Update From A.J.

Greetings... Darren says it's time for a newsletter from the rookie. So... for those of you who haven't caught a show in the last few months, I'm A.J., nice to meet ya! First calls for Harlequin stick duties came for me in the spring of '94 and sporadic gigs have ensued since then. The full time position was offered this past spring shortly after the release of 'Waking the Jester'.( Good timing for me! ). In the light of the release of ' Rise' and ' Shine on ', there have been great gigs and great times. Highlights would have to be our October 24th show with Heart at the MTS Centre. Not a bad Winnipeg debut for myself with the band. It was great to see all the support from family, friends and fans. My nephew Austin even caught a drumstick! A couple of weeks ago proved to be one hell of a raucous night in the Kamloops arena with Kenny and the boys. It was great to see a B.C. crowd of a thousand plus on their feet from start to finish. Definitely a prairie party in the mountains. Good times. As for the characters I get to spend these Hallmark moments with, George, Darren, Derrick and Uncle Nik, let's just say recess starts when we meet at the airport. Top notch guys, great players and thankfully all possess a penchant for a good adolescent giggle and an undying devotion to anything Beatles. Even with various projectiles aimed at the drumkit which seemingly always come from stage Darren to occasional tom and cymbal stand tipping from Nik, it's a pleasure sharing a stage with these guys. So... Pick up a CD online and help us decide which song from the album should be released as the next single. Better yet come out to a show near you, if it's not near you, make a road trip out of it. Our Christmas show at mybar in Winnipeg( Sat. Dec. 22 ) should be chalk full of Ho Ho Ho's and Christmas cheer. As a bonus you can sit on St. Nik's lap after the show with your wish list. Nice chatting with you , hope to see you soon. A.J. P.S. Allow me to indulge my inner Nugent for a moment... Any of our rural Manitoba ( or Saskatchewan ) landowner fans needing to rid their pastures of pesky ( albeit tasty! ) four legged critters of the white tail variety, please feel free to contact me personally to help you come up with a solution. Bon appetit!

Darren November 2007 update

Hey friends of Harlequin…..it’s time for an update…..so I’ll throw what I’ve got in the pot.
Well so far we’ve had a great year…performed in front of thousands of folks across the country, released our new CD Waking The Jester, with two singles “Shine On” and “Rise”, with a third single on the way. This is the biggest year Harlequin has had since…well we really can’t remember…we’ll just say since back in the day (you’ll have to ask George, I’m one of the new kids).
We’ve been courted and picked up by a European distributor and are selling the CD all over the world, yes really….so if you haven’t got yours yet, please, please support us starving musicians and grab a copy at your local CD shoppe. If they don’t have it in stock, just request one, it takes a day or two for delivery. If you’re more inclined to shop online, you can purchase one from either of our sites http://www.harlequintheband.com/ or http://www.myspace.com/harlequinrocks no excuses now! Also check out the sites for pix, show dates and general info. BTW, if you have any pictures you’d like to share just e-mail them to us at harlequinrock@gmail.com and we’ll gladly post them. (If you’re taking pictures of me, make sure to get my left side?)
I know I’ve offered this before to our Newsletter members and have delivered at almost every show….but the first four people that request admittance to one of our shows in your neighbourhood, will get in on behalf of the band. So keep in touch…if possible we will grant you access to our backstage area (where restrictions allow) to meet and hang and have photo opps. If this doesn’t impress you, we’ll have Nik, AJ, George and Derrick perform a comedy routine for you (I don’t like being laughed at, other than on stage (: )
For you easterners, yes we are planning on coming your way, hopefully sooner than later. We are also looking into some international touring in the New Year, based on the success of our CD release. There are some other exciting “things” on the scope, however politics doesn’t allow me to expose any details yet…..(don’t cha hate when someone starts a story and won’t finish it?)
Ciao for now
Darren Moore aka Big Time

Newsletter from Darren

It's hotter than hell on the prairies....yea haw! But we can take it, cold drinks, good tans, warm water and skimpy clothing..it's all good.

We've put on a few miles so far this summer and met alot of you Internet people face to face finally...whether we met via our newsletter or myspace.

The first single "Shine On" made quite a bit of headway in Canada, into Europe, online radio and poked it's nose out a wee into the US. We thought since the summer is still young and our summer touring is not nearly over yet, we'd release the second single. So we have..."Rise" has been sent to radio stations and will hopefully be on the airwaves over the next few weeks. Soooo..... again we'll respectfully ask for your support in calling your local radio stations and requesting Rise or Shine On...it REALLY helps us get on the air and chart. Let me know how it goes.

BTW.... I did send and hand out some CD`s and merchandise to some of you folks that went over the top, to help us market the first single. Thanks again, every little thing means alot to us. Let us know what you have done, it helps us track for marketing purposes.

Congratulations to our guitar player Derrick Gottfried and his better half (seriously).....he is a proud father for the first time, to a son aptly named Hendrix, (Derrick believes his life won`t change much.) The rest of us bite our lips.

Congratulations to Nik Rivers our bass player, for being nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for writing our last newsletter, under the pen name of Uncle Nik.

Congratulations to George Belanger our lead singer, for more than keeping up with some of us rowdies and pulling us out of bed in the mornings to hit the next gig. We also want to congratulate him at practising on keeping his snoring at around 84 DB, just under permanent hearing damage volume. (Planes are not immune either.)

Just because I don`t want to be left out....congratulations to me for being seriously drank under the table, by 61 year old vocalist Dan McCafferty, of Nazareth last weekend. I still hurt (really)!

and finally, congratulations to those of you that read this far.

Thanks again,

Darren Moore
Harlequin

Post from Nik

Hi kids and welcome to Camp Harlequin. My name is Uncle Nik Rivers and I’ll be your camp councilor. The summer season is upon us and we’ve got a busy schedule ahead of us, with lots of fun filed activities for all you boys and girls!

As you may know the band has just released our new recording titled Waking The Jester available at finer music stores across North America, on-line from our web site or best of all in person at one of our live shows!

Everyone in the band is really excited about the new CD and we know the new songs really put some kick into our shows. I’ve been in the band for a really long time (150 years) and along with our classic songs, this is the best Harlequin has ever performed and sounded. What I’m trying to say is check out our site, find out when we’re playing at a venue near you and come check us out! Our website always has the tour dates on it.

This newsletter won’t be too long because Uncle Nik is lazy, but I want to let you know that we really want to see or hear from you this summer, we really mean it. In fact we were once voted second friendliest band in Canada (I think Fred Penner was first).

There is one more thing that you can do for us this summer besides learning how to paddle a canoe, if you haven’t heard our new single “Shine On” on the radio yet, give you’re local station a call and tell them to give it a spin.

I’d love to stay but I have to throw another log on the fire and don’t forget if you need anything at all, advice or tip maybe some personal counseling, drop me a line. ROCK ON KIDS!

NIK RIVERS


http://www.harlequintheband.com/

www.myspace.com/harlequinrocks

WINNIPEG, Manitoba. – April 25th, 2007

2006 Western Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductees Harlequin is pleased to announce the release of the much heralded “Waking The Jester.” Harlequin gained its foothold as a staple Canadian classic rock artist in the eighties and has recently been regaining much national attention, with the re-emergence of today’s classic rock radio format. The band is gearing up to tour Canada immediately, in support of the new CD, which delivers both the power and finesse expected by their existing fans and new younger audiences who are discovering classic rock. The band has recently been performing from coast to coast, playing to capacity audiences at arenas, festivals and other venues.
Lead Vocalist George Belanger stated; “The CD title “Waking The Jester” implies that we are picking up from where we left off after the first three albums. We spent over a year crafting 13 new tunes in the true flavor of Harlequin and in the spirit of good classic rock. Based on initial audience response and my personal opinion, this is some of the strongest material Harlequin has ever produced!”
The CD is a collaborative effort shared between George Belanger, Derrick Gottfried, Darren Moore and Nick Rivers. Harlequin’s line up is fronted by original singer/songwriter George Belanger. George is joined by Derrick Gottfried on guitar, Darren Moore on guitar and keyboards and Nick Rivers on bass. Darren and Derrick have also stepped out on this album, sharing the vocal spotlight with George, each performing a track adding their distinct energy to the CD. Original writer and guitarist Glen Willows also performs on a track.
The CD release party is slated for June 1st in hometown Winnipeg MB. at the Canad Inns venue “Silverados.” The new show combines all the components of a classic rock concert performance, accentuated with the theatrics of choreographed dancers and performers.

Harlequin has signed a 3 year distribution deal with Fontana North. Fontana North is the result of a partnership between leading Canadian independent music distributor MapleNationWide and Fontana Distribution, the U.S. based independent distribution arm of the Universal Music Group.

Interview, Advertising & Sponsorship Contact:
Email: harlequinrock@gmail.com

http://www.harlequintheband.com/
www.myspace.com/harlequinrocks

CD Release post from George

Things are happening fast and furious in the Harlequin Camp. As some of you may know our new release “Waking the Jester” is being pressed already! It’s been a long but worthwhile process. We did a lot of the tracking on Darren’s Pro-Tool rig in his home…. not hard to take… pool, sauna and a well stocked bar, but also availed ourselves of our good friend and sometime soundman, Howard Klopak’s Groove Jungle Studio. We did all the drums at Howard’s as well as some guitars, vocals, mixing and mastering.

We were fortunate enough to have a great complement of guests on this project. Most of the drum tracks were done by Steve Broadhurst, a well known session drummer and much in demand as a live performer. He keeps busy doing a lot of musicals that come to town too. He plays a lot of styles and is one of the most versatile players I’ve ever played with! Amanda Stott, Jack Semple, Eagle and Hawk, All the King’s Men are only a few of the artists that he performs with. He first started playing with me 14 yrs. Ago, so he’s no stranger to any Harlequin fan.

We also had the pleasure of using Brent Fitz, another Winnipeger who’s made his mark in the industry! One of the most accomplished, natural musicians I have ever met. Perfect pitch, a vast knowledge of musical theory, harmonies, great instincts and a hell of a piano player. It’s a shame we only worked with him as a drummer on three tracks. Brent is currently playing with Theory of a Deadman and has played with the likes of Vince Neil from Motley Crue fame, Alice Cooper, Union a band comprised of heavy hitters from a number of classic rock artists (Bruce Kulick of Kiss, John Corrabi of Motley Crue, James Hunting of David Lee Roth) and Living Under Venus with Darren. I’ll never forget the first time I played with him. He asked to sit in on a few tunes … I knew he was a great player so I had no qualms about it. It was only after the song ended that I realized he’d never played the song before and he’d pulled it off as if he’d been with us from the start so we played a few more and had a blast. He confessed afterwards that he was a Harlequin fan for many years, but that still didn’t explain how he followed the arrangement changes that were not on the recordings!!

Most of the people reading this would know and recognize the name “Spider”, the legendary bassist for Streetheart, Tom Cochrane and currently playing with Loverboy. I’ve had the pleasure of playing and recording with him several times and in my mind is one of the greatest bass players Canada has ever produced. Well let me introduce you all to Jim Cote out of Calgary who is without a doubt right up there in the same league as Spider! I first met Jim 5 minutes before we stepped on stage together to do a one and a half hour show without the benefit of one single rehearsal. I won’t get into all the details but we had an emergency and needed a bass player to fill in with very little notice. Jim was given a tape and a few days to learn the show. He had worked with Darren on the “Living Under Venus” project and knew already that he was an accomplished player, but I was absolutely blown away that night by his playing, as he not only played the whole set perfectly, but also added his own signature to many of the parts! As good as he is he remains very modest about his abilities and is one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. He has some writing credits on this album so it was only natural that he play on a few tracks and his parts really established a groove for the rest of us. He is a rock solid player that should be recognized as one of the best.

I’m pretty excited about this project and part of the reason is that I know the next one will be even better due to my association with all the guys involved. We have a new website that will be launched simultaneously with the disc. Stay tuned for that! As well as being released in all the stores soon, we will also make the songs available online. We will also be personally responding to any fan mail at the new site.

Silverado’s will be hosting our release party on June 1st. We’re working with some “acrobatic dancers” who have choreographed a “Waking The Jester” introduction to the show. 92 CITI FM will be presenting the show and we will be doing a “live” unplugged studio show at the station in the near future to promote the upcoming date. We’re really looking forward to it as we have been rehearsing already.

Keep on Rockin’… George