Harvey Danger
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Harvey Danger is a rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington in 1992 as Sean Nelson (vocals), Jeff J. Lin (guitar, piano, violin), Aaron Huffman (bass), and Evan Sult (drums).
Their first album, Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone?, was originally released on Arena Rock Recording Co. in July 1997. The band later signed with a bigger label, London/Slash Records, and in March 1998 re-released the album. The band had a modern rock hit with its first single, "Flagpole Sitta," an urgent, grunge-tinged track about losing one's mind. The album's only other single, "Private Helicopter," didn't perform nearly as well.
Early the following year, the group released a cover of English Beat's "Save It For Later" on the 200 Cigarettes soundtrack. An alternate version exists, featuring Pearl Jam's Mike McCready, but was only available on a CD-R distributed privately by the band.
In September 2000, Harvey Danger released its second album, King James Version. The record garnered critical acclaim, but sold poorly. The first single, "Sad Sweetheart of the Rodeo", made little impact on rock radio; its accompanying video fared similarly.
The release of King James Version was an arduous process for the band, as they and their record spent a year in limbo during convoluted label mergers. Frustrated with the music industry and their persistent lack of success since "Flagpole Sitta", Harvey Danger disbanded, though members remained active musically: Sult relocated to Chicago and joined the band Bound Stems (http://www.boundstems.com/); Nelson played in the Long Winters and worked on solo material; Huffman formed Love Hotel (http://www.wearelovehotel.com/), which he continues to play in.
In 2004, Nelson, Lin, and Huffman gathered for an informal reunion, at which they re-discovered their old musical chemistry and, to their surprise, found they had inspiration for and inclination to a resurrection of the band. Harvey Danger re-formed (sans Sult, who had too many commitments in Chicago, family among them, to return to Seattle) and debuted some of their new material at a handful of live shows in the spring and summer. A limited-release EP presented in December 2004 titled Sometimes You Have to Work on Christmas (Sometimes) featured 5 songs: two alternative versions of songs previously released, two rarities (including the title track), and a studio demo of a new song.
The group's third album, Little By Little, with new drummer Michael Welke, is scheduled for release in August or September of this year. On 12 May 2005, "Cream & Bastards Rise" became the first new Harvey Danger song to grace radio waves in nearly half a decade, appearing on John Richards' evening show on KEXP Seattle.
External links
- Official page (http://www.harveydanger.com/)
- Love Hotel (http://www.wearelovehotel.com/)
- Bound Stems (http://www.boundstems.com/)