"If there's no road, clear one out. If there's no house, build one now."
Tom Petty meets The Pointer Sisters in a neon karaoke bar in Tokyo singing Tina Turner. The music is a sonic milkshake, a genre blending, culture-defying laser show. Synths, raps, explosive hooks, colorful bridges, sailboats, inspiration.
"We’re fucking widescreen,” says Jarvis Anderson, lead vocalist and producer for Iglu and Hartly. “The album’s like that scene in The Wizard Of Oz when the picture flips from black and white into color."
The music oozes angst, growth, separation, renewal, revival and hope. It urges self-confidence, trust in others, belief, survival. This is not pop music as a one-night stand. This is pop music you marry. Feel good, but take it home with you.
"We want people to listen to our record, be inspired, look inside themselves and work out how they can dominate the world in their own unique way," says Jarvis. "We’re about smashing down barriers.”
The group met at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado. Jarvis Anderson, Sam Martin (vocals, keys), Simon Katz (guitar). These three began making music that, ultimately, made them. Unable to contain their energy, and unwilling to wait for their diplomas, the boys quit school and moved to the eclectic neighborhood of Echo Park, California (just east of Hollywood) where they began knocking on club doors and asking to play shows.
While enduring a circuit in the glitter and grime of seedy Hollywood night clubs, the band was simultaneously embraced in the South Bay of Los Angeles, a beach community with a strong punk rock heritage, home to legendary bands such as Black Flag, The Descendents, Circle Jerks and Pennywise. Leave your Malibu “sunshine daydream” at the door…
Shortly after moving to Los Angeles, Luis Rosiles flew from Jarvis' hometown of Chicago to join the band as their drummer, and LA local Michael Bucher joined as bassist.
With hundreds of shows played around the world Iglu & Hartly has gelled into a force to be reckoned with on and off stage.
"And I found out round here, that I won't disappear, I've got nothing to fear."
Iglu & Hartly recently teamed with Universal Republic Records to bring its debut release, "And Then Boom" to the US masses, where it belongs. The May 5th release date marks the culmination of a band-centered, worldwide marketing effort, including touring and promo activities in every major market in the world. Eleven songs, recorded in the living room of the Echo Park house they have lived in since moving to Los Angeles. No filler.
Welcome to the world of Iglu & Hartly. A world of hope driven by heavy synth. A world soaked in beer and sweat, borne from heart and soul. Welcome to the movement of kids worldwide who have heard the word, who believe, who live like us. Uncompromising, undeniable, uncontrollable, unstoppable.
"When it comes to what we believe to be true in every way, it’s you."
And then Boom.
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