Magazine Features
Q&A: Burning Bridges' Jack Harling
November 14, 2007
"I mean, if I wanted to be a fucking over-produced musician, I'd be in a boy band."
Since 2004, Burning Bridges has been a band on the tip of the musically inclined critic's tounge. Making up of Matt Garko's vocals (formerly of I Am Sound) and Jack Harling's guitar riffs (formerly of jackharling and The Incident), these two musicians are more opposite of each other than black is to white. Matt, who's youthful boyish good looks are give teen girls the reason to scream and lust after the singer, is stereotypically the calmer one of the two musicians, while Jack, who's rugged looks and constant drug use leaves something to be desired, gives the hard core music lover a reason to stay hooked to the band. For whatever reason, the dynamic of the two musicians work. In part one of our two part Q & A series, we sit down with 24 year old guitarist Jack Harling to talk about his past in music, life, and why the hell he think's it's alright to get into fights with his old drummer.
The last performance that your last band, The Incident ever gave was the same night you were arrested for assault and battery on Andrew LaPiere, the drummer for your band. Eventually charges were dropped by LaPiere, but can you tell me what the hell was going through your head that night?
We all had a bit to drink before the show, because we knew it was going to be the last one. I was drinking kinda heavily during the set too, we were opening for Purgatorism, the band I was in Los Angeles, and it was just a good time. But halfway through our last song, Andrew fucked up a critical part of the song, and I just threw my mic at him and then he jumped over the drum set and punched me. So I fought back.
So, it was just more of a drunken fight between friends? Andrew pressed charges against you, that doesn't seem like a friendly fight...
Well Andrew was also fucking my girlfriend at the time right before the show and I walked in on it. Last I heard, she's having their second kid and he's poor living in a trailer. I think I got the better end of that fucking deal.
You said that you were in a band in Los Angeles...Purgatorism is a pretty big band back there and they just got signed, why did you walk away from all of that?
I hated the members, they were righteous bitches. I also was on too many drugs and was going through a manic state at the time, so of course I couldn't stay in one place for long. I was 20 then, and I wanted out. So I went to Arizona, New York, Boston, Chicago until I crash and burned in New York again.
Funny that you mention Arizona, I have information here that you used to own a bar there, is that true? You don't seem like the business owner type.
[Laughs] Jesus fuck, you got information on that? Damnit. Yeah, it's called Devil's Bar...and I was playing poker one day there, one of my first nights in town. I just turned 21 and I was drunk and high off my fucking ass, I don't remember the drugs that I was on at that moment. I was playing this old drunk dude and he was bitching about the bar that we were in, and he said "I'll bet you the bar," since he didn't have any money to lay on the table. I agreed, then eventually blacked out, and woke up on the bar floor with the deed to the bar on my face.
I actually kept it running for a while, it was making some decent money. I'd play some of my songs there, that's when I started to release solo music, and some local bands would play there on the weekends. I sold it to my friend Betony before I moved out to New York. Last I heard it was still up and running. But who knows, I haven't been to Arizona for a while, nor do I plan to.
So when exactly did you get together with Matt Garko to form Burning Bridges?
2004. I was doing odd music jobs, and some how got to producing a few songs for some friends of mine, and Matt was on my list. One thing kinda led to another. I needed to get back into the studio and actually do something worth listening to, and Matt needed a guitarist. It's not that hard to understand.
You have been quoted as saying "The best thing I ever did for my music was to just be completely honest with myself." Do you feel that a lot of musicians these days are lacking honesty?
Fuck yes. You look at all the shit that's out there and then there are very few people who shine through all of that. I mean, look at The Stories. They're amazing, not too well known, and people over look them completely. People go for pop like Lacey Kuhn and Taryn Santangelo and call it a fucking day and it's sickening. I mean, if I wanted to be a fucking overproduced musician, I'd be in a boy band.
I think the honesty in our lyrics, in the songs that I've written and the ones that Matt has, it's about shit we've been through. I get paranoid a lot, I get fucked up a lot, and I've been in and out of hospital the past two years. Shit happens, but you learn from it, you decide to actually stay on the medication you've been prescribed and you call it a fucking day.
Do you think Matt feels the same way?
Honestly, I don't think that kid has a fucked up bone in his body. I think we gotta corrupt him more.Is there anything you're not being honest with now?
Yeah, but I gotta keep you fuckers coming back for more, right?