Hugh Harrington was seven years old when his father started playing live CDs of classic bands such as The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan. This first taste of music put him on a journey that evolved over the years, said the now-17-year-old.
“Music is definitely a way of life,” said Harrington, who is now the lead singer of a band called The Fuse.
Harrington started playing at school talent shows by himself, turned away from the classics and got more into modern rock.
Not before long, Harrington formed The Rogues—his second band—with friends who were two years older than him.
“With The Rogues, I actually started playing for pubs and clubs that were popular around Ottawa,” he said.
Harrington said he competed in an Ottawa Battle of the Bands as well as mailing venues himself in order to get recognition.
“I was very keen on getting the originals that we were writing going,” Harrington said. He added it was his mother who taught him basic guitar chords at a young age, which motivated him to start writing his own songs.
“I’d always take songs that she would teach me or that I’d just learned by ear and start rearranging the chords. It was like tweaking them a little bit,” Harrington said of his earliest experiments with songwriting.
Nowadays, he starts by playing riffs or gets melodies in his head before adding different layers and lyrics to his songs.
He and his bass guitar player decided they needed a drummer—and they found Michael Spinella.
“Michael is a fascinating drummer because he’s not just your straight ahead typical rock drummer. He is really smart and creative and I’ve learned to trust his judgment,” Harrington said.
After a while, The Fuse became a band of two when Harrington and Spinella’s bandmate stopped agreeing with them on the sound of the band.
Now, they have a strict schedule of having a couple of practices a week, according to Harrington. As for his own schedule, he makes sure he practices a couple of hours before and after school when he has the time.
“It is definitely a passion,” he said.
As far as feedback goes, Harrington said he is his biggest critic.
“We always have this drive to sound unique and sometimes I’ll come up with something that I think sounds really different from what’s out there. But then sometimes I’ll doubt myself and think that this sounds like this,” he said.
When it comes down to his dreams, Harrington said he is hoping for the best.
“Our first goal is to get back to the studio, record some of our stuff, put it out there and see where it goes,” he said, before adding he and Spinella want to be playing music for themselves first.
“If it comes down to it and we’re the only ones who still like and play our music, then that’s fine with us,” he said.
Harrington, who is graduating in June, said he plans on going to Toronto to study contemporary music in university.
He defines Toronto by its rich culture and says he will keep on playing the scene there.
