Twelve-year-old Harlan “Harley” Fant — a guitarist, bassist and vocalist from Leeds — is already confident enough to correct his veteran musician father on guitar chords. Now, his newly formed youth rock band, Sparc, is taking to the stage to show the public exactly how far that musical mentorship has come.
Specializing in ’80s and ’90s rock covers, the four-piece ensemble made its public debut in Brookfield last week and will next perform at the Irish Cultural Center in West Springfield on Saturday, Aug. 22 at 6 p.m. At both shows, Sparc opens for Recent History, a local alt-rock cover band fronted by Harley’s father, music promoter Glen Fant.
“He is better than me in a lot of ways,” Glen Fant said. “I can see that he’s got a sort of technicality to the way he thinks about math [and music] that I don’t, and I can see that sort of crystallizing already. It’s really cool.”
“He asked me to show him how to play songs; he shows me how I’m playing them wrong, and he’s really come a long way in the past couple years,” Glen added. “He’s really taken off with it. He’s really loving it.”
Glen began teaching Harley to play guitar at an early age, later enrolling him in lessons at Downtown Sounds, a music store and school in Northampton. Over time, Harley took the initiative, looking up songs online to teach himself. “He started picking it up and running with it,” Glen recalled.
Harley, who is a student at John F. Kennedy Middle School in Florence, currently plays in his sixth rock ensemble at the Northampton Community Music Center. Spending the last few years in these groups ultimately inspired him to branch out and form his own band with friends.
The other members of Sparc, all 12 years old, include Jude Kent on bass and vocals, Willie Staub on guitar and bass, and Henry Bassette on drums. Harley said they chose the name “Sparc” because it sounded cool and gave the group a unique touch — specifically by replacing the “k” in “Spark” with a “c.”
Beyond the full band, the father-son duo has frequently shared the stage. Their collaborative resume includes a pair of brunches at The Press Room in Portsmouth, New Hampshire — spanning October 2025 and this past July —as well as a Weezer tribute show in Brattleboro, Vermont, in mid-June. Closer to home, local music fans might also recognize them from occasional busking sessions along the sidewalks of downtown Northampton.
“Every time he gets off the stage, people say, ‘Were you nervous?’ And he says, ‘No.’ And I’m always surprised. For him, I guess it just feels natural. For me, I’m still nervous, so I’m always so proud of him in those moments,” Glen said.
When it comes to his musical ambitions, Harley keeps his goals grounded in his community. His ultimate objective is “getting to know a lot of people and making my band feel locally known,” he said. “I feel like that would be really fun.”
Glen, a former social studies teacher who now works in educational publishing, hopes his own musical path serves as a healthy model for his son. He noted that witnessing his career has helped Harley realize that music doesn’t have to be a full-time profession to be deeply meaningful.
“I think it’s good for him not to think of music as something where you either make a living or you’re a failure,” Glen said.
Reflecting on his own youth, he recalled feeling a much greater sense of pressure. “I was like, ‘I need to get a job working in a record label or be a full-time touring musician or something like that to successfully be a musician,’” he said. “It took me a long time of living and working, and doing both to find a nice stasis between them.”
Later this year, the Fants will share the stage again during a tribute to Weezer’s “Blue Album” at the Shea Theater Arts Center in Turners Falls on Friday, Sept. 11 at 8 p.m. Harley is set to run the merchandise table for Recent History before joining his father onstage for “Undone (The Sweater Song).”
The duo first performed the track together at their Brattleboro show. While Glen found the experience deeply exciting, he noted that Harley remained characteristically “really nonchalant about it.”
“It had those moments where we’re just grooving and we’re rocking out and we can share a look or something, but he’s still a little too cool to let it show as much as I am,” Glen said. “But to do that again in front of his friends and family — it’ll be really special.”
Admission to the West Springfield shows is free and open to the public. Tickets to the Turners Falls show are $18 in advance and $25 at the door, not including fees. For more information, visit sheatheater.org.
