Photo courtesy of Highspire
Highspire quickly became a staple in the scene, building an international following through early internet music sites, file-sharing, and key features on compilations from outlets like Losing Today Magazine, Tonevendor, and even the debut release from Club AC30.
Their highly-anticipated debut album, ‘Your Everything’, released in 2003 by Alison Records and in 2004 by the legendary shoegaze label Clairecords, was a significant moment. It was named the best shoegaze album of the year by most shoegaze-centric outlets at the time, and notably, it earned a spot on Seattle’s KEXP John in the Morning’s Top 10 Albums of 2004 list.
Original members Alex White and EJ Hagen spent half a decade, starting in 2008, touring with the acclaimed Australian neo-psych band The Morning After Girls. They continued to create in between tours, releasing their second album, ‘Aquatic’ (Reverse Reverb), in 2010, which again received many accolades as one of the top shoegaze albums of that year.
The current lineup of Highspire is a powerhouse of talent, featuring Laura Watling (of The Autocollants, Tears Run Rings), John Loring (Fleeting Joys), Kory Gable, and original drummer Guyton Sanders. This dynamic incarnation is now back with their long-awaited third album, ‘Crushed’. Finding a home on Shelflife Records, early indications suggest this is the band taking their sonics to the next level—arguably producing their best album yet.
My thanks to both Alex and EJ for their time.
James Broscheid: Highspire was a 2000s international shoegaze scene participant. Can you describe what that early scene was like, particularly how those early days of internet and file-sharing influenced your initial reach and connection with fans on a global scale?
Alex White: We started doing a project in 1999, recording at Deep Space in Philly and Everlasting Sound in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, that eventually evolved into Highspire. This was largely before the internet looked like it does today. Bands had to hand out flyers at gigs and put up posters at record stores and venues to promote a show. However, MP3.com came along and was vital for us to get our early songs heard and to connect with some of the other American bands pursuing music in the shoegaze mode. It was like an early de facto social media for bands. Some of those early bands were Skywave, Stellarscope, Emerald Down, and Aerial Love Feed, who were all great, and we played with, saw live, and hung around with at times.
JB: Being featured on early compilations from Losing Today, Tonevender, Vinyl Junkie, and Club AC30 is quite a testament to your early impact. How did these compilation appearances contribute to Highspire’s growing recognition at the time? I’ll have to check my copy, but was Highspire around early enough to be featured on the ‘Splashed With Many A Speck’ (Dewdrops Records, 1997) compilation?
AW: Compilations were immensely vital for us to get heard during that era. We had a band called Intro to India that played from 1997 to 1999 and we appeared on the ‘Sounds from Psychedelphia’ compilation (Lounge Records, 1998 and Rocket Girl in 1999), with Asteroid #4. From that comp, Losing Today Magazine reached out to Lounge Records, who in turn reached out to me. I convinced Losing Today to try a track from our new band Highspire, and the song “Believe” appeared in the spring 2001 issue of Losing Today. That led to us getting noticed by Alison Records in Lüneburg, Germany and us getting signed. This in turn got us noticed by Clairecords, who licensed the record for the States. Compilations really were everything to us at the beginning.
EJ Hagen: Nope, we weren’t on that latter compilation. We started up a couple years after it in 1999. All those shoegaze / dream pop compilations back then were huge for us. They were great ways for people into that sort of music to find kindred bands in the genre. But that’s also mostly died in the digital age. They were kind of like what a Spotify playlist is now.
JB: Looking back at the early 2000s, what were some of the biggest challenges and opportunities for a shoegaze band trying to make its mark?
EJ: There just weren’t many fans of the genre back then. And obviously hard to find or reach people unless they were looking. Besides your website and like a club’s website, maybe some specific forums, there weren’t really many ways to advertise gigs. Besides that, listings in city papers or flyer-ing. Also, there were a lot of clubs that wouldn’t let us “noisy British music” bands play. They’d be like, “Nope, no one likes that.”
AW: Marketing your band’s style and music as an independent artist was/is really tough. It was also a challenge getting the word out to listeners if you had a show, and dealing with ‘gatekeepers’ and ‘tastemakers’ for lack of better terms. Also, differentiating yourself from other bands trying to do something similar. Paying homage to earlier bands in the shoegaze style without co-opting and biting their thing too much.
JB: In 2004, your debut album “Your Everything” was released on Clairecords, an early champion of shoegaze/dream pop at the time in the U.S. How did the partnership with Clairecords come about, and what was the experience like working with them?
AW: Clairecords was amazing to us. Put us on the map you could say. They really gave us as fans and listeners, a label based in the States that reflected what was happening in shoegaze / indie / experimental music at that particular time. Claire had a close relationship with Alison who had the rights to ‘Your Everything’ in Europe and it evolved from there.
JB: ‘Your Everything’ received significant acclaim, with many shoegaze-centric outlets naming it the best shoegaze album of 2004. What was your reaction to such widespread positive reception, and how did it impact the band moving forward?
EJ: At the time, I think KEXP & John (Richards, DJ), playing it in heavy rotation did the most for us, besides Clairecords – thanks John & Dan (Sostrom, label founder)! As a lot of listeners, other stations, review sites, would hear and find us from that. Myspace was just starting around then. Which kinda launched online music in a sense. Before that, radio had a temporary resurgence as music television had mostly gone away.
JB: Are there any specific memories or stories from the recording or release of ‘Your Everything’ that stand out to you?
AW: When we were recording “Glass In My Mouth”, “Fade In A Day”, “Skies You Climb”, “Shattered”, and a lost song called ‘Dirty’ at Engine Studios in Chicago in October 2001, we were being really loud partying in our suite and Isaac Brock from Modest Mouse, who was staying next door while recording there, came knocking round to the door to demand we quiet down. We were like naughty children. There was a pause, and then E.J. chucked a pillow at him, which got the point across!
JB: That story of Isaac Brock knocking on your door is fantastic. Beyond that memorable encounter, were there any specific technical or creative challenges you faced during the recording of “Your Everything” that, in hindsight, contributed to its acclaimed sound?
AW: We did record some of the album in a supposedly haunted house, Limespring Farm in Lancaster County. I never saw any ghosts, but there was a spooky vibe that came through on Until the Lights Go Down and Sub Par Life.
EJ: I threw a pillow at the guy because he was ruining our vibe. Didn’t know who he was. Didn’t care. Until the engineers we were partying with there looked at me like, “You didn’t just do that?” I’m not the Encyclopedia Britannica of music or musicians. Bring my good time down, catch down feathers!
JB: You both joined Australian Neo-Psych band The Morning After Girls for half a decade starting in 2008. How did that collaboration come about, and what was it like balancing your work with Highspire and The Morning After Girls?
AW: I moved to NYC in 2004 and made friends with someone who knew Martin Sleeman. In 2008, she asked me if I knew anyone who was a multi-instrumentalist who would want to join TMAG (The Morning After Girls) and I was like, ‘Yes, Me!’ So I arranged a meet up with Sacha (Lucashenko) and Martin, became fast friends, and started playing together. After some time, they started asking me to recruit a bassist and I was thinking I knew just the guy since he can play anything and doesn’t shy away from a challenge. I got on the phone to EJ and that’s how that started.
Then we auditioned out this bloke Anthony (Anton Jakovljevic), who was in the Stomp musical and we at least knew he can hold a beat, you know? Balancing between TMAG and Highspire was easy since EJ and I were both still writing songs and EJ had spent countless hours building out a studio at his house in Lancaster. When we had breaks from doing TMAG stuff we would work out Highspire stuff.
JB: You recorded your second album, ‘Aquatic,’ in 2010 in between touring with The Morning After Girls. Can you describe the creative process for ‘Aquatic’ given these scheduling demands? Did your experiences with The Morning After Girls influence the sound or themes of “Aquatic” in any way?
EJ: ‘Aquatic’ was entirely recorded in my studio as well as the majority of ‘Crushed’. So just recording in between TMAG engagements. I can’t say we took too much away musically from TMAG. It made us better musicians, as playing a lot generally does. Especially with extremely talented singers and songwriters such as Sacha and Martin. I’d say the main influence we took was using tambourines? Pretty much all TMAG songs utilize a tambourine. We used them more on ‘Aquatic’, but on ‘Crushed’ they’re on like every song. I’m not even really sure if there is a shoegaze album that uses as much tambourine! It’s not an instrument largely used in shoegaze. Brian Jonestown Massacre’s ‘Methodrone’ (BOMP!, 1995) album doesn’t. Which would be a main suspect for that. We’ve joked that at the very least, maybe we made the greatest shoegaze album that utilizes tambourines the whole way through? Ha!
AW: EJ and I developed a load of songs in 2008-2009. We would sometimes jam a bit between TMAG rehearsal breaks. This led to us exchanging tracks and notes over the course of a few short months to start getting at ‘Aquatic’. I would not say we changed our songwriting approach or goals though. In terms of TMAG’s influence, it’s such a different style, I don’t really see an influence. However, Martin actually does appear on one track on the album so there’s that. Also with harmonies, working with Martin and Sacha really made me want to create more ambitious Highspire harmonies. Also, a band EJ and I played in called House Of Fire, put a great emphasis on harmonies so I wanted to include as many as possible. So you might notice the second Highspire album has many more harmonies and of greater competency.
JB: That record also garnered many shoegaze album accolades. How do you feel ‘Aquatic’ evolved from ‘Your Everything,’ both sonically and in terms of its reception?
EJ: I think the main thing I’d see would be some reviews or comments from people who thought Your Everything was too eclectic. Which yeah, now it does. But at the time of its release, if you were into this sort of music, most people understood or could see the lines on why it made sense. What was going on in music in those lead up years and how we were trying to put things together. Now, that seems pretty lost on most. Aquatic was basically just trying to write a more cohesive album. Which it is.
AW: ‘Aquatic’ was much more focused in terms of songwriting and consistency, whereas Your Everything was created much more eclectically and experimentally and we just tried all different things to see what would stick. Aquatic was much more define in terms of sounding more consistent and less unexpected.
JB: The latest incarnation of Highspire features Laura Watling, John Loring, Kory Gable, and original drummer Guyton Sanders. Can you tell us about the process of bringing these talented musicians into the band and what each of them brings to Highspire’s sound?
EJ: John of Fleeting Joys is an old friend. We’ve talked of doing some things together over the years, but schedules and other things would get in the way. Trixster, that John sings and plays guitars on is actually something we did together like at least a decade ago. But I kinda got burned out from playing any music at all twice over the past decade. For 3-4 years each. Just the thought of it made me feel ill. Then I got laid off a job and was like, “Well, I guess I have some time to play music again. Now or never.”
Before I even knew if these songs would be new Highspire stuff, I was sending John demos to see what he thought. So, he’s been involved in ‘Crushed’ from the start as like a friend/mentor/co-producer. And as it started progressing into something, I asked if he’d have time or be into mixing this. The song “Gloria” I had an idea of a, not call and response really, but a boy / girl type of thing going on. Just on that song. I was having some difficulty finding someone with the right type of voice. Who would fit the music and who I thought would work well with Alex’s voice.
It was right around the time Tears Run Rings put out their latest album ‘Everything In The End’ (Shelflife Records, 2024 – interview to follow! – JB), and I’ve been a fan of them since their first album on Clairecords (‘Always, Sometimes, Seldom, Never’, 2008). So I was listening to their new songs and thought, “Oh yeah, Laura Watling has a voice that probably would work great!”
Ed Mazzucco of Shelflife Records, who has also been pretty involved in this from the start, hearing some of the demos in our IG stories maybe, is also in Tears Run Rings. So I was asked, “Hey Ed, who’s this Laura Watling in your band? I’m looking for a female singer for a song. Do you think she’d be interested? Ed’s responded, “That’s my wife. And yes, she would!” It went so well, I asked Laura if she wanted to do more. She’s so good and has such keen taste to what’s needed or not, I just said do what you hear. She came up with everything she did with no instructions. She is seriously one of the easiest, knows what to do and can do it musicians I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with. Kory Gable is a local (Lancaster, PA) drummer I tapped up to play. Initially this album was going to be an EP and then got expanded into an album. Kory played on 6 tracks. But then we couldn’t get scheduling down to finish the 4 songs added. And I couldn’t lose momentum so had to get another drummer. So I tapped up our first drummer, Guyton Sanders down in Texas. We’ve stayed friends over the years. And he said, “Hell yeah!”Guyton had to move before ever playing on any released Highspire material. So it’s nice that its now happening almost 25 years later!
AW: Guyton was the first guy to play drums with us. When he moved to Philly from Birmingham in 2001, we had him on stage at John & Peter’s in New Hope, Pennsylvania that very night. We did a cover of “She Bangs the Drums” by the Stone Roses, since we all knew that one! It’s great to hear Guyton on the set again.
JB: Your “long-awaited third album, ‘Crushed,’ sees the band take it up a notch with several critics citing it as your best album yet. What makes “Crushed” your best album to date, in your opinion? What new elements or approaches did you explore on this record?
AW: This record I think the approach was to write really fast and not to agonize over details at the earliest stage. We agonized over those details during mixing. EJ and I have a pretty vast common musical lexicon of shoegaze, psyche, Britpop, and indie, so it tends to be obvious if something EJ has written has potential since we can both judge it against established sounds in those genres.
EJ: I wanted the vocals up and understandable. The burying the vocals thing is so boring. Anyone can do that and make themselves “sound” passable. We have good singers, they should be heard. I specifically tried to use the least amount of pedals or effects as possible. Also, as few guitars as possible. Most of the songs are only two guitars. Combining both, less can be more. This coming from Alan Moulder who mixed the Morning After Girl’s album ‘Alone’ (Xemu Records, 2011), he once told me a story from being the engineer on ‘Loveless’ (Creation Records, 1991), and how Kevin Shields did some things. I didn’t want anything too moody or too mid-tempo this time. I wanted everything to have a spirit so to speak. And be up-lifting. Have a beauty and energy to it. I suppose someone could point at “Ghosts Forever” and say that’s a contradiction. But I think it has great spirit and is really very beautiful.
JB: After a significant gap between albums, what motivated the creation of ‘Crushed,’ and what message or feeling do you hope listeners take away from it?
EJ: The motivation was to mentally fix ourselves. Both Alex’s mother and my brother died in 2023. And both of us were kinda struggling mentally with that. Crushed so to say. I then got laid off from my job and was like well, I guess this is the best time to try and address this via music, since I have some time. And I think it worked. I do believe music, most art forms, are a powerful form of therapy. Be it from creating it or taking it in (agreed! – JB).
AW: Covid, tragedy, being away too long all probably played all a role. I started focusing on raising my kids and EJ became a painter for a few years.
JB: How has the shoegaze scene, and the music industry in general, changed since Highspire’s early days, and how have you adapted to those changes with the release of ‘Crushed’?
EJ: When we started there wasn’t, or rather, it was the like a couple hundred bands around the world on the old MP3.com shoegaze chart. That was how you found other bands really. And network from there. (Thinking), “Let’s see who else is close to us in Philly who might want to do gigs together?” Skywave down in North Virginia, Stellarscope in Philly, The Emerald Down in Ohio, etc. Or make friends with bands farther away. Like Airiel in Chicago, or Malory in Germany, or Resplandor in Peru. All of which were bands we’d eventually play with, or often.
There was just a smattering of kindred labels at the time. The biggest being Clairecords. By far the biggest active shoegaze label of the time, early 2000s. I think we were even surprised when they picked us up to release ‘Your Everything.’ But we were a bit different. They saw that, liked that, and understood it. And labels didn’t really want _Lego_-headed bands. They wanted some diversity in their rosters. In terms of the music industry, the way people find and consume music has obviously changed quite drastically over the past 25 years.
We haven’t adapted all. It’s all a bit confusing now. So we’re just jumping right in and go swimming. We already know we’re kind of going cross stream having a more, say “classic shoegaze” type sound. Although I think with ‘Crushed’, we did accomplish something that is still rather fresh. I don’t think anyone else quite sounds like this album from the past through now. I think we did achieve that and are proud of that.
AW: The biggest change is social media and its effects on promotion and marketing. It’s much easier now to promote a band, especially if you got the goods. It’s also much easier to connect with like-minded bands and listeners so it’s fostered a community and that used to mostly happen face to face at shows.
JB: Conversely, over your career, how do you feel Highspire’s approach to songwriting and soundscapes has evolved?
AW: I think you could say that from the beginning to now, the songwriting has become more consistent and defined while easing back on style changes, experimentation, and general eclecticism. We’re sort of found our lane so to speak and operate within that for the time being.
EJ: Well, it was eight years between recording ‘Your Everything’ and ‘Aquatic.’ And fifteen years between ‘Aquatic’ and ‘Crushed.’ Most bands aren’t even around for eight years, never mind fifteen! And may change quite drastically during their time. I really don’t think we’ve changed all that much over 25 years honestly. Our roots have always been firmly entrenched in our love of 80s-90s music from the UK. There haven’t really been any other influences that have ever crept into that for Highspire. We like to experiment a bit. Not try to write the same album over and over. So different sonic elements kind of just naturally come in at the recording points over twenty-five years. I don’t go overboard on effects. I kind of let the song tell me what it wants. Try to keep it clean and not muddied by too much. So those specific sounds are heard as cleanly as possible.
I was painting exclusively as my main creative outlet for the three years before recording ‘Crushed.’ Abstract stuff, where I worked very quickly to kind of try and capture a moment in time. Maybe two or three a day. Obviously, they all wouldn’t come out well or as I liked. But after a while you come up with a method to your madness in a sense. And able to like, “Stack your luck.” So say, doing eighteen a week and 7-10 come out as okay to great, that’s pretty good. Do that for a month there’s 28-40 of them. Then evaluate those and keep the ones your most happy with.
So, this time, I applied that to music. Do 2-3 fairly full demos a day. Go out and listen to them to see if I can hear anything for vocal melodies. If the song is interesting, if it’s good enough, what could be changed or added to maybe make it good enough. After a month or two, have quite a bit and start focusing down on a set that might go together well. Or nowadays, a set that will go together well and fit within the times on a piece of wax.
JB: EJ, could you elaborate on how this approach of creating many demos and then curating the best ones has changed your songwriting efficiency and overall creative output for the band?
EJ: I think music is just in people. In my case, I’ve been writing music for over 30 years. But not all the time. Because for me, I can get burnt out easy if everything isn’t right in my life to do that. I use to try. Which I think is the wrong approach. Shouldn’t need to try. It should just flow naturally when things are right. When I try, it’s bad. Maybe not bad, but I don’t like it when I try. And it becomes so time consuming actually “trying” that I’ll get nothing done that I like really.
So the process that came from using paints, work fast and don’t think, just do it, really worked for me converting that to music. Not everything is great. That’s life, for everything. But at least I’m doing it. Miss out on about 100% of anything that you don’t actively try to do. But it has to just come naturally. When it does, that’s always what makes you the happiest and most fulfilled. It’s pure.
JB: What are your aspirations for Highspire moving forward, especially with the release of ‘Crushed’? Any potential for some tour dates?
AW: Well, you always want to increase your listeners while keeping those that have already found us. It would be nice if listeners of the record were pleased with what we have done! As to live dates, we love playing live however with the band members scattered a bit geographically, it complicates matters. We’re in the mindset to wait and see.
EJ: Just making music for fun. That we like listening to. That’s all we ever set out to do when we started 25 years ago. It’s more just creative therapy for us. And being proud of the work that we’ve accomplished. And sharing it with those who might also enjoy it. A form of escapism all around I suppose. As for touring, we literally live all across the US: Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Texas, Oregon, California. So just right there is a logistical nightmare. Combined with everyone’s families, and jobs, and other bands… it’s highly unlikely. But you never know. I doubt most people ever expected us to pop back up again, so for now, we are pretty satisfied in being able to share music that we love. With more to come.
JB: Given the geographical spread of the current Highspire members, how do you envision maintaining the momentum and creative flow that led to ‘Crushed’ for future projects? Are there specific strategies you’ve developed to overcome the logistical challenges?
AW: We don’t really know about that one! Time will tell, but I am totally optimistic. The other band members are all very seasoned professionals so I think that makes anything possible.
EJ: I’m just happy to being putting out Highspire music again. And working with some great friends and musicians. That’s the beauty of it really. Life. Shared experiences with those you appreciate and want to share those things with. Everyone has their own bands, families, jobs. I guess since I wrote the music, it’s more on me for more. And everyone else can do their vocals or drums where they live and send them in when they have time. It’s really pretty easy going.
We’re not trying to make it. Not trying to tour. We’ve all done that when we were younger. It’s more just putting out music we like or would like to hear really. As we all grew up listening to like 80s-90s UK bands. Highspire is just an outlet to kind of embrace that energy via that type of music. Albeit with some updating.
JB: You mentioned MP3.com being “like an early de facto social media for bands.” Beyond getting your music heard, how did this platform foster actual connections and collaborations with other shoegaze bands like Skywave or Emerald Down? Did these early online interactions lead to in-person meetings or shared gigs?
AW: They definitely led to some shared gigs, mostly in Philadelphia, and ultimately to a shorter East Coast tour that hit the northeast of the States and a few Canadian gigs. Most importantly it gave bands without a record deal a chance to allow people to hear their music and connect with fans and one another.
JB: EJ, you described compilations as “what a Spotify playlist is now.” Could you elaborate on how these physical compilations, with their curated tracklists and liner notes, created a different kind of discovery experience for listeners compared to today’s digital playlists?
EJ: Compilations were really just the way to hear a medley of bands, usually within a similar genre realm at the time. Pre-internet music sharing really. That was the way. The only difference really is in the ease or difficulty to find things then. You had to read magazines, go to record stores, actually search out for stuff. Tonevendor was like the main shoegaze distro (distributor) at the time. So often you’d just go look on Tonevendor for stuff as they stocked most that type of stuff.
JB: Alex, you talked about the challenge of “differentiating yourself from other bands trying to do something similar” and “paying homage to earlier bands…without co-opting and biting their thing too much.” How did Highspire navigate this balance in your early songwriting, and do you feel that balance has shifted over your career?
AW: I think that early on we approached our songs with an open mind, which resulted in a form of eclecticism that made us different from everyone else. As time has gone on we honed the songs we want to pursue and that has led to a more defined sound.
JB: EJ, you noted that ‘Aquatic’ aimed for a more cohesive sound compared to the eclectic ‘Your Everything.’ When you set out to make your second album more cohesive, were there specific sonic elements or songwriting techniques you intentionally focused on or avoided?
EJ: Just straight guitar writing I suppose. ‘On Your Everything’, when we were influenced more by like Bowery Electric as an example, the focus was more on the bass and beats on those tracks. Those tracks on the first record really came more out of the rest of our band all leaving at the time and having a deal for our debut album, with Alison Records in Germany. And just having to finish the album by ourselves. Alex & myself. So we did. With a drum machine, sequencer, and sampler.
JB: The pervasive use of tambourine on ‘Aquatic’ and ‘Crushed’ is a unique observation. EJ, you joked about it being potentially the shoegaze album with the most tambourine. Was there a particular moment or song where you realized the tambourine was becoming such a prominent element, or did it just naturally evolve into that role?
EJ: It just feels comfortable now really. Probably from our time in TMAG. I really don’t think about it. It just feels natural in a sense. And has become a part of our sound. An effect on a sense that is an instrument. Like there isn’t any delay on ‘Crushed’ besides maybe the vocals at the end of “You’re So High.” A lot of shoegaze bands rely on delay as part of their sound. Or this or that. We went with a tambourine instead (laughs).
JB: The motivation behind ‘Crushed’ stemming from personal grief and using music as creative therapy is incredibly powerful and is a universal truth as far as I’m concerned. How did this deeply personal foundation influence the collaborative process for the album, especially when bringing in new members like Laura Watling and John Loring?
AW: Writing lyrics is really therapeutic for me and if I get it right I capture something unique and authentic.
EJ: I don’t think Laura knew about that beforehand. I don’t think it really mattered. She basically did what she does without instruction. And is absolutely fabulous at that. John did know but I don’t think that really changed the way he looked at anything here. As the co-producer with myself, it was more about getting it all together and sounding as good as we could. But I think both Alex and myself really did need to do this for ourselves. As a coping mechanism. Get our minds off things. And turn it into something positive.
JB: Alex, you mentioned that for the new record, the approach was to write fast and not to dwell on details. How challenging was it to maintain that rapid pace while still ensuring the songs met your shared tastes in genres?
AW: At this stage we tend to know what we can pull off and how, for the most part, to approach it. The biggest challenge with moving fast is writing lyrics I like because I start to run out of ideas.
JB: EJ, you aimed for the vocals to be more forward in the mix and used minimal pedals and guitars on this record for a “less is more” approach. I can only think of a handful of shoegaze bands that have or would attempt that …
EJ: When you have multiple good singers, it’s easy to have the vocals up. Good singers should be up. What’s the point of having good singers then?
JB: You’ve been making music for 25 years and have witnessed immense changes in the music industry. If you could offer one piece of advice to a new shoegaze band starting today, what would it be, considering both the opportunities and challenges of the current landscape?
AW: What I would say to a newer band is if you think your music sounds good then it does, and there’s an audience out there for your songs if you remain creative and stick with it.
EJ: Alex & I have been through the some of the highest of highs & lowest of lows in the music biz. Across multiple bands. The music business is really one of the worst businesses to be in. Do it for yourself and what you believe in. That’s the only way you can never be let down. And happy.
To listen or to purchase, please visit Highspire’s Bandcamp or for more information see Shelflife Records.