Founding vocalist for the metal band BUTCHER BABIES, comic book author, artist, novelist, and the holder of multiple degrees in mortuary science and thanatology, singer/musician Carla Harvey has released “Sick Ones”, the first single from her new project THE VIOLENT HOUR, via Megaforce Records. The new track, available today, was co-written by Harvey and her fiancé, ANTHRAX drummer Charlie Benante, and features MÖTLEY CRÜE guitarist John 5.
“‘Sick Ones’ is a rock ‘n’ roll anthem about cutting the toxic people out of your life,” said Harvey. “It’s a call of freedom, a fist-to-the-face to anyone who has tried to hold you down, hold you back or dim your light. It was written at a vulnerable time in my life when I was forced to end relationships I thought would last forever.
“When choosing a theme for this song,” Harvey added, “I thought about a phrase I had scrawled across a journal from 1999: ‘Cut The Sick Ones Loose.’ Those words became my mantra over the last couple years and felt perfect to chant over Charlie‘s guitar riffs. ‘Sick Ones’ also features an absolutely shredding guitar solo by John 5 that brings this thrasher to a whole different level.”
“‘Sick Ones’ has a modernized NWOBHM (New wave of British heavy metal) vibe to it,” said Benante. “The riff is very catchy and stays with you like a good riff should. ‘Sick Ones’ is just the tip of the iceberg for this project. Many of the songs we crafted for THE VIOLENT HOUR are unlike anything Carla has ever done as a vocalist, reflecting different moods and a new beginning. The music flowed out of me because I had this motivation, this drive…it was unstoppable.”
Harvey is cut from a very unique cloth. She loves to be challenged and is of the opinion that fear is a great motivator in life, that when you throw yourself into what it is that you’re most afraid of, when you’re uncomfortable, you feel alive and are the most creative. When she decided to exit BUTCHER BABIES after 15 years, it indeed felt scary. But she definitely grew from the experience. “Since I was a kid,” she said, “I’ve questioned everything. I listened more than I spoke to take in the world around me, and I tried to make art out of the discord.”
THE VIOLENT HOUR‘s first music video was directed by Vicente Cordero/Industrial Films and is due out April 25.
Carla was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan — a tough place for her to grow up in as she is bi-racial, and Detroit was a racially divided city during that period. While her preference was always to be at home creating art and music, she held a variety of “day jobs” from a “perfume counter girl “at Detroit’s F&M, sold clothes at RAVE in the local mall, and worked at a gas station, while playing in local bands at night, all to save up enough money to move to Los Angeles to follow her dreams. She did just that; at twenty she put all her belongings in her car and navigated from Detroit to Hollywood with a paper map. Throughout her time in Los Angeles, she worked as an actress for multiple TV shows, including “Rules Of Engagement”, and played in various local bands trying to find her sound. While art and music were always her primary focus, she always got straight As in school, and craved education (especially science),Carla found mortuary college and was named valedictorian in her bachelor of mortuary science program. She worked as a funeral director and embalmer, eventually founding her own grief counseling service. In addition to her music career, Carla is a grief specialist for the innovative death care company Parting Stone that transforms cremated remains into environmentally friendly stones that the departed’s family can hold, treasure and honor. She’s also a passionate collector of memorabilia, from the Incredible Hulk to Elvira to vintage Barbie Dolls, and more. She still has her drink tickets from her first time at Hollywood’s Rainbow Bar & Grill in the late ’90s, a laminate and poker chip with Lemmy‘s face on it from his last birthday party, and giant KISS dolls. Carla finds authenticity and rawness intoxicating: her favorite artist is Robert Williams, actress is Juliette Lewis, and Charles Bukowski, who wrote “Ham On Rye”, is her favorite author. She contends that no matter what may lay ahead for her, she’s always considered herself “just a Midwest blue-collar kid with big dreams.”
Photo credit: Stephanie Cabral
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