Jeremy & the Harlequins‘ main objective with their music is keeping rock n’ roll alive. That’s something the New York five-piece have been doing since forming just a few short years ago, both with their debut album American Dreamer (2015) and its follow-up Into The Night (2016).
The next phase of the band’s career is marked by a series of songs trickling through the airwaves via Yep Roc Records, starting with “Little One,” released in August of 2017, and leading into the band’s new album ‘Remember This,’ out on August 17th.
The songs were recorded in LA with producer Rick Parker (Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Lord Huron, Scott Weiland The Wildabouts) in the historic Beachwood Canyon and Boyle Heights areas of the city. The band has seen a number of successes over the past three years – including major sync placements for their single “Trip Into the Light,” most notably in the Tom Cruise film Edge of Tomorrow. The song was also named 2015’s “Coolest Track in the World” by Little Steven’s Underground Garage radio show. In 2016, the band supported Eli Paperboy Reed on a two week tour of the East Coast.
In this interview spotlight, I chat with Jeremy Fury of Jeremy & The Harlequins about the upcoming album release, motivations, challenges and more.
Full Q&A along with links and the music video for Nothing Civil below.
The new album, Remember This, is out Friday, August 17th (2018) via Yep Roc Records.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
American rock ‘n’ roll.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?
Great songs and wanting to write great songs. We’re fans of everything from Gene Vincent to Tom Petty, and we aren’t ashamed to say we steer towards the greatest hits catalogs.
What makes Remember This different than previous albums? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?
Remember This is a bit different from American Dreamer or Into the Night. When we started the band in 2013, we had a very strict idea to stick to 50’s and 60’s influences, record fast in a very stripped down way, and track everything we could analog. The new album is less limited in its influences. We also enlisted Rick Parker to produce the record so it’s quite a bit more polished. We still tracked the instruments live to tape, but it’s definitely a ‘bigger’ sound.
Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this oversaturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?
Like everything, this new age comes with it’s pros and cons. It’s easier to make records, but it’s harder to get heard. Anyone can distribute their music to the same platforms the biggest artists are on, like Spotify or Apple Music, but because there is so much music out there, it’s harder to get people to pay attention. I think the best technologies for indie musicians right now are flyers, a staple gun, and a working van.
Anything else before we sign off?
Just the obvious self-promotion… pick up our album Remember This on August 17th. And come see us live:)
