HARSH and Midnight Peg Tour Hit The Road

HARSH and Midnight Peg. Photo credit: Shannon Johnston.

Calgary band HARSH brought their queer feminist rage on the road, joining forces with Edmonton post-hardcore outfit Midnight Peg for a summer tour. Kicking off in Calgary at The Ship and Anchor, they ventured to Saskatoon playing the famous Black Cat Tavern. Day three was spent in Regina for an all ages show at The Exchange where eager new fans packed the venue looking for their new favorite songs. Merch was almost a sellout, and some even wanted autographs from members of both bands. 

The final destination was Winnipeg at The Handsome Daughter, with Shannon Johnston along for the ride to capture every moment as their touring photographer. “Tour photography is important because it tells the entire in-depth story of the tour. For me, I get a chance to interact with each member closely, solidifying their trust and friendship, which in turn creates beautiful chemistry you can see in my photography. Bands often tour to introduce themselves to new audiences, bring life to new projects, and creatively interact with people and places. I tag along to document that adventure,” Shannon shares.

The tour van is also a crucial environment of every tour, for bonding and meaningful conversations. In addition to photos, Shannon recorded conversations with both Midnight Peg and HARSH to learn more about the experience of a DIY tour and the value it brings to bands looking to break out of their hometown. “One of my favourite memories on tour was taking the “which X-men Charater Are You” in Peg’s van. The questions actually created a pretty great dialog to break the ice and get to know each other better. I am a cross between Rogue and Wolverine, by the way.”

Shannon Johnston: HARSH - how did it all start?

Jaime: Megan and I got a text message from these two (Sydney & Cam), because they were drinking one night, and it was like: You’re in a band now!

Cam: I met Sydney at a DOA show. And I just started hanging out with them. I texted Jaime that she’s going to sing, told Megan to play the drums, and then we were like, ‘we can stop paying every time we go to Vern’s.’

SJ: From first getting together, and really putting this band into fruition, how do you think your first full-length came out? Does Jealousy Factory clearly represent where Harsh was at that point of time?

Megan: YES! That was definitely where we were. We were such heavy drinkers back then, too. We like the silliness of it. We were learning how to record, too. Cam recorded and mixed it all himself. I remember certain times where Cam would be like, what’s going on here? Like, what’s up with this?

Rocky from Midnight Peg with fans. Photo credit: Shannon Johnston.

Cam: We didn’t have a mixing board, so we ran it just through the PA system.The headphone jack was propped up on a book because it kept falling out of the computer. It was essentially like a mono recording. There was only so much mixing we could do because it was all coming through one track.

Jaime: We did the vocals separately, but, If I remember correctly, there were no separate tracks. Sydney and I would sing, see how the volume was, and then put a piece of tape on the ground for how far away from the mic we had to be.

SJ: This was 2017?

Cam: Yeah, about that time. Now we use a full multitrack system with all the proper mics and I know how to mix stuff, so that  makes it so much easier.

SJ: Do you think the band has evolved into a different version of Harsh?

Megan: A better version. We know how to play our shit better, we know what sounds better. I’m not just learning how to play, I actually have an idea of how to play it right.

Sydney: I had to let go of the need to have this be punk. I don’t care anymore. We play all kinds of music now. We just write music. It doesn’t have to be fast, hardpunk. I got stuck into that headspace for so long. I’m having more fun writing this way. Maybe even just getting weirder, which is cool. We’re writing from how we’re feeling, and evolving, rather than, hey let’s jump in this “box” and write the same shit as everyone else.

Cam: If you look at the history of Harsh music, you can tell exactly between recordings when I read Chris Walters’ (from Dayglo Abortions) book and learned how to play bass. There’s a mark at year four — the EPs before, I played it wrong; after I read that book, it got better. He said, you’re playing it wrong if you are trying to play closer to the guitar. That clicked for me. It worked. So, shout out to Chris Walter.

SJ: The confidence you have on stage today, did you always have that confidence on stage, Sydney?

Sydney: Oh, absolutely not. No. No. Oh my God. Copsicle was fucking anarchy. It was a mess. I definitely cut my teeth in Copsicle and brought that confidence into Harsh. Also, I’ve had a lot of people tell me that I was their influence for coming out or playing around with gender, because I’ve been doing this and representing gender non-conformity on stage for a long time. So, I do actually feel like it’s important to have this confidence. Sometimes I’m like, well, I don’t know what Regina is going to be like, should I wear a skirt? You know? I actually talked to a kid in Regina who came up after the show and was specifically stoked on that. They were pumped for the solidarity. It was sick! It took me a long time to get to that point where I could actually be confident in doing that.

SJ: Everybody likes “Garbage” live. And why do you think everybody resonates with that song so much?

Jaime: I think because it’s fun and upbeat, but als embracing that other people feel like trash, too. It’s okay to feel like trash, because we all do. It doesn’t have to be a negative to feel like crap. It’s okay to have those creature comforts, like, yeah, I may be a mess, but I’m still good.

Sydney: And, I think it sounds just enough like a Blink-182 song. My favorite guitar player is Tom DeLonge. He doesn’t make stuff too complicated, but can write really, really catchy stuff, and that’s what I’m inspired by these days more than the real technical players.

SJ: What would you say Harsh’s tour playlist would include?

Megan: Oh god, most times it ends up just being whatever is on Sydney’s phone and their freaking music is chaos! You go from Barenaked Ladies, to Northern Boys and then you gotta add some hyperpop in there too. If we go past any Canadian landmark that has a song associated with it, we get that song.

Sydney: Yeah, we always have the theme songs for Canadian points of interest. Some of the songs aren’t as great as others, but yeah… “Party Time” by The Northern Boys!

SJ: What do you think were essentials for this tour?

Jaime: I need my pillow; I like my pillow.

Sydney: Vintage porn. I only found one in Saskatoon, but I cleared out all of their stock.

Cam: Copious amounts of energy drinks. I really wish I would have grabbed three more at the last gas station.

SJ: I’m not gonna lie; there was a lot of energy in this van. You guys should have a fucking sponsorship! How has your heart not stopped?

Cam: I think I built a tolerance?

Sydney: … or now your body just runs off energy drinks and not a heart. I think this might be the interview where we reveal that Cam is actually a vampire!

SJ: Any final notes?

Sydney: I always add: be gay, do crimes.

Midnight Peg

SJ: Midnight Peg! I met you at Purple City 2022. How long have you officially been together?

Rocky: That was our third show ever. Five years officially this November. Eric and Jeff started jamming then added the rest of us. April 2022 was our first show together as Peg.

Eric: We knew each other from other bands and musical projects. Rocky started as a guitarist. She had surgery that changed the way she could do things. When Rocky started singing lead, she added a dynamic voice.

Rocky: I was very shy to sing actually.

SJ: Do you enjoy the process of creating new music?

Rocky: We really enjoy the creative process. Ultimately, this is Eric’s vision. He gave us this awesome playground,

and we just get to play in it. When it comes to the music part, we say what we want, feelings don’t really get hurt in that regard. We’re just kind of all wanting to make something that we believe in and enjoy at the end of the day. We had a meeting and all agreed that we care most about it being good, and if it’s shit, we want to know that from each other. If everyone is stoked on something, and one maybe isn’t, perhaps we can live with that and see where it progresses.

SJ: You’re creating some of the lyrics before your show. Does everybody come to the table with the music locked in giving Rocky movement for lyrics?

Jeff: Most of the music is done. The composition kind of starts and ends with Eric. I think we’ve made minor tweaks on songs over the years, but not far from what he originally put together compositionally. Like the drums, I can do whatever I want with them, but, I mean, there are certain areas where he’s got an idea of how things should be mapped out, and the only thing that I really do is flesh it out a little bit more.

Eric: Also with bass, Brian has tons of great ideas to add because the bass is pretty raw before it gets to him. I feel like he adds a lot of the final melody. Rocky, she’s got to be in the room for most of this process. She’s got a wild way of figuring the music out for herself and where she needs to place lyrics.

Rocky: I have a hundred recordings for each song before I decide first, the rhythm and the melody for the vocals, and then I like to figure out where the words go and what the mood is. I have to just scream random shit at first. I get really anxious about writing, so every song is a writer’s block. It’s like purging. It feels like I have to get all the diarrhea out of my mind, and usually that happens under pressure. Something will spit out and then I spend time finding out what it meant before we actually write it in stone.

SJ: When you go on stage, it probably works itself out a little bit, too, right? Once you’re singing to an audience, you can add the feeling. Does the energy of the crowd change the songs?

Rocky: Yeah, it’s like communicating. I fucking love live performance. I love connecting with people. I am really excited about the recording, because I know it connects, too, but it’s different. I think the adrenaline and the connection help work out the lyrics organically. Sometimes they’ll just get thrown out after a live show, because I was just bullshitting. So, I don’t really know how to explain it. It’s not a great process. It’s slow. It’s kind of messy. It takes a lot of patience. It’s a little stressful. We end up having lots of planning and strategizing about recording, just in terms of how we see it all playing out.

Eric: Like, everything Rocky just said, there’s this process she’s going through that works for the vocals. I have written that song, like, a year before so I personally start feeling impatient, you know? It’s just something we navigate.

Brian: Another thing with our first release is that we were just keen to start playing shows. Keen to get something out there. But with our new project, we want to do a proper release.

SJ: The entire concept of Midnight Peg makes so much sense to me now that I understand how your music comes together. Your music is built in stages. The lyrics are organically added after the music is already in place.

Rocky: The mood and the aesthetics of the lyrics mean more to me than the specific story.

Eric: Also, Brian is a cool songwriter. One thing I really like is his melodic sense. He and I are both pop punkers, originally. But Midnight Peg has kind of corrupted us and turned us into weird pop demons. My goal is to write something that is as ugly as possible, but is still catchy. Brian is actually really good at that. He finds the weirdest fucking melodic ideas that I never would have thought of. He writes five for every one I write. That stuff is much more interesting, and certainly influenced me quite a bit with the songs that I personally write for Midnight Peg. Weirder.

Brian: I wouldn’t say weirder, just less predictable. Less methodical.

Eric: The kind of music we cut our teeth on, if you play three chords the fourth one is going to definitely be a predictable chord, you know. Now, it’s like, nope, let’s find a chord that the audience wasn’t expecting. Or not on the same scale. If we can subvert those expectations, but still have it get in someone’s head, that’s mission accomplished. I’m not trying to say this as though we’ve stumbled on some secret formula. A million bands do this. It’s been very revealing and kind of liberating for me, the process of writing riffs for Midnight Peg, because when we started I kind of had an idea of what we were going to be, but now it's way different.

SJ: Lastly, why is it important for Midnight Peg to tour Saskatchewan and Manitoba?

Eric: It’s just really fun to play live shows in new places.

Rocky: I need to hear new bands and I need to hear how different people like different things. Otherwise, I feel like we are in a bubble. I’m driven by connecting with new people and also hearing new sounds in different cities. You can’t check the pulse of what is exciting these days beyond where you live. Meeting new friends in other places helps.

Eric: We’ve been to Calgary a bunch and once in Saskatoon. Can’t think of a bad show in Calgary. We want to hopefully go back to places with somewhat of a draw, but cool to also head to a couple new places with hopeful new fans.

Rocky: I pushed for this tour. Megan from Harsh asked if we’d be down to tour with them. I have a huge crush on Megan and Harsh, so it was a no-brainer. It was cool to learn from her and how she coordinated the whole logistics of the tour. It’s great to bond and do this with other people who we get along with. Stronger together, you know? Same type of people typically like our bands. We

share followers, make connections. Hometown bands have a huge following, like in Regina with Man Meat, and their fans hopefully leave liking what we have to offer them, too.