Harsh Reality

HARSH REALITY – July, 2006 Official Press Release, An Interview and an Article

First the July 06 Official Press Release (Reprinted with permission)

300 West 96th street suite 3K
Bloomington MN 55420
952-465-7461

Fetish, Fashion & Tour Announcements

Harsh Reality will be headlining the Minneapolis First Ave Main stage Friday July 21st as part of the 2006 Destrider Fetish Fashion show put on by noted design fetish design company DasSpidahl. This should be a night to remember with additional musical performances by the Darkly Industrial High Blue Star and the Psychedelic Trance rockers Niobium as well as special guests Mistress Jean Bardot and many other Goth/fetish personalities from the Minneapolis area. The entire HR set will be filmed for a possible DVD release and two special never before recorded songs are on the list for the night. Pain never looked and sounded so good.

In other news, Harsh Reality members Tempest and Jendeen have entered into the world of adult modeling with their first two girl shoot for ModelTS. The shoot is being published in 3 installments as the Featured Two T-Girl shoot for June, July and August. The shoot is super sexy, fun and strictly for real as Jendeen and Tempest are real life partners and it shows just how well they work together outside the band. The shoot was filmed in Boston in May and most likely wont be the last you see of these two. Tempest has posted a lengthy blog about the shoot at Tempest’s Harsh Reality MySpace Page telling just how much she enjoyed the shoot and meeting ModelTS model Vicky and her partner Jon and exactly what her reaction to the whole adult industry is as well as a hint that much more of this might be on the horizon for her. Additionally Tempest was chosen as the URNotAlone featured performer for her stage and recording presence in the Transgender community.

As July heads to a close Harsh Reality will be teaming up with long running and infamous Goth industrialist band Apocalypse Theater (APOX)for an early august U35/U90 underground recon tour. This is a tour primarily of the upper Midwest which will feature the entire lineup of Harsh Reality playing double duty as part APOX for the duration of the tour. This will be a more intensely Metal version of APOX than has ever taken to the road before. At least for the length of the tour all members of Harsh will transform each night into Apoxians for part of the set. Harsh Reality will be live on the air at KMSU 89.7 FM ?The Down Shift? July 28th to talk about the tour and all kinds of other happenings. The tour is currently still seeking additional sponsorship and while we would like to say we aren?t cheap or easy actually we are both so feel free to contact us about getting on the list of sponsors.

August 2006 Tour Dates

August 3d Madison WI TBA
August 4th Eau Clair WI Stones Throw
August 5th Milwaukee WI Club Anything
August 6th Chicago IL the EXIT
August 10th TBA IA TBA
August 11th Kansas City MO Balanca’s Pyro Room
August 12th Mankato MN What?s Up Lounge

Other quick news bytes:

Jendeen was featured on the Minneapolis ?Live at 5? TV program talking about Harsh Reality and recent happenings. Check your local listings for re-broadcasts.

We have a string of three shows with Horror Metal Legends Impaler starting July 29th. Check http://www.harshreality.us for the dates and info.

We also have entered into a partnership with Australian rock performer Jade Starr to bring her over the the US for a joint tour. This replaces the current UK plans but there is far more in the works than we can talk about right now. The UK is still on our list so watch out for that one too.

Organizers are still putting the finishing touches on the DAY OF RESISTANCE anti-bush rally here in Minneapolis but look for Harsh Reality to make a musical appearance October 5th as part of the rally.

Last note: NYC? Maybe?

Now for the Interview with Tempest and Jendeen (Reprinted with permission)

When a Pretty Horse faces a Harsh Reality.

What do you do when you?re a member of one of the best known Transgender Rock bands to have come out of the united states and the band suddenly goes on Hiatus?

I don?t know if anyone can really say why ATPH ended. As with the end of any band rumors ran rampant: Venus was launching a solo career, the band was in financial trouble, lack of new material, and of course the infamous musical differences with Jendeen and Tempest wanting to go in a more ?metal? direction. While the first three reasons have some basis in truth the last is somewhat cloudy. While Tempest and Jendeen love the more metal material we were quite happy working within the vision of ATPH and relished the power and energy of the music that was created. This was a ?band? this was seen as a whole and the parts were intended to strengthen that whole, we always approached the material to give the best of ourselves both on and off stage, sadly that appears not to have been enough. So what do you do when the dream that you have been part of ends?

If your Tempest and Jendeen of All The Pretty Horses you simply dig in and decide to form an even more rocking, more aggressive, more visual band out of the ashes of what you had been part of. In February 2006 ATPH had its final show before going on full hiatus, shortly there after they decided to resurrect Tempest?s original band Harsh Reality which had been on hold for the past few years while Tempest worked with ATPH and found herself in a new role. Indeed the last time Tempest had taken the stage with her own band it was as ?Glen Crane? a hard core rocker boy who was struggling to deal with a few things stuck on the inside that needed to come out.

Harsh Reality ran for over 12 years and was always about being true to yourself. We are not happy to walk through life living it as an illusion and not showing your true self. We don?t believe anyone should live like that, it will make you fall apart or fade into the background. This is a band that believes in what we are doing, what you see on stage is simply who we are with the volume turned all the way up to 10. This isn?t about being one thing or another, this is about being ?You?, if that is straight, gay, trans? whatever that is who you should be and be the best you can be. We commit 100% on stage, nothing is saved for the trip home, its like a one hour long race ran at a sprinters pace. We are who we are and are not about to worry about what other people think. Somehow we think people might just like that.

If you are lucky, when a dream ends someone picks up on that dream and makes it their own. We owe that to Venus, she let us be part of ATPH which was a fantastic and at times frustrating ride. Perhaps we continue on in a way somewhat other than she would have intended, but that?s what?s fantastic about a dream or a vision, everyone who shares it, learns from it, takes away something different and makes a part of their own dreams.

Harsh Reality is our passion now, our vision, our dream. We take the passion and the energy that we already held and add to it the energy that results from a dream denied, a potential unfulfilled. Some would say we are trying to prove something. We would tend to agree with that. We want to prove that its ok to live your life as yourself, we want to prove that just because Jendeen and I are Transgendered it doesn?t mean that we have to be weak or frail, indeed being a woman has nothing to do with weakness, and we feel that we can more than stand toe to toe with the metal boys. We want to prove if you believe in something and you?re willing to fight for it you really can win. The key is you just never give up. It seems to be working, a little more than a month after the new band debut our schedule is almost too full with several showcase events including the main room at First Ave July 21st as part of the Das-Spidahl fashion show http://www.das-spidahl.com and shows with June 19th with The Peppermint Creeps and July 1st with PIG (featuring Ramond Watts of KMFDM.) Fan response has been great, Harsh Reality will continue to be working with national and international acts, a new album is quietly in the works behind the scenes, a UK tour is being planned with the Gender Optimized Jade Starr of Australia as well as a return to NYC and possible west cost tour. Unlike ATPH who remained fiercely independent Harsh Reality is open to management and label interest should the right opportunity present itself. Our website http://www.harshreality.us is up and running with dates and other goodies and you can visit us on MySpace as well and get to know each of us a little better (links are on the website).

In closing we have to say we miss all the friends and extended family we found in ATPH and it?s so good to see so many of you come out to see our new project. We are not about to fade away quietly, in fact we are rather noisy about the fact that we are still around and playing out often. This is the new band, this is Harsh Reality, if you don?t like it?. Back the F**K off!

Tempest & Jendeen

And on to the Article (Reprinted with permission)

Fear Is Not The Answer.

That is the primary message that encompasses the Minneapolis based aggressive metal band Harsh Reality. Formed in the belief of being true to ones self and living your life in your own way despite any rocks that may lie on the road ahead. Founded in 1989 the band has under gone several changes from its inception not the least of which is the Gender Transition of band leader/founder Tempest (formerly Glen Crane) who reformed the band in early 2006 after a 4 year hiatus while she awoke to her true self leaving her ?boy days? behind and preforming as a member of the MMA award winning All The Pretty Horses. She quickly added her ATPH and fellow Transgendered band mate Jendeen Forberg, her original singer Odi (who never missed a beat with any of the changes), and new HR family member Eric Strom filling the vacant Guitar position (formerly of Chaos Lords).

For Tempest and Jendeen Harsh Reality picks up where the heaviest aspects of ATPH left off. The band features a raw aggressive sound drenched in passion and angst against a world that is often less than fair to those whom society sees as outside the box. (Tempest was at one time denyed a US passport until she “proved” what physical sex she was.) The sound is decisively and aggressively Metal but with a clear focus on song writing with real emotions and intensity. The music is about giving all you have left, every show is played as if the band plans on dropping dead on the stage. Pushing even the Multiple MMA award winning Goddess of Thunder Jendeen to new heights in her drumming. Tempest and Jendeen have not let their life?s choice to transition change their love for aggressive intense music, indeed it has if anything re-affirmed it. Being a woman has nothing to do with weakness. A point that their fellow band mates would heartily agree with.

The stage show is as if the war in heaven were to come to earth. Angles and Demons do musical battle on a smoke filled stage filled with beams of white pure light and a hellish glow. Beauty and brutality, an angelic vision behind a wall of drums and the darkness of a leather clad seductress in 5 inch heels, a red demon growls and sings into the microphone while a lord of heaven swings his hair to the music. The drums are a massive engine of destruction, guitar and bass provide dual metal hammers and the voice is that of soft flesh and razor blades. The beauty of destruction, perhaps the best of both worlds, certainly a Harsh Reality.

Harsh Reality has enjoyed successful radio airplay in Minneapolis, Duluth, Milwaukee, Omaha, and other cities including multiple spots on the 93X Top 3 Loud And Local list. The band has released two independent albums and recorded singles for the Official Motorhead tribute by Blast Waves Magazine ?Make?em Deaf Forever? and Midwest Meyhem Vol. 1. Currently the band is putting together a new Live CD/DVD set with the new lineup and working on song writing for a new studio album due in 2007. Currently doing regional tours, Harsh Reality will be making other national appearances both east and west coast and is planning their first ever UK tour early next year.

Fear is not the answer. Both Angels and Demons have wings and sometimes you just have to find out if you were meant to fly.

http://www.harshreality.us
http://www.myspace.com/atph_tempest
http://www.myspace.com/msjendeen

300 w 96th street suite 3k
Bloomington MN 55420
952-465-7461

P.S. I almost neglected to mention… Jendeen and Tempest did a Photoshoot for the ModelTS Section of URNA and it’s Hot! Have a Peek…