Highly Suspect is an American rock band from

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...

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. The band consists of twin brothers Rich (bass, backing vocals) and Ryan Meyer (drums, backing vocals), Johnny Stevens (guitar, lead vocals), and Matt Kofos (guitar, synthesizer, backing vocals). After starting as a bar cover band, they relocated to

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York, where they recorded ''The Worst Humans EP'' with producer Joel Hamilton. The band's first studio album, ''

Mister Asylum ''Mister Asylum'' is the debut album by American rock band Highly Suspect, released on July 17, 2015. It features the singles "Lydia" and " Bloodfeather". Reception The album debuted at No. 56 on ''Billboard'' 200, and No. 7 on the Top Rock A ...

'', was released in 2015, earning Highly Suspect a nomination for Best Rock Album at the

58th Annual Grammy Awards The 58th Annual Grammy Awards was held on February 15, 2016, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The ceremony recognizes the best recordings, compositions and artists of the eligibility year, which was from October 1, 2014, to September 30, 201 ...

. The song "

Lydia Lydia ( Lydian: ‎𐤮𐤱𐤠𐤭𐤣𐤠, ''Śfarda''; Aramaic: ''Lydia''; el, Λυδία, ''Lȳdíā''; tr, Lidya) was an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern western Turkish pro ...

" was also nominated for Best Rock Song. Their second studio album, ''

The Boy Who Died Wolf ''The Boy Who Died Wolf'' is the second studio album by American rock band Highly Suspect. It was recorded in Bogotá, Colombia and Brooklyn, New York. The album's lead single " My Name Is Human" reached No. 1 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock ch ...

'', was released in 2016. Two singles have been released from the album, " My Name Is Human", which topped the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

'' US

Mainstream Rock Songs Mainstream Rock is a music chart in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in Ma ...

chart, and " Little One", which peaked at number 2 on the same chart. Highly Suspect's third studio album, ''

MCID ''MCID'' (initialism for "My Crew Is Dope") is the third studio album by American rock band Highly Suspect, released on November 1, 2019. '' Loudwire'' named it one of the 50 best rock albums of 2019. History On August 16, 2019, Highly Suspect ...

'', was released in 2019, and its fourth studio album, '' The Midnight Demon Club'', came out in 2022.

History

Formation and ''Mister Asylum'' (2009–2015)

Highly Suspect got their start in 2009 as a cover band playing songs by Sublime,

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

and

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philosophical lyrics an ...

in local bars in the Cape Cod area, such as the British Beer Company, J.R Brody's Roadside Tavern, and Sundancers, also touring and playing a limited number of shows with bands 10 Years, Monster Truck and Sevendust. They attended Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School. ''First Offense'' was Highly Suspect's first EP, released on July 15, 2009. The EP consists of "Life's a Fun Ride", "Not Me", and "Smile On", their first written and recorded songs after making the switch from a cover band ("Not Me" would later appear on the self-titled album ''Highly Suspect''). ''The Gang Lion EP'' was the band's second EP, released on October 3, 2010. It consists of "Gang Lion", "Big Bear", and "Then Mickey", all of which would later appear on their self-titled album, ''Highly Suspect''. ''The Worst Humans'' was the band's third EP, released July 13, 2012. The EP featured the songs "Bath Salts", "Gumshoe" and "The Go". The recordings were available for both physical purchase and digital download on

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...

. The band's fourth EP, ''Black Ocean'', was released in October 2013. It featured two tracks from their debut release as well as three new tracks, "Fuck Me Up", "Lydia", and "Guess What". This release was jointly produced by Joel Hamilton and

Joe Duplantier Joseph Andrew Duplantier (born 19 October 1976) is a French-American musician, best known as the rhythm guitarist, vocalist, and lyricist of heavy metal band Gojira. He is also a record producer and environmental activist. Duplantier was born ...

Gojira Gojira (ゴジラ) is the original Japanese name for Godzilla, a giant monster at the center of a media franchise. It may also refer to: Films * ''Godzilla'' franchise, known as ''ゴジラ'' (''Gojira'') in Japan ** ''Godzilla'' (1954 film), rel ...

. Their self-titled compilation album ''Highly Suspect'' was released in 2011. It contains fourteen tracks, consisting of several new songs as well as previously released but re-recorded songs, like "Gang Lion" and "Then Mickey". The band toured the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

in early 2015 with

Deftones Deftones is an American alternative metal band formed in Sacramento, California in 1988. They were formed by Chino Moreno (vocals, guitar), Stephen Carpenter (guitar), Abe Cunningham (drums), and Dominic Garcia (bass). During their first f ...

, Chevelle, Halestorm,

Catfish and the Bottlemen Catfish and the Bottlemen are a British indie rock band from Wales. The band's debut album, ''The Balcony'', reached number 10 in the UK Albums Chart and achieved Platinum status on 30 December 2016. The band have toured in South America, Jap ...

and

Scott Weiland Scott Richard Weiland (; né Kline, October 27, 1967 – December 3, 2015) was an American singer and songwriter. During a career spanning three decades, Weiland was best known as the lead singer of the rock band Stone Temple Pilots from ...

from

Stone Temple Pilots Stone Temple Pilots (also known by the initialism STP) is an American rock band from San Diego, California, that originally consisted of Scott Weiland (lead vocals), brothers Dean (guitar) and Robert DeLeo (bass, backing vocals), and Eric Kr ...

. The music video for the song "Lydia" premiered on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

.com on June 25, 2015. Their first studio album ''

'' was released on July 17, 2015, via

300 Entertainment Theory Entertainment LLC, doing business as 300 Entertainment, is an American record label founded by Lyor Cohen, Kevin Liles, Todd Moscowitz, and Roger Gold. The label's roster includes acts across multiple genres such as hip hop, rock, pop, el ...

. The first single from the album, titled "

", peaked at number 4 on the US Mainstream Rock Songs chart and at number 24 on the US

Alternative Songs Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-playe ...

chart. On July 24, 2015, the album debuted at number 39 on the New Zealand Albums Chart. Highly Suspect was selected for iTunes' 2015 New Artist Spotlight by its editors. In November, the band released their second single "Bloodfeather", which peaked at number 5 on the US Mainstream Rock Songs chart.

''The Boy Who Died Wolf'' (2016–2017)

Their second studio album, ''

'', was released November 18, 2016. The band released the single " My Name Is Human" on September 7, 2016. A second single, " Little One", was released on April 26, 2017. On December 6, it was announced that "My Name Is Human" was nominated for Best Rock Song at the

59th Annual Grammy Awards The 59th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held on February 12, 2017. The CBS network broadcast the show live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The ceremony recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year ...

''MCID'' (2018–2021)

A single featuring

Young Thug Jeffery Lamar Williams (born August 16, 1991), known professionally as Young Thug, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He is considered to be an influential figure of his generation, with his music impacting the modern sound of hip ...

entitled "Tokyo Ghoul" and Stevens' hip-hop persona "Terrible Johnny" was released October 4, 2019. The fourth single, "Canals", was released on October 25, 2019. The album was released on November 1.

''The Midnight Demon Club'' (2022-present)

The fourth full-length album came out in September 9, 2022, featuring singles as ''Natural Born Killer'', ''Pink Lullabye'' and others.

Musical style

Highly Suspect's musical style has been described as

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commercial ...

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest ha ...

blues rock Blues rock is a fusion music genre that combines elements of blues and rock music. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electric blues and rock (electric guitar, electric bass guitar, and drums, sometimes w ...

grunge Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of ...

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm ...

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. I ...

, and

garage rock Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or 60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock and roll that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The sty ...

. Their third studio album, ''

,'' marked a change in sound and utilized elements of hip hop,

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' ( ...

, and

electropop Electropop is a hybrid music genre combining elements of electronic and pop genres. Writer Hollin Jones has described it as a variant of synth-pop with heavy emphasis on its electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a r ...

Band members

* Johnny Stevens – lead vocals, guitar, synthesizer, piano (2009–present) * Ryan Meyer – drums, vocals (2009–present) * Rich Meyer – bass, synthesizer, vocals (2009–present) * Matt Kofos – guitar, synthesizer, vocals (2019–present) * Mark Schwartz - guitar, synthesizer, keyboards (2019–present)

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

*''Highly Suspect'' (2011)

EPs

*''First Offense'' (2009) *''The Gang Lion EP'' (2010) *''The Worst Humans'' (2012) *''Black Ocean'' (2013)

Singles

Music videos

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

{{Authority control Atlantic Records artists Alternative rock groups from Massachusetts American progressive rock groups Musical groups established in 2009 American musical trios 2009 establishments in Massachusetts Sibling musical groups