HARBOURED ILL PEACH

Label: Lost Future Records

Band Members: Michael Stancel, vocals/guitar; Nick Hennig, guitar; Cierra White, drums; Brandon Michael, bass

Type of Music: Progressive Black Metal

Management: Harboured, harbouredmusic@gmail.com

Booking: harbouredmusic@gmail.com

Publicity: Dave Clifford, dave@usthemgroup.com

Web: harbouredmusic.bandcamp.com

A&R: Ben Kaplan - Lost Future

Remixing songs can be good for your health and even lead to a record deal.

Denver-based metal musician Michael Stancel had that thought in the back of his mind when he remixed Health’s “Strange Days” a few years back. He did so after the electronic noise-rockers joined Isolate/ Create, a website that provides artists with digital stems to make remixes.

I wanted to make the remix as good as I can,” the Harboured vocalistguitarist says. “I’ve been a fan of that band for a long time and knew they put out remix records. I thought we could maybe get on one of those, and that’d help us shop around for labels.”

And that’s exactly what happened. Health heard Harboured’s “Strange Days” reworking and included it on their April 2020 remix record, Disco4+. Harboured then caught the ear of Ben Kaplan (a.k.a. multiinstrumentalist Sleep Maps) while he was working with an assistant producer who also collaborates with Health.

Date Signed: January 2023

Label: Sub-Pop

Band Members: Jess Corazza and Pat Morrissey

Type of Music: Alt-Pop

Manager: Chris Mcilvenny & Nic Damasio

Legal: Elliot Resnik - Masur Griffitts Avidor LLP

Publicity: Bekah Z Flynn, press@subpop.com

Web: hardlyart.com/collections/ill-peach

A&R: Matt Kolhede

Alternative pop band ill peach (the lowercase is deliberate) formed during the pandemic, but the seeds, or perhaps the peach pits, had been sowed long before that. The duo of Jess Corazza and Pat Morrissey met in high school where they were in an acapella jazz group together.

“That’s where we learned everything,” laughs Morrissey. “Then we moved to New York actually, to focus on songwriting for other artists. We got a little burned out in New York, and decided to move to L.A. to pursue songwriting and producing for other artists. Then, we also got burned out with that. That’s what led us to wanting to express ourselves in a more true, unique way to who we are.

The pair have coined the term grit-pop for their sound, which is perfectly on display with the tracks “Comotose” and “Heavyweight”, their first for Sub-Pop.

Kaplan, as it turns out, was ready to launch a new record label, Lost Future. He wanted Harboured to be one of its first signings.

Stancel chuckled when recalling the first email that Kaplan sent him. It looked like another run-of-the-mill message from an upstart label asking a band to sign before establishing a budget.

Nonetheless, “I figured I’d talk to him anyway,” Stancel says, “and the label turned out to be an actual thing.”

The Harboured frontman became further impressed upon discovering that Kaplan had also checked out Harboured’s performance at an online music festival staged during the pandemic.

“[Kaplan] said he liked the sound we had, because it mixed some electronic elements with a newer black-metal sound,” Stancel says. “Everything worked out from there.”

Harboured’s signing happened at the same neck-break speed at which their brutal music operates. Astonishingly, they hadn’t gone into a recording studio, performed live (in person) or even rehearsed together as a band before the ink dried on the contract.

Specifics of the deal are under wraps, Stancel says, but he’s confident Harboured will be “taken care of” by Kaplan. – Kurt Orzeck

“I think it’s a hotchpotch and weird fusion of dirty garage pop, weird sounds, but at the core of it it’s about the song,” says Morrissey. “Jess has a very interesting perspective on things. So, it’s ended up being this very colorful process. We’ll both collaborate on the production, and then we’ll both write the songs together. That’s kind of the vibe.”

Sub-Pop had been impressed by the “Comatose” single, and wanted to put it out. The ill peach pair were, in turn, impressed with the Sub-Pop team and signed on.

“We ended up deciding that it would be a great place to put out our debut album,” Corazza says. "I think that they are a legendary label and obviously their roster speaks for itself. But beyond that, they’re just a bunch of music heads. Living in L.A. and going to Seattle, getting to meet the team and everything, was an eye-opening experience. Like, ‘Oh you actually just love music.’ It felt like we really connected on that and it didn’t feel very industry at all, which was really refreshing.”

“Heavyweight” is the most recent single, penned last summer, and it’s the first they actually recorded since signing to their new label. It’s also a more personal song than their usual fare. – Brett

Callwood