Stefan Andrushenko | 7th January 2012 | Audio Vernacular
Harlan Pepper have been growing up quick and putting on mature performances beyond their years. On this night they opened with Reefer, swapped guitars all over the place, and played Wine – making reference to how they’d just recently all come of legal drinking age. Read More
by Megan Oquias | 10th October 2011 | The Take Media
Saturday night was an opportunity for Six Shooter Records to showcase some of their notable talents at Lee’s Palace.
I actually haven’t seen the place as packed as it was in quite a long while.
First up was Harlan Pepper, a four piece band from Hamilton. These young chaps had a flare for folk rock, with an eminent jazz influence. Possessing a strong, quivering, Dylan-esque, voice lead singer Dan Edmonds also knew his way around his hollow body guitar. HP played concise solos that left the audience asking for more. Both guitar and bass riffs were clearly well thought out and created a great ride for the drums to guide. Each member had an opportunity to sing and each possessed the pipes to do it well. As their set drew to a close the bar began to fill up.
Matthew from i (heart) music
This is probably odd of me to say, but listening to Harlan Pepper’s debut, Young and Old, reminds me of bits and pieces of in Michael Chabon’s collection of essays, Maps and Legends. In a nutshell, the collection — or, at least, the pieces I’m thinking of — argue that genres aren’t inherently a bad thing, and that just because a work adheres to one genre doesn’t mean that it deserves to be looked down upon. Read More
Bob Mersereau’s Top 100 Canadian Blog
Psychedelic roots music? Alt-Americana? What the heck are these kids doing? And yes, kids for sure, they look like babies, and the Hamilton quartet’s ages can’t add up to 80. Yet here they are sounding like old souls, or at least exactly what Greg Keelor wants the music world to sound like.
Their debut disc is perfectly titled, as the band mixes classic roots sounds with a completely new take on where you can go with your imagination. Some songs are happy hillbilly singalongs, featuring banjo, harmonica and brushed drums, while others are space jam with soaring effects-laden guitars and some synthy keyboards. Their live show is already providing audience favourites from the album, with the kids up front chanting along to Reefer (I wonder why…) and groovin’ to the good-natured humour of Great Lakes, the band’s tribute to all five of ‘em. Read More
Bob Segarini – FYI Music News
Along with… the other artists I’ve mentioned in these columns over the past year, these… have caught my ear recently and strike me as being… acts that could break in a very big way. Here’s more proof that rock definitely has a future.
Harlan Pepper
These young men write and play like old souls. There are roots in traditional country, the Grateful Dead, and the great folk rock and alt-country bands of the past like the Flying Burrito Brothers, the Band, and Buffalo Springfield. … they are so young that there is just no telling what will develop down the line. There are already great writers here. Read More
Donald Teplyske – Red Deer Advocate
A four-piece from Hamilton, Harlan Pepper is gaining attention across our country. When lead tracks Great Lakes and El Jandro bound from the speakers, it is easy to hear why.
This freshness continues through the album’s next four tunes, with the voices and instrumentation blurring distinctions between folk angst and earnest rock n roll swagger. The songs change pace beautifully, keeping listeners on their toes. Read More
Shawn Clarke – Roots Music Canada
Listening to Canadian Roots Music, and loving it.
Let’s get the obvious out of the way: Harlan Pepper is a young band.
These 4 Hamilton lads are fresh out of high school, but playing their own brand of roots rock with great maturity.
They have a solid grasp of melody, songwriting, and the subtleties within the roots/folk/rock genres, not to mention the purely technical act of performing.
Some would argue that their age shouldn’t be an issue (and I’m sure they’re getting sick of it), but such an early development in songwriting excites me.
This is a band to watch. Read More
The Alternate Route – serving the online Roots Americana music community since 2007
The spirit that lives in the music of Harlan Pepper comes from a time before the band played, or listened, to music. The four Hamilton, Ontario natives are young guys who channel the 60’s and 70’s rock of record stores and album radio, though vinyl and AOR are the stuff of the past. ‘Young and Old’, the band’s debut, brings together the players and sounds described in the title. Harlan Pepper create modern songs formed with wood from previous structures.
O’ father, where art thou?
Christine Leonard | BeatRoute Magazine
High like a Georgia pine, Harlan Pepper is a burgeoning rock and roots quartet whose aspirations are surpassed only by their talent for piecing together catchy, era-melding melodies. Rickenbackering the bejesus out of Hamilton since 2008, the four fresh-faced lads behind Harlan Pepper have earned a reputation for funnelling a hardcore rock and roll upbringing through a Grand Ole Opry filter.
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