Lee Harding: The Counterfeit Sunshine Interview

By: Dr. Matt Warnock

Finding the right mentor is, and always has been, a huge part of a band’s musical and personal development. Countless bands and solo artists over the years have worked under the wings of some of the biggest names in the industry, before moving off on their own and achieving worldwide fame and recognition. With the seemingly week-long lifespans that most new bands enjoy these days, finding an experienced music industry insider is more important than ever, and might just be that extra ingredient that propels a good band into the realm of greatness.

San Diego based band Echo Revolution definitely has this side of their careers going for them. After meeting famed engineer Steve Churchyard, who previously worked with the Pretenders and INXS and had apprenticed under George Martin, they were also introduced Alan Sanderson who had worked with such musical luminaries as The Rolling Stones, Elton John and Weezer just to name a few. With such a musical dream team behind the band, it’s no wonder that their 2010 release Counterfeit Sunshine is getting so much hype ahead of its November 16th release date.

Echo Revolution frontman and rhythm guitarist Lee Harding recently sat down with Guitar International to talk about the new record, Jersey Shore and working with the likes of Churchyard and Sanderson on the new album.

Echo Revolution

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Matt Warnock: Over the past few years Echo has had songs featured on MTV shows such as The Real World and Jersey Shore. What’s it like hearing your music being played on huge, hit shows like that?

Lee Harding: It’s really cool, especially when recently on Jersey Shore they’ve started running the band’s name in the credits. In the past we were featured on those kinds of shows, but people didn’t know whose song it was.

So, we’ve gotten a lot of exposure from that, and still get a ton of emails from people who first heard us on that show. We’re not really sure how they found us, but it’s awesome and a lot of people have found out about the band this way, so it’s been great for us so far.

Matt: It’s great to have your music on MTV, but with the controversies surrounding the cast of Jersey Shore lately, do you ever think, “This is great, but maybe on another show with less negative press?”

Lee: We laugh about it on the van because it’s a pretty trashy show, I mean a guy punched a girl out in a bar you know. It’s been good exposure for us so we’re taking that side of the show in stride.

I think we’d be more concerned if it was a Target commercial or something like that. Then we’d have to have a band meeting and talk it over. We love the exposure, but for some bands it can get to be too much, so we’re careful about that side of things for sure.

Echo Revolution

Matt: You’ve been working with Steve Churchyard recently, who worked with such bands as INXS and The Pretenders. What’s it been like as a young artist working with such a successful and experienced engineer like Steve?

Lee: He’s a super nice guy, really talented and because of his credentials we were a little nervous of how it would go at first. Because he was so experienced, we were a little worried that he might take things over a bit, that we’d lose some creative control. But Steve was really flexible and he inserted his ideas into the gaps. Looking back, he captained the whole thing.

Besides his credentials we loved everything he suggested. For example, there was a grand piano in the studio, so we were already using it on the record. At one point he suggested during “Counterfeit Sunshine” that we double it an octave higher, and it turned out to be perfect for that moment in the song. It gave it this tinkling kind of sound and is really interesting.

He also suggested we cut the chorus a bit to get to the second verse faster, to keep momentum going in the song, which I wouldn’t have thought of. It was those little things that were genius, and that worked out great. It was a blast working with him. It was a great experience for us.

Echo Revolution

Matt: Echo has two guitars, you on rhythm and Mark on lead, how do you approach having dual guitars when you get into the studio and start writing songs?

Lee: I always think of it as everyone has their island, which is their instrument, and nobody swims over to the other guys’ island unless it’s on fire or something. [Laughs] I cover the rhythm parts, so I bring the basic song structure to the band most of the times, then Mark will listen for openings.

I kind of think of him as a Steve Cropper kind of player, a minimalist approach to the guitar. He likes to thicken things up, like if there’s already a rhythm part and a lead part would sound out of place, he’ll just add a second rhythm part to thicken up the sound, without taking anything away from the song. It’s very much by feel and the songs tend to work themselves out in practice and out on the road.

We like to let a song develop on the road. In the past we would write a song and then immediately go into the studio. But we’d find that the song would figure itself out after we had already recorded it. So now we let the songs grow on their own, then bring them to the studio. Everyone has their part in writing these songs. It’s a very collaborative process.

Matt: Counterfeit Sunshine is hitting stores this month, what’s your personal take on the record now that you’ve been able to hear the finished product?

Lee: I feel that it’s really fresh because we recorded everything live, like we would in a concert. We added some overdubs here and there, but the core of the songs were done live. There’s an energy there that comes from playing live in the studio, and I think the fans will really enjoy it.

There’s a rawness to this album, and a lot of emotion, more so than in the past. A lot of the vocals were done with the band, with me not expecting to keep those tracks, but they ended up sounding great so we kept them. I think these songs evoke joy, the way that we all love making music as a band. We’ll see what people think, we just want to put it out there and see what the music and lyrics mean to different people.

I think there are some real gems on this record. We were more prepared than in the past and it really shows in the quality of the album. It was a fun record to make and we hope the fans enjoy listening to it.

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Echo Revolution