Artwork by Stephen Michael Haas.
“Colors on a palette” is how Stephen Michael Haas described the layers of instruments that intersect and melt together on his group’s self-titled album, “Flower Garden.”
“Every member of the band has our own beautiful things going on,” he said. “Everybody is really talented. We all just bring our love to the table, and that’s the most beautiful thing. We just all really, really love it.”
In addition to Haas (lead guitar and vocals), the group consists of longtime friends Dan Delaney (drums), Tyler Fuller (percussion) and Xander Moppin (bass guitar).
Beauty seems to be a strong link throughout the life of project leader Haas, who grew up playing in his grandmother’s flower garden—a place that he recalls as nurturing to the spirit and the eye and an inspiration for his art and music. Here, Haas started drawing flowers and people, including his grandmother, as the two played video games together. His cousin and Flower Garden’s bass guitarist, Moppin, also grew up in this beautiful landscape.
“We were playing tag together in the backyard, and now we’re just playing songs together,” Haas said.
Those songs have become popular around town. Flower Garden has a strong local following, and their live shows reflect a unique intimacy born of a strong bond among friends. Fuller and Haas both stressed one distinctive aspect of their shows. Instead of playing facing the audience, Flower Garden plays facing one another.
“The live performance is more intimate and is more like a conversation,” Haas said. “We’re not focusing on the crowd. There’s no showboating, and it’s not about our egos. It’s more about how we can connect and can perform.”
“It’s one of the coolest experiences I’ve had,” said Fuller. “The energy between the four of us is pretty incredible.”
That thoughtfulness and attention to detail are also carried over to Flower Garden’s eponymous debut album, which was released late last year.
“The cornerstone of the album used to be a really big thing before digital media came into existence, because you’d put the vinyl onto a record player and play from one side to the other side,” said Haas, explaining his creative thinking behind the album. “Three years before the album even existed, I had mock ups of it sort of in my head.”
Three of the bandmates share a house, which is where the album release show was held.
“Quite a few people came together (that night),” said Fuller. “It was cool to see people who weren’t our friends want to come out.”
The group has also noticed a significant change in Harrisburg’s music scene during the years it took to create several iterations of the album.
“In the past four years that I’ve been here, I’d say a lot of eclectic music has started to pop out,” said Haas. “It’s rivaling the big cities, maybe not as much [music], but the music here is really genuine and original. It’s really special.”
The evolution of the music scene is an offshoot of the growing art scene, which Haas also has a hand in. With murals around the city and his artwork featured on various publications and projects, Haas feels passionate about threading his visual artistry into his music.
“[On the album] I’ve made the packaging. I’ve made as much of the possible production as I can,” he said. “As a visual artist and a performer, I always wanted to be the guy who wanted to do it all.”
Flower Garden will perform April 3 at the Millworks, 340 Verbeke St., Harrisburg. Flower Garden’s unique sound also is available on Spotify. To learn more and to purchase the digital album, visit www.flowergardenband.bandcamp.com.
