The Harlots

Playing melodic pop/rock with hints of punk, glam, and metal, the Harlots are part of a long and fruitful tradition of heartland Canadian rockers, from the Guess Who to Bryan Adams to Sloan, all of whom they occasionally resemble, the last more often than the first. The heart of the Harlots is a trio of brothers: guitarists Buck Garinger and Lane Bradley Garinger and bassist Lee Charles Garinger. The sons of a Canadian civil engineer whose work took him around the world, the Garingers ended up in the small town of Kelvington, Saskatchewan, after their father died suddenly of pancreatitis while on a project in Nepal in 1986. As the Garinger boys grew up, they independently drifted to the nearest large city, Winnipeg, Manitoba, during the 1990s. After spending some time with a short-lived band called the Ballroom Zombies, whose lead singer, Robin Black, went on to greater fame as a Toronto-based glam rocker, the brothers met drummer Mark Sawatzky and formed the Harlots in 1997. Following a self-released debut album, The Harlots, in 1998, the band temporarily changed its name to Raised by Ghost at the turn of the millennium; a reference to their father's sudden passing, it was perhaps a bit too emo for the band's good time pop/rock, and it was discarded in time for 2003's Crawl Spaces. A more self-assured release than the debut, featuring songwriting and lead vocals by all three brothers, Crawl Spaces was picked up for distribution by Universal Records, which then signed the band properly for its third album, 2006's Connoisseur of Ruin. Following its release, Universal reissued Crawl Spaces in early 2007.
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