Family

I grew up in a very artistic home. My mother fueled the constant creativity. She's a pianist, artist, and actress, currently painting murals in a small town in Mississippi, along with calligraphy and sculpting. My older sister was also very artistic, doing sign painting, piano, violin, and sparked my interest in music. I started playing guitar at age 16.

Road life

About half way through college I got an offer to play with a band touring the east coast. I was the youngest member of a pretty bad bunch of guys who grew me up really fast. While the rest of the group were busy with nefarious activities, I used (most of) the time rehearsing. My rehearsal ritual started at sound check at the club, after lunch at the hotel, before the show at the club again, during the breaks between sets, then a couple of hours after the show. I was determined to be the next guitar great, concentrating mostly on soloing. Writing our own music wasn't even a consideration. I came off the road and made a move to Nashville with my brother who's a tremendous drummer, drum writer, and also a singer. He really could change my songs into something different, always improving the idea. We moved to Los Angeles to form a very different musical sound. We really made a great song writing team.

Classical music

At this time, I really started picking apart classical music and trying to figure out what made the composers tick. Mozart's Requiem really had an impact on me - I listened to it every day for at least a year - I started picking apart the violin parts and realizing how amateur the rock musicians were compared to the great classical writers of the past. Each classical piece had more notes in it than a whole rock album and was much better written. I stopped worrying about the basic arrangements of modern music and started pulling ideas from Brahms and Bach. I had found something wonderful.

Artwork

Frustrated with having to depend on other musicians, I left for Louisiana at age 30 to pursue my paintings. One of the newest pieces is the cover of "The Glass Desert" CD. I don't really have the time to paint now because the music ideas are flowing. I do have sketches and ideas for future paintings but I'll need to have more of my time freed up before I can tackle another one - I put so much effort into a painting, I get to the point where I don't know whether I like it anymore or not. The image is seared into my mind where I know every detail of it before I look at it - I've had a few times when I really thought I was going a little nuts, putting a little too much pressure on myself to get the desired result.

New music

The newest music is so much fun for me. I used to have obstacles and now they're gone - in a band you always have to write around another instrument - now I just write and build on my ideas - I love it.

For more information about Harlan, please go to his website.