Highly Suspect

Highly Suspect’s Johnny Stevens was in a dark place. His relationship had crashed and burned and so had his dirt bike after an ill-fated desert ride. “I lived recklessly — and I didn’t really care if I survived,” he says. “There was no difference between being above the dirt or below it.” After that near-death experience, though, Stevens woke up.

The Earth, it turned out, needed Stevens topside, and new love was just around the corner. All those experiences, then, alchemized into the band’s fifth studio record, As Above, So Below, out July 19th on 300/Elektra. A saga of an album, As Above, So Below meshes Mad Max grit with indie-rock innovation to tell a tale as old as time that nevertheless seems brand-new: love lost and found again, a purpose renewed.

A Grammy-nominated five piece — Johnny Stevens [vocals, guitar], Ryan Meyer [drums, vocals], Rich Meyer [bass, vocals], Matt Kofos [guitar] and Mark Schwartz [synths] — Highly Suspect is nothing if not eclectic. Dabbling in hip-hip, electro-pop, and, of course, rock & roll, the band has spent the last 15 or so years melting faces and stealing hearts with their own brand of brutally honest swagger. With As Above, So Below, though, they’re firmly in their rock & roll pocket, though, cranking out grimy ragers and indie-rock opuses alike.

“I don't want to try to pretend to be something that I'm not,” Stevens says. “I am so tired of fucking fake bullshit. Drop the curtain, it's time to be real.” Here’s to staying on the right side of the dirt.