High Vis play aggressive, gripping, artful punk that’s as hard as any hardcore record yet sonically opens beyond the parameters of any genre or scene. Breaking from the same London underground that spawned Chubby And The Gang, Higher Power and The Chisel, the band have quickly grown a devoted following for their intense live shows, immediate lyrics that tackle themes from class politics to challenges of everyday life, and an unparalleled 2019 debut album, No Sense No Feeling.

Formed in 2016 from the ashes of some of the UK’s best hardcore bands (Dirty Money, Tremors, DiE, The Smear), High Vis maintain a hardcore energy in their live shows – it’s not uncommon for cheerfully miserable, gold toothed vocalist/front person Graham Sayle to come away from a show with a bleeding forehead – but they’ve taken their aural cues from older UK bands like Gang Of Four, Crisis, Joy Division and Stone Roses. The intensity and passion of hardcore still stokes their fire, but in its post-punk inspired textures and moods lay a sonic adventurousness which suggests the members of High Vis are never going to be confined by any notion of what they should or shouldn’t be playing.

On “Talk For Hours”, High Vis fuse the bristling, frenetic energy of hardcore with the unabashed anthemia of the Madchester scene to stunning effect. Sayle reveals it to be, “a sobering reflection on endless conversations without resolution. Temporary chemical optimism and subsequent hopeless introspection. A song born out of late nights waiting your turn to shout your struggle that no one will listen to.”

“Talk For Hours” comes alongside the news that the band have joined the DAIS family and will be releasing their second full-length later this year. The band are set for a short UK run with Nothing which kicks off this weekend, UK’s Outbreak Fest in June and more. For tickets and updates, go here.

Photo Courtesy: Simon Wellington