Harsh, hailing from France made their Call of The Wild festival debut and went down a storm! Bringing their own flavour of glam, sleaze and hard rock they lit up the stage and delighted new and old fans alike. With an album on the way and many more shows lined up these guys are going from strength to strength. Aggy sat down and talked to the quartet about the origins behind Harsh and what they have coming up in the future.
This is your first time playing Call of The Wild festival, what do you think of the whole scene?
Albert: Really cool. People are really kind and ready to party.
I watched you guys perform yesterday on the Trailblazer stage and really enjoyed it! How did you guys find your set?
Léo: ‘We loved it. The stage was really packed and busy so that’s cool. The sound was great. It was loud. Loud and rock n’ roll *laughs* so that’s perfect.
Have you done many UK shows previously?
Albert: Yeah. We are getting more and more. Our manager Colin, he has had us come over here from 2022. Yeah I think it was two years ago. So we’re getting more and more working with him and also Raz White as well. We’ll be back pretty soon. We have played quite a lot. Already a few tours.
How did you all meet? What is the music scene like where you come from? Are there many people like you music wise?
Albert: It’s less rock n’ roll than here.
Léo: In France it’s like, it’s polarised between club music and metal, extreme metal music. Stuff like that. So there’s not really an in-between, you know? There’s not really a glam sleaze scene in France. There are some bands but there isn’t a huge scene.
Albert: We are a part of the hard rock scene there. There’s not like a glam scene but we are in the hard rock scene. So you also wanted to know how we met?
Yeah, how did you all get together. What’s the story?
Albert: I know this mother f*cker here *points at Julien* for twenty years…twenty two years!
Aw so you both must have grown up together?
Albert: we decided to make something of our lives as we were doing nothing at all. Just parting and doing nothing great. So we decided to get serious into music and find some other guys.
Why the name Harsh?
Séverin: We liked the name, we were drunk! *Laughs*
Albert: It was nothing special, we were just drinking.
Julien: It was one morning and we were looking for the name. Partying and we woke up and we had ‘Harsh’ written on the paper and we don’t really know why.
It just works
Albert: Yeah, it just works! We wanted to get a final name that fits what is happening on stage. Harsh is like, there’s party, rhythm, there’s attack *laughs* and there’s glam.
Who or what inspired you guys?
Léo: Different eras. We all like the 80s scene with Def Leppard, Motley Crue and Van Halen. That’s what we really like. Even classic rock too with Led Zeppelin and AC/DC. Modern stuff too like Santa Cruz, Heat, Lost Society.
Can you tell me about any EPs or albums you have out at the moment or coming up?
Albert: We have a CD coming out and it’s eight songs.
Séverin: We released a CD two years ago that we are selling now. We released a few tracks as well recently.
Albert: Yeah, two singles and we are actually working and writing some new songs right now.
Séverin: Right now! *Laughs*
Albert: well not really ‘right now’ *laughs*
What’s the inside scoop, can you tell me about any of the new songs?
Albert: Actually we played one yesterday.
Léo: Yeah we played new songs yesterday. We tried it for the second time actually.
Albert: They will be on the new album.
Léo: So yeah that was sort of exclusive.
You guys have had such amazing feedback. Everyone I have been speaking to keeps going on about you guys. So you’re gonna need to come back! What have you got coming up after Call of The Wild?
Léo: We have a lot of new shows in France and elsewhere. We will be back in the UK on August 17th for Savfest and we will be playing November 16th at Rockmantic. We are looking forward to doing that. We will be back next year too. So we will be back in the UK pretty soon.
Julien: To party!
You got here yesterday, are you camping?
Albert: No, we got a hotel and a shower.
At that’s why you guys still look good *laughs* I’m slumming it *laughs*
Séverin: Hardcore *laughs*
For the overall experience and vibe of Call of The Wild Festival, how would you sum it up?
Leo: All the bands are really cool, nice guys. All the sets are great. The food is good. The team is good. Raz has been just perfect and so kind with us. It’s a really good festival.
Interview and photos by Aggy Gillon