Stereo Embers The Podcast 0212: Stephen Harm (The Victims)

“Silent Dreams” When the Victims were an active proposition back in the ‘80s, hard rock and hair metal were running the show, so a few dudes dressed like new romantics or goths playing the kind of new wave that fell somewhere between OMD and the Cars, probably weren’t an easy sell in their small town of La Crosse, Wisconsin. But they did get out there and play and before too long, they had a devoted fanbase and seemed poised to break and break big. The trio was comprised of Steve Harm and his brother Jeff on drums and Jeff Rinartz on guitar. Their lone album Silent Dreams, on the strength of catchy numbers like "Let Her Go" and "Whispering Walls" should have been huge. And it almost was. There was label interest, there was a night out drinking with the Cure in Chicago, there was a little blast of daylight that could have been burst through, but it just didn’t happen. Why? We'll let Steve tell you, but in the meantime, the digital remastered version all these years later should finally get this album into the hands of everyone who should have had it in the firsts place. This is one of those stories where the band members are finished with the unfinished business they started all those years ago. The postscript is Silent Dreams and the story really does end there. But it’s an interesting tale of how we got from 1986 to 2021 and Steve is here to fill in the details; he’s a great guy and this is one of those stories in the lore of musical history about what could have been, what actually was and why that’s totally okay. victimsog.bandcamp.com/album/silent-dreams-2021-reissue www.WarehouseRocks.com www. WHrocks.com www.warehousealliance.org