The Harlots - Articles

Brothers share a love of rock, hairstyling

Winnipeg Free Press
January 29 1999
By Bartley Kives

If the rock 'n' roll thing never pans out, brothers Charles, Lane and Buck Garinger could always turn their lives into a made-for-TV movie.
As children, the boys travelled the world, visiting places like Alaska, Nepal, Thailand, and Swaziland as their civil engineer father worked on a succession of irrigation projects.
Then they settled down in Kelvington, a pastoral Saskatchewan town about 100 km west of Swan River.
When their father passed away, the Garingers did what all world travellers-turned-farm boys apparently do-they all moved to Winnipeg, went to hairstyling school amd started up rock bands.
"If my father was alive, I'm sure we would all have gone through college amd got 'respectable jobs'", says Charles Garinger, 27, the bassist and eldest Garinger in Winnipeg rock band The Harlots.
"When you lose a parent at a young age, it changes your outlook on life."
Formed from the ashes of defunct Winnipeg rock bands Ballroom Zombies and Riverdale High, the year-old Harlots are set to release their first CD tonight at the Pyramid Cabaret.
Charles, guitarist Lane Garinger and drummer Mark Sawatzky used to play with the glammy Zombies, one of Winnipeg's more popular bar bands during the 90's. Sawatzky, incidentally, also lost his mother during his teens.
"We all know what it's like to have the structure of your life change when you're young", Charles Garinger says.
Buck Garinger, meanwhile, used to play with punk-pop band Riverdale High. The youngest Garinger at age 22, he literally followed in his brothers' footsteps by combining hairstyling with rock 'n' roll. "Hairdressing as a career does correspond well with music", he says. "You're basically self-employed, so the hours are flexible. And you don't have to change your appearance."
Where the Ballroom Zombies focused on the flamoyant antics of frontman Robin Black, The Harlots are more of a serious guitar-rock band. Only the basic format-guitar, bass and drums-is leftover from the Zombies.
"We're percieved as a Ballroom Zombies knockoff, but that's not the case at all", says Charles Garinger. "Initially, we played a lot of the same songs. But now we have a tighter band, with a fuller sound."
Black, who now lives in Toronto, does make one contribution to The Harlots' debut disc. Appropriately, he wrote the lyrics to a song called Fashion.
But even though his former band-mates are no longer associated the iffy glam phenomenon, The Harlots face another challenge: Canada is already awash with dozens of guitar-rock bands.
"This is what comes naturally. To do anything else would have been dishonest", says Buck Garinger, defending The Harlots' stripped down sound. "I've never been into electronics-there's too many buttons."
The brother thing, he adds, works in the band's favor. For one thing, the Garinger's voices blend together to the point of being indistinguishable.
"We almost have ESP a lot of the time," says Buck. "Definitely the positives outweigh the negatives. Obviously, we get into debates and fights and arguements easily. But we have mutual tolerance. We can fight until we're blue in the face, and 5 minutes later, there's no problem."
The Harlots perform tonight at the Pyramid Cabaret with Leaderhouse and The Lovedaddys.

CD Review: THE HARLOTS/The Harlots

-Independent
***

Winnipeg Free Press
January 28 1999

Formed one year ago from the ashes of defunct Winnipeg bands Ballroom Zombies and Riverdale High, The Harlots find a middle ground between the Zombies' glam and Riverdale's punk-pop: guitar rock with strong pop leanings. Given the challenge of the genre (that is everything you attempt will be compared to a million other guitar rock bands), The Harlots rise to the occasion, crafting strong, non-disposable melodies. Producer Marty Kinack envelopes the ditties in a lush, dense background of controlled guitar-fuzz, and does a good job of blending the voices of brothers Lane, Charles, and Buck Garinger. The lead vocals, however, stick out far too high in the mix, and that decracts from the strength of the songwriting.