Harry Hess, singer and guitarist for Harem Scarem, jumped on the official Danko Jones podcast while Danko was at Harry’s Vespa Studio working on the new album this past September. Harry talked about international fame versus homegrown fame, hanging out with Slayer guitarist Kerry King in Japan, touring with Foreigner, and having number one songs in The Philippines. Brendan Canning from Broken Social Scene (and The Black Coffee Brigade) makes an appearance to ask Harry a series of bullet questions, too.

The sophomore album from First Signal featuring Harry Hess, entitled One Step Over The Line, was released on June 3rd. The album track “Minute Of Your Time” is available for streaming below.

In 2010, a marriage made in melodic rock heaven between Canadian singer Harry Hess and producer Dennis Ward launched the First Signal project. The concept developed when Frontiers' President Serafino Perugino presented Hess some melodic rock songs that harkened back to the magic of the early Harem Scarem sound, who at the time were on an artistic hiatus. The project was met with excellent reviews and interest from the melodic rock crowd and even when Harem Scarem re-launched with their album Thirteen (one of their strongest to date), Harry was still wanting to go back and sing some excellent melodic rock songs that he had from various songwriters under a different moniker.

So, the idea of another First Signal album started to float around and with the help of Swedish producer Daniel Flores (Find Me, The Murder of My Sweet, etc.), the new record started to take shape. Once again, the inspiration behind the songs are the first two Harem Scarem albums, two absolute classic melodic rock releases. But once again, we have some new twists and interpretations, with songs covering everything from AOR to arena hard rock.

Harry says, “I am very excited to be a part of the new First Signal release. I was pleasantly surprised with the positive reaction surrounding the first CD, so it was an easy decision to be a part of the new recording. Between Serafino, Daniel and myself we gathered some great songs that I'm sure the AOR fans will love. Daniel Flores did a fabulous job and put in a ton of effort to make this happen. We met many years ago on a writing trip to Sweden where I immediately noticed his work ethic and dedication to making music. I'm looking forward to hearing everyone's reaction to the new album on June 3rd!”

Musicians on the album include the outstanding new talent Michael Palace on guitars and bass, Daniel Flores on drums and keyboards, and background vocals from Hess' Harem Scarem bandmate (and Red Dragon Cartel singer) Darren Smith, Alessandro Del Vecchio, Nigel Bailey, Daniel Flores, Rolf Pilotti and Angelica Rylin.

One Step Over The Line tracklisting:

“Love Run Free”
“Love Gets Through”
“Still Pretending”
“Broken”
“Karma”
“Minute Of Your Time”
“She Is Getting Away”
“December Rain”
“Weigh Me In”
“Pedestal”
“One Step Over The Line”

“Minute Of Your Time”:

“Karma”:

“Love Run Free”:

“Love Gets Through” lyric video: