High Vis are the progressive hardcore band making waves with their music, infused with shades of Brit pop, neo psychedelia, and post-punk. Formed in London, the British group recently released their new album Guided Tour, a loud, anthemic rebellious record that explores societal issues through an impassioned, gritty lens. We spoke to lead singer Graham Sayle about the the album, touring and what's next:

Love your new record. It's such a great empowering listen and it starts off so big and it feels cinematic. I especially love how you described that it is both hopeful and incensed because I think that perfectly describes our current social climate. So what was the catalyst for this album?

It's been ongoing since the last album. We're always writing in the background. It kind of catalogues a lot of the things that I'm processing through life as I go along. In all the songs, when I listen back to it, a lot of them pinpoint certain points in my life, or things that happened or things that happened in the world. The last song on the album was a reflection of the soul, thinking about the media's narrative spin on what's going on in the world and how much power they have. Also just none of it takes into account human life. But it basically just chronicles two years of  being a band and existing in the world, really.

You’re from England and I think British music is known for being quite empowering or rebellious and speaking on the state of the world. How do you feel about the British industry and music in general there and how it's evolved?

‍I don't really understand the music industry necessarily because I've never existed in it. It's only really now that we’re talked about in those terms. But it’s never been any more than just a couple of mates doing this thing. I never thought it’d be my job.

There's definitely a blend of genres across this album. What do you think made you guys as a band feel more comfortable leaning into different worlds and sounds?

I think it's mostly that we've been so supported by people who like our band. When we started, playing some hardcore shows and playing indie shows, we never really felt like we fitted into the world outside of us, outside of hardcore and funk. I think having that support, I guess because of our backgrounds or whatever, and not really making it for anyone other than ourselves… It’s just for us to play around and explore. It’s been really a liberating position to be in, to feel creatively free. Ski and me have always been into raving and going out, so we’ve always had that same energy, in that world of underground electronic music in London, and then the hardcore punk from the places we come from. So I said I don’t know why we couldn’t try putting some of those sounds together and it worked. It wasn’t necessarily coherent, it just happened.

How did working with producer Jonah Falco help to shape the sound of this album? What did you learn from him?  

I look up to that man a lot. He's got such an encyclopaedic knowledge of music. And he's also really unbiased and unpretentious. In the band we all kind of have different tastes. You have a similar vision but different tastes and he helps draw out those bits from you. I don’t know what I’m doing - I’ve never been told how to sing. This is just like learning on the job or whatever. He's just really so encouraging.

Is there a song that you're particularly proud of or maybe one that was the most challenging to write?

Untethered is a big one for me. And there's some other stuff on there, like Feeling Blessed. Where the inspiration for the songs came from was a lot of people struggling with addiction issues… You go through all of those feelings, like, I don't know what I can do to help people here, but you have to sort of understand that you can't help anyone but yourself.

Yeah, through the music, you definitely are making people feel less alone.  

Yeah. It's a fact. It's a nice thing to connect to people everywhere. That was never any intention of the band, so it's a nice sort of reassuring byproduct of it.

You're on tour right now, which obviously means you have to play songs from your whole catalogue. Can you hear how you've progressed sonically or even lyrically from No Sense No Feeling to now?

Yeah, definitely. The energy is so different. There's a real hopelessness, I think, when we did the first album. We were all in a much different place. Through the band we kept working on ourselves. When we play those songs, I still feel those things that I felt then, but it feels like a nice expression of energy. It’s releasing something.

You’re on tour right now with Show Me The Body and I was excited to see that you're opening for Fontaines D.C. next year. So, who right now is exciting you in music?

I've been listening to a lot. I've been listening to a lot of hardcore and dance music in the UK. A lot of my friends, like my friend Lil, she's doing an interesting super minimal British sound in electronic music. I've been listening to that. The new Fontaine's DC album is great. I’ve also been listening to Potter Payper who’s a rapper from the UK, I really like his new album. I find day to day I also listen to a lot of house music. Detroit techno and stuff like that.

What’s next for you guys?

There’s a couple of songs that we've got that I want to record. They’re halfway there, which I'm really excited about. And then just touring. We're just trying to just say yes to stuff and not limit ourselves. Loads of festivals next year, too. That’s something I'm looking forward to.

Listen to Guided Tour HERE.

@highvis