During our 17 years as a pop culture magazine, publicists and promoters have told us to check out this new band that’s going to be the next big thing.
Rarely, is this ever true.
While, the intentions may be good (or fueled by business), more often than not this next big thing, this next awesome act is wildly disappointing and within a year will be lost to the ether of “what could have been” in the music industry.
Then sometimes you’re handed music from a band that absolutely halts you in your tracks. Your cynicism is melted by riffs and chords. You’re consumed by the energy of the music, and as a journalist you have to tell their story and share their music with your audience.
Last year, Ed Maier of ElmThree Productions, slipped me the link to the debut album from the Scottish band, High Fade. The band’s fusion of funk, metal, disco and rock has created a cross-genre juggernaut. At times they sound like Van Halen if they had become a funk band with their face-melting velocity and virtuosity. At other times, the band feels like they could’ve rubbed shoulders with the hard and heavy infectious grooves and muscular riffs of Corrosion of Conformity or Kyuss.
This ever-evolving hybrid sound that High Fade wields like Thor’s hammer has made them a must-listen, and must-watch band on the rise catching the ears of people like actor-musician Jack Black along the way. Recently, we caught up with the band’s lead singer and guitarist Harry Valentino as they cut their way across America promoting their new album Twice as Nice. In this interview we talk about the aforementioned new record, touring the U.S., the love of the game, and Tenacious D.
High Fade performs on Sunday May 31 at The Wonder Bar in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Elmthree Productions is bringing you guys in and they mentioned to me that you have a great story about Tenacious D.
We were invited to see Tenacious D through our friend Mike, who is their pyro guy. We met him at a show in LA, and we were just chatting. Then he was like, “Do you guys want to come hang out at a show,” and I was like, “Oh, where are you gonna be?” Then he was like, “Oh, we’re in Glasgow,” and that was three days after we got back from our US tour.
I didn’t think anything of it, because it was a month to six weeks later, and then out of nowhere he’s like, “Dude, we put you on the guest list for tonight. Jack Black digs your stuff, man.” Then we got a notification being like, “Jack Black started following you” on Instagram. Me and the guys were obviously like, “What is going on?” So, we go to the gig. I bring my dad. Ollie’s there as well with his partner. I always take my dad to gigs if we’re back home. It’s one of those things. I’m returning the favor as he used to take me to loads of gigs.
We were there at the show, and they were playing; they were smashing it. Then they did a bit thanking people. And they go “We’d just like to thank our friends.” Now, this is a stadium with like, 17,500 people in it. It was full, with a crazy Glasgow atmosphere. And then out of nowhere, they say “We’d like to thank our friends Biffy Clyro, Karen Gillan, and High Fade for being here tonight.”
And dude, honestly, me and Ollie turn to each other. You know that scene in Happy Gilmore, when he wins and he grabs his caddy and screams “YEAH!” That was me and Ollie. My dad was like, “Did I just hear that right? Did Jack Black just say thanks to you guys for being here tonight?”
Me and Ollie are jumping up and down, and then this guy turns around and says “Oh yeah, man, I love Biffy Clyro, too.” So then we go backstage, we get to hang out, and it was really nice to hang out with Mike. We met Kyle, Jack, and the rest of the band. They couldn’t have been nicer, man.
Did you ever watch the Tenacious D the series?
I’ve seen bits of that, but I remember my main Tenacious D moment was when my mom was away with my sisters. I think I was 10 and my dad was like, “We’re gonna watch this film.” And he put on Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny. That was my introduction to Tenacious D. And then, obviously, I’m a die-hard Jack Black fan in terms of School of Rock. I think that film is integral to any musician’s start point.
Let’s talk about your new album Twice as a Nice. When I listened to your first album, Life’s Too Fast, I compared you guys to a jam band version of Van Halen. Now, with this one, there’s such a sonic difference. Can you talk about the differences between those two albums, which are only two years apart?
We wanted to lean into what we wanted to make. I love Life’s Too Fast as a record, but I feel it’s not an accurate representation of what we do live. Whereas I feel like this record is much more of a representation of what you’re gonna get at the gig. All the touring, playing with other bands, and meeting all these people has really helped our songwriting. I feel like this stuff’s a lot stronger. Each song feels more cohesive, and then the album, in turn, feels more cohesive — even though there are certain parts that are really kind of out there for us [like] Track 6 “Sick of Myself” which is a total curveball.
When we were choosing tracks for the album we cut 21 tracks. There are still 11 tracks that’ll eventually come out, and we might do something with them. They might be on the next album. But, we wanted to choose the 10 songs that we felt represent what we do and where it’s going. There’s a bunch of stuff on there that I think is this a blend all of our influence in terms of funk, rock, metal, and disco. There’s also something in there for everyone. It doesn’t feel like every track is trying to be 10 different genres. Each track has its own base on it. And that was the choice that we made. If we’re gonna do a heavy song the whole thing’s gonna be heavy. If we’re gonna do a disco song, like “Room 634,” then we’re gonna commit, and it’s gonna be full-on that kind of vibe.
Then there’s some stuff in there that just comes out of nowhere. I love that a we’re not trying to rein anything in. If anything we’re actually going nuts on the stuff. I feel there’s more extremes on this album. We’re committed to that. In terms of production, I feel like we’ve taken a big leap forward on this album. We cut everything live together in a room. We may over-dubbed an extra guitar to make sure it sounds good. I took my time doing vocals, and I had to time to do that. Nothing was rushed or overly-produced. I feel it’s still pretty raw, but it sounds good.
Last year I asked a number of bands if they preferred recording music in the studio and then retooling it for the live experience or working songs out on the road, and then trying to capture the live experience in the studio. It seems you guys subscribe to capturing the live experience on the album.
It’s really hard capture, and I think that is not actually about the studio. The actual takes we do make it more accurate to us. You could throw one microphone on what we’re doing, and you could probably get it to sound like High Fade. We want the takes to feel like I was playing it live and not like “I’m in a studio, It has to be absolutely 110% perfect.” This is how we want to present it to you as the listener, but also how we want to listen to it.
It’s funny this is the first time I’ve listened back to stuff and that I’ve been happy with the mixes. And I’m not overthinking it — it’s done. It’s been the first time that someone’s been like, “Oh, can I have a listen? Early?” And I’ve been like, “Yeah, sure.” And I’m not like, “Oh, well, there’s this mix, or that mix.” I haven’t been making excuses about it. I think this is a very unapologetic record — this is what we do. You either love it or you hate it. And I don’t care which one that is. I know that we love it, and that we’ve given it everything we can on this album.
I don’t want to say, “Oh, there’s something for everybody,” but I feel like if you listen to it with the intention that this is a new album, and with an open mind. [Do that] rather than thinking, “Oh, they’re a busking band on the street,” which sometimes I feel happens. People see us as this busking band. No, we’re a live touring band. We’re playing hundreds of shows a year. We’re doing this thing, properly, and it wasn’t just some stroke of luck, because a few videos went viral. We also have the music to back it up. We’ve been out on the road so much, and we’ve been learning from everyone we work with. I think that, in turn, has made us better as a unit and as a band that’s been through so much trial and error from trying out so much stuff.
Following up on your first album is always hard, but some bands use that follow-up to learn from releasing the first one. For us, we’d never released an album before our last record, so we didn’t know what we were doing. We were just like, “Oh, we’re gonna try everything and see what happens this time around.”
You’ve also made the decision to remain independent, why?
We’re making what we want to make. We’ve chosen to stay independent. We’ve released the album on our own label. We’ve had full creative control over the album, so what you’re getting is what we want to give you. There’s not some big label guy going, “Oh, this song should be on the album, and this should be that.” Everything that we’re giving you is from us. There’s no middleman. No one is pressuring us to do this or that. This is our own choice. I hope that people trust that the creative choices we’ve made in how it’s being produced, and also the song selection. I know that some people might not be into some of the heavier stuff. I know that there’s loads of people recently who are like, “I really think this heavier stuff is actually your best stuff yet.”
We’re not trying to please everybody, but we’re also making stuff that we want to make. I think that, as a band, it’s so important that you actually have to like it first before you think anyone else is going to like it. Because if I didn’t like it, I’m not gonna lie to you, I wouldn’t be on this phone call with you right now, even talking about it.
High Fade tours like mad dogs. I saw your tour poster and it looks like more names than are on the 2026 Bonaroo poster. Is the live event for you guys where it’s at? Is it more sacred of an experience to you than the creation of an album?
The live show is where it’s at. But, that’s only because we’re there giving you that show, and we’re giving you everything we’ve got live as well.It would kill me if people only loved the records, but were like, ‘I’m not gonna see that live.’ That would suck. I would much rather that people come see us live and then listen to your record. A lot of people I’ve met have come to the show blind. They haven’t listened to anything that we’ve done, purely because they want to see us live first, and then they will listen to all our stuff. They just want to come to the live show and see what we’re actually like in real life. Then they will go and listen to the captured thing of what we do. I’ve done that. And I appreciate that. I just wanna go and see the, “magic” of whatever this artist is doing and what makes it special. If you’re a band, that’s your make or break. You can sell millions of records, but if you’re not playing live, I can imagine it’s not enjoyable for you, or for your fans. Whereas we love playing live. That’s why we’re on the road all the time.
We appreciate all the fans coming to these shows, especially with everything that’s going on in the world, and how crazy expensive stuff’s gotten. We appreciate the effort that people make to travel to shows To buy tickets in advance. You see tours left and right getting canceled because of low ticket sales. That stresses us as well. We’re still gonna come and give those people the show, though.
I’m never canceling this tour. I will play to 30 people in a room. I don’t care. I’m gonna play the same show that I would for 3,000 people in a room. You’re still gonna get the same gig. I don’t care. I think a lot of bands and musicians miss that part. If anything, [the audience] is gonna respect you more for that, and be like, “Cool, you still gave the same show to those three people.” I guarantee you the next time you come back you’ll have at least three times the amount of people that come there. And the time after that another three times the amount of people that come there. And before you know it there’s 500 people coming to the show. I don’t mind roughing it. I love a show like that, because that is easy to play to big crowds and solo shows. What’s hard is playing to no one. That’s the difficult part. And that is really what makes you, as a band better. People say, “Oh, dude, that show looked crazy, this and that.”
I still remember the days when we played to no one. I never forget that. On the tally board, I’ve still played more dead shows than I have sold-out ones. Still. And we’ve played loads. That, for me, is still a thing, and that tally will not become even for a long time. That’s where you kind of cut your teeth is doing those shows. Showing up to a sold-out show where everyone’s happy to see you and the room’s pleasant makes it easy to play, because there’s just a vibe in the room. Whereas when you’re working for it with 30 people there, you’ve got to change your game plan. You’ve got to speak to them in a different way, because the audience is responding in a different way, and they’re looking around being like, where the hell is everybody?
You have a long memory. You remember those days of playing to no one. So tell me how it feels returning to a place and now it’s gone from 30 people to hundreds of people.
That feeling is absolutely nuts. We played a show the other week in Groningen in the Netherlands. We showed up there three and a half years ago; there was 27 people in the crowd. We’ve played there two times since, and each time there have been over 300 people there. But every time we go back, shows packed. It’s great. But, we still went out and played to those 27 people as if the room were full. The funny part that made it worth it was that none of the people at that show were fans of the band. They were all bookers for festivals in Europe. Every single person there. I think apart from one guy . Everyone else came and was like, “Oh, we want to book you for this festival. We want to book you for that. We can see what you’re doing, and eventually you’re gonna be playing to crowds bigger than this.”
But that’s the thing, you still have to play. We have a rule in the band — you don’t know who’s in the crowd tonight. You do not know who’s gonna show up. I didn’t know that Mike from Tenacious D was gonna come to the show. I could’ve just been a dumbass that night, and took it easy. You don’t know who’s gonna come at your gig.
The one big thing I say to so many bands is you need to play as if you could get the phone call tomorrow that you’ve got this gig. I think a lot of bands want to go viral. But I always ask anyone, “Are you ready for that, though? Do you have, like, the infrastructure built for that? If your stuff popped off tomorrow would you even be able to surf the wave? Or would you just drown in it, and then it’s gone forever?” You don’t get many big chances. I spent so much time preparing High Fade’s infrastructure. Building the core team of people so when this eventually takes off, I have the people who can help me row the boat.
Since we’ve chosen to stay independent, the boat gets bigger, but so do the waves — like a change in lineup, releasing a new album, or gigs getting canceled. [For example] we were meant to do Jam Cruise, and the visas didn’t come in time. That was a huge kick in the teeth for us as a band. We were devastated. There’s so many times we just had to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off and be like it’s rock ‘n’ roll. It sucks sometimes, but it’s also the greatest thing in the world that’s what we’re here doing.
You’ve dedicated years of your life to this band. From busking in the street to ferociously touring the world. So, what is it about that this band that you love?
It’s given me such a chance to meet, hang out with, and become friends with people I would never have met otherwise. Even one or two hangouts have helped shape my perspective on music, the world, songwriting, playing guitar, singing. I’ve met so many people through touring that have impacted my life in ways that they will never even know, but I’ll always remember that.
Anytime I go back to a place, I need to make sure I hit up a specific person, or that I see them when we’re there. I think one of my favorite things about this band is that there are so many people involved in this thing. They’ve been so supportive from the get-go of when things start to really pick up for us. I would say the first five or six years – [and this goes for] no one cares until people care. But also, strangers on the internet changed my life, and they’ve been so supportive.
Since our stuff started getting recognized more and more we’re so appreciative of the fans coming to shows, the people who have brought us a hot meal on the road, offered us a place to stay, brought us something sentimental, invited us somewhere, or booked us. Even people like Ed from Elmthree taking a risk on this band that’s coming over, and it’s like, ‘I don’t know if they can sell any tickets, but I’ll book them anyway.’ All of these promoters — a lot of independent promoters that we’ve worked with in the States as well, or venues — have been amazing towards us. Even when the place has been dead, they’ve still treated us with respect, and treated us the same when we came back and sold out the next time.
And that is the stuff that you don’t forget. When you go back to certain places, you can tell that they’re happy for you. I think a big thing, especially with our American and Canadian audience, is that a lot of people are happy to see us out there doing it. I think that they see that hard work that we’re putting in, and it’s nice to kind of feel that. I always appreciate when people come to the show and say, ‘I’ve traveled this far to see you play,’ or, ‘This is my third time seeing you play,’ and that’s crazy.
The other day, a guy told me, “This is my 11th show I’ve been to.” I’m like. Man, that’s insane. To me, that means a lot, but it’s also great meeting someone who’s coming for the first time, and we’re always hanging out at the merch table. We do merch before and after the show. And we talk to everybody. I get so mad when I see some bands, maybe if they’re opening up for us or whatever, and I’ll see them complaining that no one’s coming to their gigs. And I’m like, “Yeah, because you don’t go and even talk to the people that did come. So how do you expect more people to come?”
This has always been my thing: it could all be gone tomorrow so just go out there and talk to people and show them that you appreciate them coming out. I think that for us that’s the thing: we’ve worked really, really hard, but we also know how lucky we are to have so many people in different countries and cities that will come and see us play.
Actually supporting independent music, an independent band, and that’s why we’ve chosen to stay that way. But also, regardless of any of that, we would still choose to be an independent band, because it’s what we love, and we want to keep making stuff that we love, rather than kowtowing to some bullshit.
