The Harbor Divide Drops Breathtaking Song “Dancing With The Moon”
- Ann Schlottman
- 6 hours ago
- 7 min read
A few weeks ago, I saw a post on Facebook about a new song coming out by a band called The Harbor Divide. The song was “Dancing With The Moon”. I admit I had not heard of this band before, but for some reason something told me this would be a great song. The post said to pre-save the song on my preferred streaming service and comment with a screenshot, and I might get a “preview” of the song. I did just that, and all of a sudden I got a Facebook direct message with the full music video for the song two weeks ahead of it being released! Well, it turns out that my instincts were correct. The song and video are both amazing. I knew I had to write about them. I reached out to the band and they agreed, so here we are.
The Harbor Divide is a metalcore band based in Toledo, Ohio. Band members include: Adam Birmingham (Guitarist/Vocalist); Brandon Perez (Vocalist); Camron Rau (Drummer); DJ Bensch (Bassist/Vocalist); and Dylan Roman (Guitarist). I had the pleasure of interviewing Brandon for this review.
Brandon started the band around 2014. He says the current lineup is far from what the original one was. In fact, he’s the only remaining original member. Brandon told me the current lineup took shape through networking in the local music scene. He has known DJ and Dylan for over ten years. He met Adam at an Emo Night at one of their local venues a couple years ago. Camron was a recommendation through Adam. They just all came together piece by piece and clicked really well.
How did the band get its name? Brandon shared that when it originally started, some of their members lived in Toledo and some lived in Oak Harbor, so they were “Divided by the Harbor" — which turned into "The Harbor Divide". Brandon joked that he doesn’t really think the story is that interesting, but honestly, I think it's great! You never know what “small thing” will lead to something important like coming up with a band name.
I asked about the songwriting process for The Harbor Divide, and Brandon told me all about it. For the majority of their releases, the songwriting started with Brandon at his computer writing the guitars, basic drums production elements, and so on. After he'd have a rough version of a song, he would bring in the other band members to get their input. Lyrics usually come after. He has had random moments where he'd write a one-liner or a couple sentences at work, or while driving, and try to fit them to whatever instrumentals they may have been sitting on or actively working on.
Since Adam joined the band, he’s had a couple song ideas that were basically fully structured out that Brandon then took and added the post-production to and tweaked a bit. Brandon says he and Adam have a pretty solid groove together and it’s been nice to have someone else contributing full song ideas.
Brandon called DJ “the breakdown king” and said he can really quickly just spit out some crazy breakdowns, and also has had great song structure ideas for everything they’ve been working on.
Camron came in through Adam's recommendation after the band's most recent previous drummer had to step down because of him starting a family. Camron had some big shoes to fill, and Brandon said that he's crushed it. While writing, Brandon usually writes the drums that he's hearing in his head and works with the drummer in tandem to polish it off. Brandon told me that Camron takes his ideas to an entirely new place that always just works.
Dylan was the last member to be added in the current iteration. Brandon said he is one of the cleanest, most creative lead guitarists he's met. Originally, he was going to be a live fill-in for the band, but they had him come along to the studio to record "Dancing With The Moon", and he wrote the solo for it while they were there. That was the moment they knew he had to fully join the band.
The Harbor Divide has been working with Patrick Shekut of the band Convictions and his studio Underhill Recordings since they started. Brandon said Parick is the unsung sixth band member that has helped them develop their sound over the years. He's been very involved in helping write, produce, and record the band's music.
For "Dancing With The Moon", after going to Patrick for writing and production, they decided to take a chance on going to someone different for the mixing and mastering, mainly just to try something new, but they wanted to keep Patrick involved. The band went to record the final version with Mike Martenson and Jake Cemer from the band Boys Of Fall. Mike has been involved with some amazing projects over the years and self-produces all of his band's music as well. Brandon has been touring with their band Boys Of Fall for a couple years running merch and doing their photography, and when the conversation came up to go to someone new for a change, it was a no-brainer.
Brandon shared his story behind writing song lyrics. “"When I write lyrics, I usually pull from real-life experiences. Whether they are my own, or someone else's I know, there’s usually a moment or a couple moments that a song could be about. Without getting too specific, this song was written about some prior relationships, and certain lyrics inspired by those that have helped me throughout the years. I try to not be very specific with my lyrics and leave things open to interpretation to allow others to relate a little better to fit their own situations. My whole goal with music is to help people know they’re not alone, and there are others out there who are going through similar things but continue to push on. I want to do for others, what music has done for me throughout my life."
The first time I heard “Dancing With The Moon”, it moved me to my core. It is magnificent. The song has a haunting beginning that leads to the initial heaviness of the guitars, bass, and drums. The first verse has a softer tone, and leads to the chorus which is harder and features both clean and hard vocals. The screams are prominent after the first chorus and bring out the anger that is mixed with the melancholy emotions of the song. The combination of melodic elements and heavy metalcore aspects takes the listener on a musical journey through heartbreak and sadness, and ultimately, the beginning of the healing process. This song is amazing in every way, from the instrumentals, including Dylan’s guitar solo, to the clean and hard vocals.
The music video for “Dancing With The Moon” was done by John Fleischmann of JohnFMedia. Brandon told me that John has been in his circle of friends for a very long time — over half his life at this point — and has done all but one of his band's music videos. Brandon said he loves working with John. For "Dancing With The Moon", after a lot of phone calls and tossing around ideas for the video concept, they had a full band meeting with him and just talked. There were ideas at one point to incorporate some computer-generated imagery (CGI) shots and a bunch of visual effects. But after they really nailed down a story idea during the meeting, they all decided a strong story with no special visual effects would be more than enough to portray what they needed to.
John was the main director, and he filmed and edited everything himself as well. He did have a production assistant, Dalton Harp. Dalton filmed all the behind-the-scenes, and helped with lighting, camera gear, all the things that kept things running smoothly and efficiently. He had some shot ideas throughout the day as well.
The actress in the "Dancing With The Moon" video was Havin Hoobler. Brandon said she was extremely pleasant and easy to work with. He said he could not recommend her more strongly for anyone else that would need an actress who is also an amazing dancer.
The actor in the video was Spencer Stamitoles. He is a videographer himself who Brandon had actually met through John when Spencer was helping him do some visual effects on other projects. Brandon said he was also super easy to work with and he’ll be recommending him for a long time to anyone who needs an assistant, visual effects guy, actor, videographer, you name it. Spencer has his own media company as well, Saber Entertainment / Someone cooked here., and Brandon said he is involved in some really cool stuff.
The video definitely tells a perfect story that reflects the song. It features each band member performing in a different room of the house. The woman in the video is remembering better times with a former significant other who is no longer with her, and she is clearly depressed over the loss. Finally, in the final scenes, she is dancing in a studio, and you get the idea that dancing will be a therapeutic way for her to try to heal and move on from her sadness. I love the red lighting in the dance studio scenes. I also love the house setting because it brings that “real-life story” quality to the video.
Currently, The Harbor Divide is working on six-to-seven songs with plans to hopefully have a couple more out by the end of this year or early next year.
There are some shows the band is in the process of booking that are not announced yet. One that has been announced is The Heartwood Ball Friday, September 5th at the Orchid Theatre in Ferndale, Michigan with some really amazing Michigan bands — SYCAMOUR, As We Divide, Vexatious, Cloud Season, and Jonny Lovelle. The Harbor Divide is also planning a quick run of shows with a band they’ve become pretty close with that includes a hometown headliner for sometime this fall.
I asked Brandon at the end of our interview if he wanted to add anything, and he shared, “The Harbor Divide has been my most cherished part of me since it started, and I’ve had wonderful times, and not-so-good times, with each version of the band. However, the team, the members now, the family we’ve become, have grown to be the strongest version so far, and I’m very excited to see where the five of us can go collectively."
Written by: Annie Schlottman
Photo credit: Conrad Leach (edited by Brandon Perez), Jake Weber, John Fleischmann
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