Kevin Harrison & True North

Kevin Harrison & True North was founded to bring a once familiar style of music back to the forefront of New York City’s legendary scene – rock & roll. Their 2015 debut, self-titled Kevin Harrison & True North, was very much a DIY affair, heavily influenced by the sights and sounds of New York City.

For their follow-up EP, the band set out for New York’s Catskill Mountains and enlisted the expertise of acclaimed producer Simone Felice (Lumineers, Vance Joy). Five days of barn sessions and campfires produced a collection of five songs showcasing a versatility that sets Kevin Harrison & True North apart.

Kevin Harrison & True North’s Howl is built on a time-honored foundation of inspired songwriting, strong rhythms, and guitars that are both soaring and soulful. It illustrates a band that is as comfortable playing heavy rock songs in theaters (someday stadiums?) as it is playing acoustic ballads entirely unplugged – a range that is rare among those who profess to carry the torch for “rock n’ roll.”

Glide is thrilled to premiere “Brother,” the first single off “Howl,” a rollicking track that conjures the bluesy hard-edged and colorful sounds of both The Black Crowes and Rival Sons. Kevin Harrison & True North have an open platform to launch a rock revolution of their own that avoids any too obvious comparisons and delivers a more naturalistic rock and roll medicine.

“It was pretty clear to all of us when listening to the album for the first time that this one had to be the single,” says Harrison. “It’s a rocker, it’s fun, it’s groovy, but it also has an important message to deliver. It’s a song about finding common ground – something I think a lot of us have forgotten how to do as of late.” - Glide Magazine

Kevin Harrison & True North are ready to rock again, as the band releases their sophomore effort Howl on Friday, Sept. 7. Go behind the scenes of the upcoming EP with the New York-based rockers by playing the video above, before they turn a new page in their developing career.

Howl is the follow-up to the band's self-titled debut EP that was released in 2015. It contains one more song than that record, with five new tracks that demonstrate how the band is continuing to stretch their legs and find their sound. It's more attention-grabbing and purposeful than their first release. The three years between EP's has made the music sound more refined and will put the group on the radar of anyone who is looking for a rock album that gets back to the roots of what the genre is all about. It's an album that demands attention, particularly for its musicianship.

The first single "Brother" is a must for any guitar enthusiasts, featuring an impressive opening guitar riff from Harrison, a remarkable bass line from Pete Smith and some catchy slide guitar work from Brendan Cavanaugh. The instruments drive the song and hook the audience all the way through. The second single "If I Should Die Today" is the exact opposite, slowing things down and pulling things back for an acoustic performance as Kevin Harrison & True North ponder mortality. It shows that the band can be serious when the song calls for it, but they're at their best when they're unleashed.

According to the EP's press release, Howl was recorded over just five days in New York's Catskill Mountains, and also includes the songs "Practice What You Preach," "Lost In The Snow," and "Start A Fire." It's still a small sample size, but after three years between releases, Kevin Harrison & True North are making a very loud and energetic return that packs more punch into five songs than some full albums.

Howl will be released on Friday, Sept. 7 on iTunes. In support of the album, Kevin Harrison & True North have announced a limited number of concerts during the rest of September. Below are the band's upcoming tour dates, with more information available here:

Sept. 6 - New York, NY - Arlene's Grocery
Sept. 15 - Patchogue, NY - Brickhouse Brewery
Sept. 22 - Basking Ridge, NJ - The Ross Farm

For more on Kevin Harrison & True North, visit their official website. - AXS

Kevin Harrison may not have grown up in the Big Apple, but when it comes to his mindset regarding rock and roll and his band, True North, he’s as New York as they get. So despite the rock scene not being what it used to be in the center of the universe, Harrison and the gang are here for the long haul.

“I couldn’t tell you how often we hear, ‘You guys are great, but you’re in the wrong city; you should be in Nashville or Austin,’” Harrison said. “And we say, ‘That’s great, but we’re in New York.’ It was a mission for me to get to New York. I grew up in New Jersey but went to school down south and lived there for a while after and just heard this calling to get to New York City whether or not it was the best musical fit. That’s where I wanted to be and where I wanted to launch this band.”

And as Harrison points out, the outlook isn’t as bleak for the guitar-drums-bass and loud amps set in NYC.

“We occasionally get a little chip on our shoulder over what the current, popular genre is in the city, but there are a lot of good rock bands,” he said. “Every time that we start to say, ‘We’re better than these bands, how are they blowing up?’ we hear ten bands that are better than us that are even less known than we are. (Laughs) It’s there, it’s harder to find and it’s harder to find clubs that are willing to promote that kind of music, but there’s a good little hidden rock scene in our city.”

If Harrison has his way, True North (Harrison, Brendan Cavanaugh, Pete Smith, Ray Mazza) will be the ones leading the charge, and on their new EP, Howl, the first salvo has been fired and it’s a good one, with each track showing off the versatility and energy of the band. But why not a full-length follow-up to their self-titled 2015 debut? Well, that’s the way the business is these days.

“We’re at the point in our career when we could have made an album and we could have sold it to our 200 best friends and few fans that aren’t friends,” Harrison explains. “We’re at that stage where we’re slowly starting to expand beyond family and friends and get the attention of some folks that are just there for the music. So for the most part, we would have been really making an album for ourselves and for those people. We had enough songs to do it. But we still have big dreams and we wanted to make something that we hoped might grab some attention of other folks, whether it be new listeners or people in the industry, and really use this album as a stepping stone. And we just faced the reality that people that don’t know us weren’t going to listen to 12 songs. We’re lucky if they’re going to listen to all five on the EP. And the other consideration is that we had a limited pool of money to go do this.”

A Kickstarter campaign helped, and while a full album would have been nice, it’s hard to argue with Harrison’s reasoning and the final product.

“Do we make five songs that sound as good as they possibly could or 12 that sound okay,” he said. “And we wanted to do the best possible collection of tunes that we can and make them sound as good as they can.”

Mission accomplished. Now it’s just up to the world to responds, and it should, because good rock and roll is always needed. And Harrison and company aren’t going to stop playing it.

“There’s nothing else I would rather do in the world,” he said. “As a band, we’re all working day jobs, but we’re all dreamers and we all believe in this music and we believe it can take us and take other people to new heights. We very easily could have incorporated electronic stuff, being in New York, but that’s not what we grew up on, it’s not what comes naturally to us. We love rock and roll music. And we play what we love playing, I love what I love writing, and we hold the faith that if we do it as good as we possibly can, people will take notice.”

Now where’s that New York pessimism?

He laughs.

“I could be very pessimistic with the state of rock music, and I’m trying to turn a leaf on that and just appreciate the reality of what things are and how to find the silver lining in it. Good music and good live bands are there; there’s just a lot of other noise covering them up that you’ve got to scratch through.”

Kevin Harrison & True North play Arlene’s Grocery in NYC on Thursday, September 6. - Thomas Gerbasi- Medium