Fans of heavy metal over the past 15 years fell in love with The Butcher Babies. Between their intense live show and the over-the-top personalities of their two front women, Heidi Shepherd and Carla Harvey. Last year, Carla announced she was leaving the band. Now Carla is back with a new rock project called The Violent Hour. She released the song “Hell or Hollywood” featuring guitar God, Zakk Wylde, as part of an upcoming EP.
“I wanted to write a song that felt the way I did when I first moved to Los Angeles at twenty,” vocalist/ lyricist Carla Harvey explains, “like my motorcycle boots hitting the Sunset Strip for the very first time. I had driven across the country with nothing but a paper map, no friends, no plan—just a dream. I figured I’d survive somehow, and every day was exactly that: survival. There were moments that nearly broke me, followed by the kind of euphoric highs that made it all worth it. That’s what Hell or Hollywood is: the chaos, illusion and grit in perfect juxtaposition. Wouldn’t leave it if you could…”
“Carla grew up loving Guns N’ Roses, and since they were so heavily influenced by Aerosmith, I wanted to write something that paid tribute to both,” added Anthrax’s Charlie Benante who wrote the project’s music and played all instruments on the EP. The riff on ‘Hell or Hollywood’ is the kind that stands on its own — even without vocals, it’s got a swagger to it. And having Zakk Wylde on the solo? He brought this raw, six string grit that rips through the track. You hear it and instantly know—it’s him.”
Last month, The Violent Hour also released a song featuring John 5 on guitar called “Sick Ones.”
ABOUT CARLA HARVEY: Not many people have comic book author, embalmer, and musician on their resumes. Carla Harvey boasts all three and so much more. Carla was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan—a city known for its grit, resilience, and often deep divides. Navigating life as a bi-racial kid in a fractured environment wasn’t easy, but Carla found her escape in art, music, and self-expression. By day, she hustled, attending the prestigious College for Creative Studies alongside working odd jobs like perfume counter girl and gas station attendant, and by night, she was on stage with local bands, saving every dollar she could for a one-way trip to Los Angeles.
At twenty, she put all her belongings in her car and navigated from Detroit to Hollywood with a paper map. In LA, she landed acting roles on shows like Rules of Engagement, played in bands searching for her sound, and never stopped creating. But beyond the music was a driven academic. Carla had a deep love for science and eventually pursued a Bachelor of Mortuary Science (graduating as valedictorian) and a Master of Science in Thanatology. Carla became a licensed funeral director and embalmer and founded her own grief counseling service – all while touring the world extensively as a founding member of The Butcher Babies.
Today, In addition to her music career, Carla is a Grief Specialist for the innovative death care company ‘Parting Stone,’ that transforms cremated remains into environmentally-friendly stones that the departed’s family can hold, treasure and honor.
Beyond her professional life, Carla is a devoted collector of pop culture oddities: comics, wrestling figures, vintage Barbies, Elvira, the Incredible Hulk, and rock relics from her wildest nights in Hollywood. She still holds onto her Rainbow Bar and Grill drink tickets from the ’90s and a poker chip from Lemmy’s last birthday party. Her creative heroes—Russ Meyers, Robert Williams, Robert Crumb & Charles Bukowski—mirror her love of the bold and the raw.
To date, Carla has released six albums, multiple comic books and a 2014 novel, “Death and Other Dances.” But if you ask her…she’s still just a blue-collar kid from the Midwest with big dreams.
