Harrison Flynn

Born and raised in Martinez, California, Harrison Flynn received his first guitar at the age of 12, thus beginning his journey into the world of music.  While in the sixth grade he began to develop a taste for rock music.  Something about its fast, rebellious nature just struck a chord at that age.  Harrison started listening to punk bands like Green Day but his desire to expand and push his musicianship further grew as he began listening to classic rock bands like Led Zeppelin, The Doors, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.  His interest in rock music then led him to discovering the blues.  Eric Clapton immediately became his biggest influence and the first album to have him completely transfixed was the 1966 “John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton” (Beano Album).  Something about Clapton’s unpredictable approach to the instrument just resonated with him more so than other guitar players of that similar genre.  To this day, the '60's psychedelic era of blues rock music remains Harrison's favorite era and style of music.
 
While at Alhambra High School in Martinez, Harrison befriended many of the local musicians in his hometown of Martinez, California.  Many of them were already accomplished and experienced in their craft and he began sitting in with their bands on numerous occasions and attended the blues jams held at the local club Armando's. It was during this period that he learned how to improvise and develop an ear for music.  His dedication to his craft inspired him to submit his recorded music to an online competition sponsored by the International House of Blues Foundation in the fall of 2012 for high school musicians in California.  Harrison was selected as one of the top ten finalists in the state which led to a trip to the House of Blues in Hollywood where he performed a 3 song set which included an original song on slide guitar.

At the age of 16 in 2011, Harrison helped formed a rock band in the East Bay called Brave Ulysses.  His initial vision for this band was to create a sound reminiscent of  the rough, edgy guitar driven sound of 1960's blues rock from bands like Cream, Jeff Beck Group and Led Zeppelin.  They began writing original songs, combining the sounds of the psychedelic late 60's with early 90's grunge, and eventually played a handful of venues regularly in their native area of San Francisco such as Red House, SubMission, DNA Lounge, 924 Gilman, and the Bottom of the Hill.  Their musical growth and subsequent success eventually led to 3 opportunities to play the famed Whisky A Go Go in Hollywood, including opening for Buckcherry at the Whisky's 50th anniversary show in January of 2014.  All 5 members recently reunited at a the 924 Gilman Club in Berkeley in December 2017 and played an exciting 45 minute set of their original songs to a packed house.

During this time, Harrison attended a film showing of “The Wrecking Crew” which tells the story of  the Los Angeles session musicians who played on numerous records in the 1960's and 1970's for a variety of big name artists.  This increased his interest in a career as a session musician and stimulated his desire to learn many genres of music, as these musicians could play multiple styles.   In May of 2014, when Brave Ulysses recorded their first full length album of original music at an analog tape studio in San Francisco called Tiny Telephone, Harrison became intrigued with the array of sounds he could achieve in the studio through his guitar.  

During his senior year of high school in the spring of 2013, Harrison was the sole guitarist in the backing band for his high school musical theater showpiece “Xanadu”, which was an incredible form of training.  For his high school senior project, Harrison decided to take on the challenge of learning to play the sitar and learned a lot about this completely different style of music.  Because of this experience, Eastern music is very much a part of his style of playing.  In April of 2013, Harrison visited New Orleans and got to attend the famous Jazz and Heritage Festival.  During this trip he was asked to sit in with a band for a song at the Spotted Cat Club on famed Frenchmen Street.   

After graduating from high school, Harrison attended Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill and enrolled in a variety of different courses to stimulate his musical growth.  For 5 semesters from the fall of 2013 to the fall of 2015, he participated in both jazz combo and classical guitar ensemble courses with each class ending in a public performance.  During this time he also enrolled in a songwriting class and a music business course.  At the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley, a jazz guitar comping course under the instruction of Steve Erquiaga and a Brazilian guitar course taught by Ricardo Peixoto were also great learning experiences for Harrison in late 2015.  It was during this period that his musical tastes expanded to include more genres, particularly Indian classical, Brazilian and Latin music.  

In the summer of 2015,  Harrison was fortunate to have been asked to join Idlewild West, an Allman Brothers tribute band in the Bay Area, and is playing the part of one of his favorite guitarists, Duane Allman.  This meant having to focus on learning roughly 30 challenging Allman Brothers songs.  Since much of Duane's work was done with a slide, Harrison worked hard on developing his slide playing and soloing techniques, both of which play a big part in the music of the Allman Brothers.  The many lengthy practice sessions and hard work resulted in shows on the Main Stage of the Walnut Festival in Walnut Creek in both 2015 & 2016 as well as ongoing performances in local venues such as the Rellik Tavern, Ivy Room, Roundup Saloon, Toot's Tavern and WiseGirl restaurant.

From 2015 through 2017 in the Bay Area, Harrison was given the opportunity to be the headline performer at Roxx On Main in Martinez, Lucca's Bar & Grill in Benicia, and to ultimately headline the 7th Annual Lafayette Community Music Festival in April of 2017 with his Bay Area band Aquarian Exposition.  Each show gave him the task of organizing his own performance where he had the responsibility of putting together a band and a variety of sit in performers, as well as come up with 2 hour set lists of music.  They performed songs covering a wide variety of genres ranging from blues, rock, reggae, pop, and world music.  

In the fall of 2015 Harrison was accepted into the Los Angeles College of Music, an accredited music conservatory in Pasadena California, with an emphasis on Guitar Performance and completed the extensive 18 month/6 quarter program in late June of 2017.

In the summer of 2017, Harrison joined Michelle Leclercq's band in Los Angeles.  Michelle is a very talented Argentinian singer-songwriter and the band has played a few Los Angeles shows to date.  It has been a great experience working with Michelle and the rest of the band and Harrison is very much looking forward to seeing where they take it from here. 

Starting in July 2017, Harrison moved to the heart of Hollywood, the thriving music and entertainment capital of the world, and is fascinated by the '60s to early '70s era of music that took place here.  A 2017 New Year's Eve show with Aquarian Exposition in the Grace Kelly Suite at the historic Bel Air Hotel was definitely the biggest highlight to date in Los Angeles.

Harrison's plan and lifetime goal is to continue being a successful professional member of the music and entertainment industry as a lead guitarist or sideman for touring acts, as well as a prolific studio session guitarist.