off in full who each of us are. Then you have the ballad Someday, which is definitely one of those songs that when we wrote it, we knew right away it was going to be a special song. It’s already become a fan favourite, just from the four times it’s been performed live, and from people finding it on YouTube. There are really heavy songs as well. Flying Too Close To The Sun is one of them. That song tells the whole story of how hard we were burning the candle at both ends that first year. We were going very very hard, and when you fly that close to the sun… you can get burned. Also another heavy track that has become a favourite already is One More Night, which features the now heavily hash-tagged line “Lets Start The Show”. We finish our live sets with this song as well. And closing out the record is a beautiful acoustic guitar song called I Tried, which oddly enough was the first song we recorded in full for the album.
We have been so blown away by the fanatic love from our rapidly-growing fan base and all of the raving five star and 10 out of 10 reviews that have been coming in, by some of the most respected people in the industry. We set out to just write and play music that we would want to listen to, and it’s been so amazing watching people around the world and of totally different musical tastes like our music the way we do.
So here it is. The first We Are Harlot album in full, for the very first time. Blast it… it’s yours!
We Are Harlot is available to pre-order now.
