Harlem

The indie rock trio Harlem is fronted by a pair of vocalists who trade off guitar and drum duties, channeling spirited yet unsteady garage rock through sincere conviction and wry detachment. United by their fondness for Darby Crash’s primitive stage presence, high school friends from Tucson, AZ—Curtis O’Mara and Michael Coomers—began crafting deliberately ragged punk songs together. They appeared under assorted monikers including Smart Pussy, Coomers Explosion, and Pink Extreme before graduation scattered them. O’Mara headed to Nashville while Coomers reached the Bay Area. Tired of repetitive day jobs, they resumed in Nashville and began touring toward their starting point. Crashing on floors and swapping bassists en route, they reached Austin, TX, where Matador Records chose them for the January 2010 compilation Casual Victim Pile: Austin 2010 spotlighting local indie prospects. Matador signed the band shortly after that collection appeared, issuing Harlem’s debut Hippies just three months later.