It took some time, but once Highly Suspect lead singer Johnny Stevens shed his down parka, struggled through sound issues that troubled him the entire opener “Bath Salts”, and gave the sign to crank the volume; he led the band through an excellent, varied and highly energetic two hour show at Brooklyn Steel on November 16th. After two more heavy rock songs, the spotlight turned to bassist Rich Meyer singing the bluesy “Round and Round”, leading to a very Aerosmith-sounding “Claudeland.”
The band then kicked into a mini set of songs from their excellent new album MCID, which included a Stevens solo on keys (“Juzo”) that faded to a dark stage as the band rearranged with Rich Meyer on acoustic guitar spotlighted for “Arizona”. In one of Steven’s many extended exchanges with the audience, he applauded opener Slothrust noting they’d come up through the same Brooklyn clubs and he’d spent many a night drinking with front-woman Leah (Wellbaum). They launched into “Freakstreet” which led to an excellent “My Name is Human” completed with the crowd holding aloft (on command) lighters and cellphones. Stevens then waved to the crowd and the band exited. “Shit, less than hour, I can’t believe we’ll get another song or two for an encore and that’s it!” think all the fans who had not checked out past set lists online beforehand.
But no, Stevens returned alone and addressed the fans “We’re gonna do something we’ve never done. I hope it works. I didn’t even come to soundcheck”, sat at the edge of the stage and launched into “Fly” the first track on MCID. Then Spike the guitar tech bounced onto the stage with two guitars held aloft triumphantly, gave one to Stevens, plugged in himself, and joined the band for the next two songs. This allowed the Meyer brothers, drummer Ryan and bassist Rich, to crowd surf throughout “Look Alive, Stay Alive”, even joined by the band photographer who dove into the crowd with her GoPro. An additional brief exit by the band led to another mini set of new songs including “Tokyo Ghoul” (alas only with a piped in Young Thug) and the current #1 rock hit, a poppy “16”. Another brief exit for a costume change into neon orange construction and the band returned for Steven’s distorted guitar intro to big first hit “Lydia” before closing for real with “Serotonia” and “Wolf”.
The show was a delight from beginning to end. Highly Suspect’s songs are so varied from heavy metal to straight up rockers to crooning to rock rap that each song stands out even to the uninitiated listener. Stevens is charismatic whether shredding on guitar, bouncing around the stage, asking the audience to dance, sing, or yell “Fuck”, or imploring the fans to keep “16” at #1 by streaming, requesting, buying it. (Ok, that was annoying.) And they are clearly having fun on stage and the camaraderie is real. Yeah, the costume changes were weird as was the excitement of shooting swag to fans via tube guns a la sporting events, but their show packed in all the elements of an arena show yet they were playing the smaller stand up 1800 capacity venue Brookyln Steel, which was sold out but thankfully not overstuffed. They’re back in May at the larger Terminal 5 (NYC) and touring through late Spring in the US and UK.
Fantastic alternative rock Slothrust opened and has been accompanying Highly Suspect on much of this tour and will continue through the end of November. This trio of drummer Will Gorin, bassist Kyle Bann and guitarist/frontwoman Leah Wellbaum combine a wide range of genres themselves often within a single song. Closer “Crockpot” is case in point as it alternates between the mournful poetry of Wellbaum and the numerous crests when she and the band crank. And you can’t argue with the awesome lyrics – I like cats/Do you like cats?/Of course you do, you sassy motherfucker. Wellbaum’s plaintive and deadpan delivery belie the emotion that clearly drives every song. They cover some very unique choices (from Bobby Darin’s “Splish Splash” to Marcy Playground’s “Sex and Candy” to Britany Spears’ “Baby One More Time”); check out their album of covers, Show Me How You Want It To Be.
Their set included songs from each of their albums including new EP Peach and “Double Down” and “Planetarium” from 2108’s The Pact. And they win at band merch – original art work and Slothrust dice. Having cut their teeth at NYC clubs, it’s sad for their Brooklyn fans that Slothrust relocated to LA so we now have so few chances to see them live.
