The Scarlett Fever

Hard Rockers who CARE – Allan Wigney (Sun Meida)

The songs, The Scarlett Fever proudly proclaim on their website, tackle a range of subjects that includes “drinking too much, alien abduction, and lesbian girlfriends.”
The larger-than-life rock, the quartet adds, is influenced by Guns ‘N Roses. Oh, and these guys love to party.
All things that arguably paint a vivd picture in one’s mind of the sort of rocker dudes Pat Noonan (a.k.a. Tap Nanoon), Andrew “General” Burns, Dave Doran and Wes Reed must be. On stage, as well as off.
It might therefore surprise you to learn The Scarlett Fever has decided to use the occasion of its CD-release party to raise money for CARE Canada, a charity that strives to improve the lot of women and children in developing nations.
“My mom was just a really strong presence in my life”, Noonan says by way of explanation. “She was really a key influence on me.”
A greater influence, at least offstage, than Axl Rose.
“Doing this for CARE is really important to us”, Noonan says. “It’s a chance to make it mean a bit more than just a rock show. And we’re of the bands that signed on, because they’re agreeing to give up their share as well.”
“But it’s a really important charity that not enough people know about. Women in a lot of countries do not have a say in what goes on.”
So it’s a good cause. And an evening of high-energy rock ‘n’ roll. Always a winning combination. Certainly, Noonan and his band are looking forward to the night.
“It’s great to connect with an audience”, Noonan says. “And it’s also a social thing, really. It’s an excuse for people to get together and have a good time. It’s not just about us.”

- Ottawa Sun

The Scarlett Fever
by Matt Hartwick

Ottawa has been hit by the Fever, The Scarlett Fever that is. The guys have released a brand new self- titled ep.
The new ep consists of four tracks, three which are new and one that was one of my personal favourite from their debut album The Best of 10 Months of Classics. “Get It For Free”, “Wasted Time” is the new tracks. “Tomorrow” and the lyrical song about the Rock n Roll lifestyle “Evicted” tops up the album that leaves you with The Scarlett Fever.

“Get It For Free” is the first song and kicks off the EP. The sound of the Guitars and the crashing sound of the cymbals start the song with a catchy little hook. Tap Nanoon continues and carries on the Scarlett Fever vocals. The vocals give off the feeling of early and mid 90’s alternative sound, but not the harsh and coarse sounds that Kurt had, but more of a mid ranged slight deeper sound. The opening introduction of the song is played again during the song when a new verse is starts with was a good decision for the song. At about midway through the song changes tempo and slows down a little bit, and the vocals take a deeper and stronger approach, the tempo does however starts to slowly build backup and the song finishes out strong.

Even though I talked about this song in the first review that I wrote for Scarlett Fever, I still can’t get away from this song. I’m not going to lie it’s the lyrics mostly in this song that I like the most. However there is a catchy hook at the start of the song that also should bring in your listening ears. A Section of the lyrics that I still like the best are...

Well I Drank my money away
And My rent is due today
Well IDrank my money away
And Now I’m being evicted

The guitars seem to have the ability of being able to speak the lyrics for the song as well; In a couple of spots you can catch yourself singing the words to the song from the guitars. The song also has a nice potential to being able to appeal to a live audience with a vocal and handclap participation.

“Tomorrow” is a definite switch in music compared to Scarlett Fever’s other songs. They keyboards are a definite plus in this song. It gives the band a totally different sound compared to the other tracks. The song has the potential to reach a wide variety of different listeners. One of my favourite segments of the song is the opening guitar picking. For me it has a large “Shinedown” appeal to it. The opening guitar picking leads into the theatrical sounding keyboards. In “Tomorrow” the vocals take a back seat and the instruments bring the song its strength. There are a few nice little guitar riffs and solos that are blended into the song. I think the ending of the song should have finished out strong with the keyboards, the drums, and the guitars playing instead of the slower exit that is has. Now going back to the starting of the song I know this is a very small thing to mention or to even to notice but I really like how there is the bend in the guitar string just before the keyboards and drums kick in.

You can pick-up your copy of the new EP off of their website.


- partyinkingston.com

The Best of 10 Months of Classics
by Matt Hartwick

Ottawa natives The Scarlett Fever put out a Rock album that is worth checking out.
The Scarlett Fever’s album The Best Of 10 Months Of Classics released in late 2007 is now the bands driving force in making a statement in the Ottawa Music scene.

The members of The Scarlett Fever are on this album are (currently going through lineup changes) Tap Nanoon on Lead Vocals and Bass Guitar, The Iceman Pearson on Lead Guitar, Keys and Backup Vocals, General Burns on Drums, Backup Vocals.

There are a few influences that are combined with the Scarlett Fevers sound a couple main bands that can be considered to be influences are Guns N Roses, Cheap Trick, Bruce Springsteen.

“Don’t Wanna Go” kicks off The Best Of 10 Months Of Classics. The songs starts off with a mini drum beat which leads into the riff of the song. The Guitars sound a little stronger than the vocals sound. I think the vocals should have been a little deeper which would blend in with the guitars a little more. I do however like how the vocals have a raspy sound to them. The main riff of the song is a simple one which in turn is alright because it creates a neutral sounding song. It makes the song very radio friendly, and I know everyone likes to unwind to Rock songs every now and again. If I was playing a live show with this song I would put it at the bottom of the set list. To finish off the song they guys finish off with the main riff.

“My Girlfriend” is a catchy little number. Here is a toe-tapper type of song, it almost has a pop feel to it. The background vocals are a nice touch to the song. The keys also add a nice little flavour to the song. The lyrics again shine out as one of the main factors why I chose to talk about this song, the lyrics contain a bit of irony to them. The vocals match very nicely to the music in this song also, they also keep the rock sound to the song. I also am in favour of when the song softens a little bit a little more than halfway through the song, but picks up afterwards.

“Evicted” is the third song off of The Best 10 Months Of Classics. I first skipped to this song when I first received the album, not because I heard the song before but because of the title. Whenever I see the title of a song called Evicted I know there is usually something good about the lyrics. In The Scarlett Fevers case their lyrics go like this...

Cause there’s a note on the door
I Drank my money away
My rent is due today
Drank my money away
And I’m being evicted

This verse is changed a little bit throughout the song, but still gets the same point out. The starting of the song is pretty good a little catchy. If the entire song carried the same tenacity as the starting of the song did it would provide a little more strength to the album. The vocals in the song almost overshadow the guitars in the song, as they are a bit louder than the guitars, the Drums also seem to be a bit quite also they just seem to play far in the background of the song. In the end, the song is pretty good, I am in favour of the lyrics more than anything in the song.
- partyinkingston.com