Rock-n-roll trio Highly Suspect have gone from playing cover sets in their hometown of Cape Cod to performing at Lollapalooza and SXSW in the blink of an eye. The Brooklyn based band has seen undeniable success over the past year and have now grown into their own as artists, after releasing their highly anticipated debut album. We catch up with Rich, the band’s bass player inside FAULT 23 to talk about their bright FAULT Future.

Let’s start from the beginning. You’ve started the band when you were only just out of school. What drove you towards it?

I was a builder and I had my own construction company and I was like, remodeling houses. I was doing pretty well, but once we started playing music, I realized that it’s something that we need to pursue.

At first, you played a lot of small bar shows and all that, to pay the bills and get the odd free beer in. What type of music were you going for in your early days?

We were playing a lot of reggae and some ska. We used to play a lot of Bob Marley, Sublime. Just beachy, summery, fun stuff that people could dance to. We didn’t have the kind of crowd that we have to day so we could play our own stuff. We had to play music for tourists.

 

When you first got signed, what did it feel like to be the first rock band signed to 300?

It was amazing. We signed our record contract on a pool table. After we got picked out from all the other indie-rock bands, I just couldn’t contain my excitement. Especially since most of the artists signed to 300 are mainly hip-hop artists, so it was a big deal for us.

 

 

Your album is rooted in personal experience. How important do you think personal discomfort is in order to make a good record?

The main thing on our album is like anxiety, panic attacks and negativity. That wasn’t our goal when we set out to make the album, but that was just the stuff that we were writing. I wouldn’t say that you have to have that to make an album, but anxiety definitely helps with your drive. It’s a lot of work.

 

 

 

What is your FAULT?

Sometimes I can be too honest. A lot of times it’s totally unnecessary, but I just do it.

 

Words: Adina Ilie

Photography: Miles Holder

Styling: Edith Walker