Pop-Punk Band HIGH WIRE Discuss Their Newest Music, Biggest Inspirations and Much More!

Meet the pop punk band High Wire! On September 8th, they released their EP “Different Places.”

Since 2012, the band has made a name for themselves in a thriving Chicago punk scene establishing a dedicated fan base and sharing stages with the likes of Real Friends, You Me and Everyone We Know, Sleep On It, Knockout Kid and more. With the release of Different Places, High Wire pushed themselves to their creative limit both musically and lyrically, the EP is very much a step in a new direction for the band with a handful of new songs, but still retains a familiar sound that fans have grown to love since their debut. Different Places is a collection of songs that tell a story of personal changes and growth.

Connect With High Wire Here:

Website – http://highwireil.com/

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/HighWireIL/

Twitter – https://twitter.com/highwireil

Learn more about High Wire in the following All Access interview:

Thanks for your time! Where does this interview find the band today? Is there music playing in the background? What music do you all like to listen to when you are relaxing or answering interview questions?

The Black Keys are currently playing while people play NBA2K16 aggressively in the background. If we’re trying to relax, Death Cab For Cutie, and Turnover are frequented bands.

How does 2017 so far compare to last year? Did you all approach this year differently than you did 2016?

It’s been great so far. We put out a split earlier this year with Summer Wars and are about to release our EP “Different Places” in September. We spent all of 2016 playing shows and promoting “Caught Up In Everything” so it’s been a nice change of pace to slow down and get a chance to write and create something new.

Growing up, did you always want to be musicians?

Yeah, we all started playing instruments at a pretty young age. Cameron and Mark began playing together when they were thirteen. Chris and Adam also started around the same time, Chris oddly enough grew up in the same small town as Cameron and Mark but we didn’t meet each other until later. We all looked up to bands like Blink 182, Green Day and New Found Glory when we were younger, so apart from skateboarding and surfing, playing music was always a super fun way to pass time when we were teenagers.

Can you recall the moment you realized that you could really make music together and be a band? Why do you think your name truly represents this group and the music that you create?

Really it was the first moment we all played together. Cameron Chris and Mark had been in bands together all throughout high school and moved to Chicago specifically to start a band. When we met Adam it was just the final piece to the puzzle.

When you think of a high wire act you think of an intense, dramatic performance that can captivate your attention. Our’s is a little more energetic and less suspenseful but hopefully we can invoke the same kind of excitement.

I always like to ask artists how their hometown has been an influence on the kind of music they make and really what kind of a band they are today. So how do you think your hometown of Chicago has affected you?

Chicago is full of so many amazing local and nationally touring bands, we’re really lucky that there is such a strong music scene and community here. There is never a shortage of shows to go to here so it’s easy to find inspiration from your peers and bigger acts alike. Our genre inpatricular has a very strong presence in the city and everyone is very close. The positive environment really helps everyone to elevate each other.

You recently released your EP, “Different Places.” What was the inspiration for this collection of songs? What was it like putting this EP together?

The main goal for this EP was to create something that we would love listening to. We wanted it to have the same feel as the early 2000’s  albums and artist we grew up with. The material for this EP came together rather quickly. We had a lot of riffs and lyrics in the works  since our last album so we had a lot of ideas to go off of. It was our second time recording with Seth Henderson and the whole process just felt much more comfortable than previous sessions.

How do you think this group has grown since you formed in 2012? What has remained the same? How exactly is “Different Places” a step in a new direction for High Wire?

Musically we’ve all grown exponentially. We’ve been playing together for years now and have had the time to really sync and play tighter as a band. Early on, Cameron and Mark had virtually no experience singing and playing guitar simultaneously when they took on vocals, so there was a brief period where they had a bit of a learning curve. “Different Places” is the product of years playing together and growing as musician. It takes the best of what we loved about the albums we grew up on while offering a modern representation of the Chicago music scene today.

Along with releasing this EP, you are also about to head out on a Midwest tour. What venues are you excited to play at? Are some of them places you have never performed at before?

We are hitting the road with our friends in Gold Route and we are super excited for every night. They’re from Michigan and we have a few dates there, so it will be nice to get to see their music scene and play a few home shows with them. Nearly every show on this run will be in a place that we’ve never played before so it will be cool performing in new places and in front of new faces.

Where do you think you are happiest- on stage performing, in the studio recording new music or elsewhere? Where do you think you all learn the most about becoming better musicians?

There are great aspects of both. Playing live and seeing crowds react to your music  is unbelievably rewarding. We all love playing music together and it is a ton of fun essentially being on a road trip with your friends, but there can be hardships with being away from home. We are fortunate to live close to ABG so recording is a much more comfortable environment.  Creating something new replaces the excitement from live shows.

Who are some of your favorite artists? Is there anyone that you would still love to work with in the future?  What would be a dream collaboration for this band?

We always feel like we are missing someone important with this question. Blink 182, Green Day, New Found Glory, The Starting Line, The Dangerous Summer all come to mind first. It would be amazing being able to work with any of these bands that have inspired us through the years. We were beyond stoked to be able to collaborate with our friend Zech Pluister (Sleep On It) on the title track “Different Places”.  He visited the studio during our last session and this time around it made sense to collaborate together on a track.

What do you hope is the message of your music? What do you hope people continue to take away from your songs?

For this release  in particular we hope the message is one of self growth and a change for the positive. “Different Places” is a reflection on who you were, the changes along the way, and where you want to be. We hope our fans connect with the music and are able to see that you are not stuck in your current situation in life. Who you are now does not have to be who you will be in the future.

What advice would you give to a band just getting started? Or even to someone young that is thinking of becoming a musician one day?

It sounds cliche but we would say to just have fun. Play and learn music that you enjoy listening to.