Bryan Harvey (musician) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Bryan Harvey was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

Musician

A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

noted for his fronting role in House of Freaks
House of Freaks
House of Freaks was a two-man band formed in Richmond, Virginia in the mid 1980s. Bryan Harvey played guitar and sang, and Johnny Hott played percussion...

. He was murdered with his wife Kathryn and their two daughters Stella (9) and Ruby (4) on January 1, 2006.

Harvey first gained attention in the early 1980s as singer-guitarist in a power pop

Power pop

Power pop is a popular musical genre that draws its inspiration from 1960s British and American pop and rock music. It typically incorporates a combination of musical devices such as strong melodies, crisp vocal harmonies, economical arrangements, and prominent guitar riffs. Instrumental solos are...

band based out of Richmond, Virginia

Richmond, Virginia

Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...

called The Dads. Popular at East Coast

East Coast of the United States

The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, refers to the easternmost coastal states in the United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. The term includes the U.S...

colleges, the band reached the pinnacle of its success in 1984 with the release, on CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

records, of its self-titled album.

Harvey's subsequent musical career included long-time participation in the indie supergroup Gutterball

Gutterball

Gutterball is a compound word devised from "gutter" and "ball", which has several meanings:*"Gutterball" is a phrase often used in American ten-pin bowling to describe a delivery that falls into one of the gutters before it reaches the pins....

, which featured former Dream Syndicate

Dream Syndicate

The Dream Syndicate was an alternative rock band from Los Angeles, California active from 1981 to 1989. The band was associated with the Paisley Underground music movement.-History:...

frontman Steve Wynn

Steve Wynn (songwriter)

Steve Wynn is a songwriter based in New York . He led the band the Dream Syndicate from 1981 to 1989 and afterward began a solo career.- Career in bands :...

. Harvey's most enduring project, however, was House of Freaks

House of Freaks

House of Freaks was a two-man band formed in Richmond, Virginia in the mid 1980s. Bryan Harvey played guitar and sang, and Johnny Hott played percussion...

, a two-man band with Richmond percussionist Johnny Hott

Johnny Hott

Johnny Hott was the drummer for the House of Freaks, a musical duo with singer/guitarist Bryan Harvey. He was also one of three drummers for the band Cracker. He has also played drums for indie supergroup Gutterball, Sparklehorse, and Timothy Bailey and The Humans.Hott currently lives in Richmond,...

, who had a penchant for banging on anything he could drag into the studio that made the noise he wanted.

House of Freaks was signed to Rhino Records

Rhino Entertainment

Rhino Entertainment Company is an American specialty record label and production company. It is owned by Warner Music Group.-History:Rhino was originally a novelty song and reissue company during the 1970s and 1980s, releasing compilation albums of pop, rock & roll, and rhythm & blues successes...

for their first three albums, but had trouble finding a permanent home towards the end of the band's existence, bouncing around from indie to indie. They played with other groups on occasion, most notably on a couple of tracks with the Norfolk band Waxing Poetics (whose first album was produced by REM

R.E.M.

R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...

's Mike Mills

Mike Mills

Michael Edward "Mike" Mills is an American multi-instrumentalist and composer who was a founding member of the alternative rock group R.E.M.. Though known primarily as a bass guitarist, backing vocalist, and pianist, his musical repertoire includes also keyboards, guitar, and percussion instruments...

). Their debt to the blues was evident from their first album, but they later moved more and more towards the stripped down style of rockabilly

Rockabilly

Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...

bands like the Chickasaw Mudpuppies and the Flat Duo Jets

Flat Duo Jets

Flat Duo Jets was a rockabilly band from Chapel Hill, North Carolina and Athens, Georgia. They were a major influence on several bands of the 1990s and 2000s, including The White Stripes. In interviews, Jack White has often acknowledged Dexter Romweber's influence...

. However, they were closer in spirit to artists like Tom Waits

Tom Waits

Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...

or Lyle Lovett

Lyle Lovett

Lyle Pearce Lovett is an American singer-songwriter and actor. Active since 1980, he has recorded thirteen albums and released 21 singles to date, including his highest entry, the number 10 chart hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, "Cowboy Man"...

, exploring in particular the blessing/curse of family and community and their effects on the individual.

House of Freaks called it quits in 1995. Both members were involved with the making of the most recent Gutterball outing, but the rumors say that Hott has left that group as well and been replaced by the drummer for The dB's

The dB's

The dB's are a jangle pop/power pop group who came into prominence in the late 1970s and 1980s. The bandmembers were Peter Holsapple, Chris Stamey, Will Rigby and Gene Holder, all of whom were from Winston-Salem, North Carolina...

. Bryan Harvey completed a solo album in early 1997, which remains unreleased. Gutterball is still considered to be an open project by the people involved; however, no plans have been made to record new material.

It was former bandmate-friend Hott who approached the Harvey home in South Richmond in anticipation of a New Year's Day party and discovered that the house was on fire. Authorities subsequently found the four family members slain in the basement, the result of a home invasion.

In early 2006, a compilation album of Harvey's music, Remember Me Well, was released.

External links

info found at: The Invisible Jewel House of Freaks Page and at Rhino Records

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