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Bend singer-songwriter releases debut
EP after decadeslong music career
BY JACKSON HOGAN • The Bulletin
J
ohn Harvey has spent much of his life performing music — from playing in a new wave band in the ’80s, to joining local musicians in Bend in recent years,
to playing jazz and Americana covers. But even after decades of playing all types of music, Harvey had never released any material under his own name. That
changes Friday, when his debut EP, “Second Chances,” will be released.
“I’m honestly very proud of myself,” said
Harvey, 63. “I felt it was time to launch.”
“Second Chances” is a brisk, five-song
collection of folksy indie-pop with a slight
country twang. The rootsy, melodic tunes
are a bit like a poppier version of Wilco —
a group Harvey says he listens to a lot. But
he didn’t want to narrow his influences
down to any specific bands.
“It’s not like I’m really listening heav-
ily to a particular artist,” he said. “I listen
to a tremendous amount of music, which
makes me an odd duck in my age group.”
Some of the EP’s songs are about break-
ups, like the pleading “Second Chances.”
Harvey said his 2014 divorce did have an
influence on his songwriting.
“Going through that and coming out
the other side, through loss and forgive-
ness, we become more human,” he said.
“Some of the things are about new begin-
nings and redemption and definitely some
longing.”
Another song, “Your Truck My Trailer,”
was inspired by living through the
“Going through that and
coming out the other side,
through loss and
forgiveness, we become
more human. Some of the
things are about new
beginnings and
redemption and definitely
some longing.”
— John Harvey, musician, said his 2014
divorce had an influence on his songwriting.
COVID-19 pandemic.
When lockdowns began in the spring of
2020, Harvey noticed friends leaving town
for a while in RVs and trailers. He figured
he could turn that idea into a cute roman-
tic tune.
“Being single, I thought, if I could find
someone who has a trailer, I could buy the
truck,” Harvey said.
Born and raised in Boise, Idaho, Harvey
started his music career after moving to
Seattle right after high school. He and his
brother started a band, Moving Parts, that
earned some success locally in the ’80s.
“We were the s--- up there for a while,
in terms of packing the local clubs, getting
local airplay,” Harvey said.
But as the ’90s began, Moving Parts’
new wave-adjacent sound quickly fell out
of favor as grunge, the angsty style that
would come to define Seattle rock, took
over. That shift — along with Harvey get-
ting married and having a kid — marked
the end of Moving Parts, he said.
“I remember once, (a talent scout) from
Epic Records came to see us, and he had
to leave because he had to hear this band
called Soundgarden,” Harvey said. “I knew
it was changing, and I left the band at that
point.”
After a long career doing public rela-
tions in Seattle, Harvey moved to Bend in
2011. A year later, he got back into per-
Continued on Page 5
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Bend singer-songwriter John Harvey’s debut EP,
“Second Chances,” drops Friday
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