Hailing from Toronto, Canada, the fiery 4-piece rock band Harm & Ease takes us through a scorching hot listening experience with their latest single, "Cut Me Loose."
Comprised of Rylan Whalen on vocals, Danny Lopez on guitar, John Goodblood on bass and guitar, and Alex Hamnett on drums, Harm & Ease is truly leaving their blazing mark on the independent rock scene. After being discovered Gianni Luminati of Multi-Platinum and JUNO Award-winning group Walk Off The Earth, Gianni was left enthralled by the band and hopped on board as their manager.
Channeling rock n' roll giants of the 60s and 70s with their latest swinging single, "Cut Me Loose," Harm & Ease offers a modern blues-rock approach that came naturally to the ever-evolving band. When asked about the single, bassist/guitarist John Goodblood said this, "We've all been through relationships in which our significant other treated us in a cold fashion. Whether that was our fault or not can be debated!"
Produced and mixed by Juno and SOCAN award-winning producer Tawgs Salter and Tokyo Speirs, "Cut Me Loose" opens with a blazing guitar riff that drops into Harm & Ease's entire ground-breaking instrumental. As we move into the first verse, lead vocalist Rylan Whalen leaves us in awe of his vocal similarities to Ozzy Osbourne that scorches us like a wildfire.
As Harm & Ease continues stomping through the song with their blazing instrumentals, we can't help but nod our heads with each swift transition and heavy breakdown. Not to mention the rollicking bassline by John Goodblood merged with the intricate drum breaks by Alex Hamnett and Danny Lopez's enthralling guitar riffs, the track truly blows us out of the water.
Douse yourself in the flames of Harm & Ease's latest single, "Cut Me Loose," now available on all digital streaming platforms.
Thank you for joining us at BuzzMusic Harm & Ease, we honestly got the chills when listening to your flaming single, "Cut Me Loose." Where did the song's inspiration come from? Was it a collective inspiration, or did one member bring the song's concept to the table?
First of all, thanks so much!! I wrote, “Cut Me Loose” earlier this year in our band house. The riff just kind of hit me one day when I picked up the guitar. Then the melody and lyrics came. The whole thing seemed to be very blues-inspired, the sound of it and the lyrical concept of love as a battlefield. Once the rest of the band got their ears and input on it, it turned into this beast of a modern rock song with this universal theme of love gone wrong. I honestly got the chills too when we got the first master sent back.
Could you break down how your band divided your instrumental arrangements during your creative process for "Cut Me Loose?” What's your creative chemistry like behind the scenes?
Instrumentally, Alex performed a killer drum part with funky ghost notes hits that inspired me to accompany it with the rolling bassline you hear in the verse. Once Danny laid down the rhythm guitars, it started to sound really strong and cohesive. All I really had to do after guitar-wise was just record the intro riff with as much attitude as I could and find something special for the guitar solo. I wanted to portray the emotion of the song in the solo. I hope I got close. Since we moved to Toronto, our recording headquarters have been Cosmo Cat Recording Studio and we arranged and recorded a lot of “Cut Me Loose” out of that room. Danny and Alex are great engineers and have really strong ears when it comes to shooting production ideas around and Rylan’s mind is always going to interesting places lyrically and melodically. There are really no rules, but we know what we like. That’s kind of how I feel about our chemistry.
How did producers Tawgs Salter and Tokyo Speirs help sharpen the track and bring it to life? What was it like working with them for "Cut Me Loose?”
We had gotten the chance to do a handful of sessions with Tokyo before we did “Cut Me Loose”, and it was always a blast. He knows how to get the best out of the artists he’s recording, and beyond his technical skill as an engineer, his ear goes to all sorts of interesting places, especially when it comes to building vocal harmonies. It was our first time working with Tawgs on the other hand, and he brought his whole unique thing to the sound of the song. I’d never heard a track of ours come back sounding like that after just a few hours of work. It seems like Tawgs heard our band and just got it. It would be amazing to continue to work on music with him.
Since being discovered by Gianni Luminati, has your band been able to catch the attention of a broader fanbase? How has he impacted your group since hopping on board as a manager?
It seems like Harm & Ease’s audience has always been broadening, and since we signed with Cosmo Cat Records and began working with Gianni, doors have begun to open in Canada. He’s also showed me a lot about becoming a better songwriter, on how to get certain points across lyrically and melodically. Ultimately, I think Gianni’s guidance along with our hard work is turning us into a bigger band, the kind of band we want to be.
What is your mission statement as a band?
We’re going to make honest Rock & Roll music for today's time together and take it as far as it can possibly go. That’s our mission statement. When Danny and Rylan first started this band, there were forces out there trying to keep them from playing together. It took 5 years in Argentina, getting on stage at 2 in the morning in all its smoke-filled clubs to get back to Canada. These guys are my family, and I’d gladly step out into battle with them.
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