Harmony Dreamers Talks To Us About Everything From Their Career To their Latest Music

Interviewed by Duzzy Clayton

Intro

Harmony Dreamers’ sensational debut album, I Come From Earth, is a truly global record in both outlook and execution. The new studio project of prolific songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Byron Lee Scott, it offers a timely message of worldwide unity with contributions from an array of top-flight musicians from every continent, including 20 international backup singers. I Come From Earth was released worldwide on Aug. 26, 2022, with free streaming and downloads already available on Harmony Dreamers’ website. Ultra-melodic, rich in cultured harmonies, gorgeous orchestrations, and gentle psychedelia, Harmony Dreamers has earned comparisons to timeless greats including Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Steely Dan, and Crosby Stills & Nash. From its humorous title track to sunny first single “Summertime Memory,” I Come From Earth melds diverse influences with a lyrical throughline of connection, togetherness, and optimism. Second single “Paro Paro Butterfly” is a collab with Filipina artist Shiruu, with English and Tagalog versions, while follow-up “First Song” celebrates the musical opportunities of the Web.
Centered upon Scott’s distinctive and versatile low-register vocals, I Come From Earth includes contributions from, among many others, Irish and Nigerian bassists; Spanish and Venezuelan percussionists; and singers from the U.S., Argentina, and Austria. A rare opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a new musical phenomenon, the album is released on all digital platforms.

Interview

Hi and welcome Harmony Dreamers to Fanbase Music Magazine, firstly that is a pretty awesome band name, can you tell us how it came about?

It’s my pleasure. One of the goals of creating the name was to combine two or more words that have not been used before so that we could acquire the dot-com domain name, and all of the platforms under the same name. When I finally came up with this combination of words, I realized it has several meanings. There’s the musical Harmony, which I have always loved. Then there’s Harmony in the world or in our own dealings. In creating music, the musical harmonies can be dreamy. And then there’s the idea of harmony in the world, one of the themes of our debut album, I Come From Earth. I think the name is not just about our lyrics and musical harmonies, but the name might describe a kind of fan… a person who really loves our music and lyrics.

Can you tell us who is in the band and what each band member does?

There are so many people on our debut album that I’m going to have to refer you for details to our website or the song descriptions and backstories on YouTube. I wish I could name every one of them now, but there are eight female vocalists, a large number of musicians, I’m not sure how many, and 21 backup singers on the title track, at least one from every continent.

For decades I wrote and recorded songs doing all of the tracks myself. In the summer of 2021 I started recording the album and adding drums from my long time band mate and best friend Larry Dragland. That was the beginning of a big part of our sound, which is multiple drummers and percussion on every song. I still play most of the rhythm instruments and all of the male vocals on the album, but the female vocalists, the four amazing bass guitarists, and the other musicians were brought in because I felt that their style was perfect for a particular song. Then the 21 backup singers on the title track happened at the end of the project because it fit the album concept, and because it was fun! Through meeting those 21 artists, I met a couple of the main people in the album, such as Lola from Argentina on some synths, and Shiruu from Philippines who co-produced and co-wrote Paro Paro Butterfly.

How would you describe your sound and genre?

We call it synth pop generally. Each song has its own unique feel, but some have a bit of progressive rock. I love synthesizers and play a lot of guitar synthesizer and some keyboard synths as well. On this first album there is also a lot of guitar but I kept it mostly clean guitar rather than a lot of distortion and hard rock guitars. There are a couple of spots with harder guitar, but not many. The multiple drums is a big part of the sound. I can’t stress enough the importance of the great bass players on this album. And then blending female vocals with my lower voice on almost every song is a big part of the sound. I love interesting vocal harmonies and musical harmonies. Each song has it’s own exclusive feel. And finally I would stress the importance of volume dynamics both in balancing all of the parts, building the songs, and also using crescendos and volume changes. You can really hear this on our latest single Pass It On. The amazing bass player who you really should read about, Ciara Moser from Austria, really locked into the crescendos and dynamic changes.

What are some of the band’s musical influences?

There are so many hundreds of influences throughout my career that sometimes I just say there are too many to name. But I’ll throw out a few. For vocal Dynamics, Barbra Streisand. For vocal song building, Tina Turner. For synthesizer sounds and inspiration, Jan Hammer. Building the end of a song, Quincy Jones. Guitar, Tommy Bolin, Pat Thrall. Using 9th chords, Prince, Crowded House. Songwriting, Van Halen, ZZ Top, Jan Hammer. Humorous lyrics, Jerry Reed, Joe Walsh, Frank Zappa. This could go on forever, but there are a few examples for you.

Let’s talk about your current single, Pass it On, what is the song about?

It’s really about what some might call Universal love. It’s about passing on kindness, respect, caring.

I grew up in the United States, and although it’s no secret that my spiritual life has been a long, unique journey, I started in a Christian country. I learned a lot, too much for the space given here. One of the stories from Christianity is that someone asked Jesus what is the most important commandment. The answer was to love God with all your heart, and to love your neighbor as yourself. It’s been said before, in many songs. In fact there’s a story about how the lyrics from the bridge came to me in a really crazy way. This was before the internet so I didn’t know at the time it was a quote from Oscar Hammerstein II. Those words have also been used in a number of songs by Leonard Cohen, Reba McIntire, and others. I paraphrased it in the song Pass It On. The bridge lyrics are, “Love wasn’t put in your heart to stay. Love isn’t Love till you give it away.” Pass It On.

Where was the track recorded and who worked on it?

It’s kind of a crazy mixture on this tune. On the album there are five totally new tracks, five of my old songs which didn’t change a lot in structure, except were re-recorded, and two of my old songs which were completely changed. This is one of the old songs which didn’t change a lot. In fact, the bell-sound keyboard was salvaged from an old track that was an early recording using a keyboard that I no longer own. The rest of the track is new. Once the track was put together with myself on vocals and other instruments, and Larry on drum kit, the other tracks were added one at a time in studios across the world. Tyler V, currently in Los Angeles shares the lead vocals with me, Ciara Moser from Austria on bass guitar, and Marta Rosa Diaz from Spain on percussion. Five of us on this track, and a female heavy lineup.

Is there an album the track is on or an upcoming album you can tell us about?

Our debut album is named after the title track I Come From Earth. It was released August of 2022 and contains 12 tracks. There are 17 songs in all because two of the tracks are multiple songs tied together. The title song has been on charts since it’s release, and there is a second country version which crossed over into country charts. All of the tracks have been getting spins in so many countries. Although we are still somewhat underground and not well known, the album has made quite a splash in a lot of places.

When you write songs, can you tell us your process, does the lyrics or music come first?

I have written and recorded over 100 songs and have files of ideas for many more. The process is not always the same. One song on the album, Summertime Memory, came to me in 5 minutes including hearing the voice of the girl that was to sing it. The title track took a few years. The album track Waiting for You took 30 years to complete. I do sometimes write songs from lyrical ideas, but not always.

I’ll share one songwriting tip that may help other songwriters. If you write one verse and one chorus, you could be close to finishing a song. The second verse can be written from the first verse, and the bridge or break down etc. L, you can just flip the chords around. Add an intro, build the song, and an ending. Of course there are many variations, but having a good chorus and a verse can be a great start.

Many professional musicians record with a click track or metronome. I do the same thing using a drum track. It might be replaced later or it might be carefully thought out for the entire song. Either way, it serves as a metronome so that everything is in time and also locked into the grid on computer software, making editing and certain timed effects easy.

Can you explain a typical live experience if we were to see you play live?

It’s funny you should ask that because my career has been sort of upside down, late blooming, the scenic route. I performed in every sort of situation for decades, and learned a lot about music and songwriting during that time. Now that I have released my magnum opus, life’s work debut album, I’m really not all that interested in live performance. I may show up and jam someplace or something small.

Otherwise if I were to perform live in the future it would probably be one of two things. If Saturday Night Live TV show wants me to perform two songs, I could easily put something together for that. Otherwise, if I had unlimited resources, it might be a choreographed, produced show on the scope of Pink Floyd concerts. It’s possible something else might occur. I’m always considering many options in music. I have so many song ideas, video ideas and promoting the album, that it’s more than enough to keep me busy. But I’m open to thinking out of the box.

Can you give us your social media links?

Just remember the name Harmony Dreamers. Our website, social media, every streaming platform, and you can even Google Harmony Dreamers to find some great reviews, articles and links.

Thank you for doing this interview, do you have any last messages for our readers?

I would love to hear from anyone who likes any one of our songs. Either way, thanks for checking us out. Wishing you peace and harmony in your life. ~Byron Lee Scott