High Vis have released their gripping, immediate new single “0151” today. Titled after the landline dialing code for Liverpool / Merseyside, frontman Graham Sayle explains – “With the backdrop of a decade of austerity and neglect, ‘0151’ is a song about the power of collective identity. Written after my uncle passed away during the pandemic, the song was inspired by tales of life as a Ship Builder and the subsequent decline of the industry in the North of England; a song about the landscape and communities from my formative years and our current socio-economic situation.”

Bassist Rob Moss adds, “Liverpool is a city familiar with the receipt of bad news. Old grief within the NorthWest breeds in its most mild form an inherited skepticism of authority. A scalable requirement to be outwardly disruptive and inwardly sensitive. A low key connectivity built through regional endurance. For me the song is about struggle and resilience against policies of social and economic abandonment.”

In recent years, High Vis have exploded onto the DIY scene, earning a devoted following for their intense live shows and immediate lyrics that tackle themes from class politics to the challenges of everyday life. While their passion of hardcore stokes their fire, its post-punk’s textures and moods that line their 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. 

High Vis’s signature sound of aggressive, artul punk is as tough as any hardcore record, yet sonically opens beyond the parameters of any genre or scene. As the title of their highly anticipated new album suggests, Blending is about bringing all these new strands and elements into what the band are about at their core to forge something entirely new. Alongside longstanding favorites such as Fugazi and Echo and The Bunnymen; Ride and even Flock Of Seagulls were shared reference points as the band worked on the album together.

Blending has a more specific meaning that links to Sayle’s lyrics too, he explains, “The message of the album is you’re not who you’re told you are.You’re not your class background. Whatever it is, you’re not that. Don’t resign yourself to thinking you can’t be this and you can’t be that.”

While Blending shows High Vis’s sound blossoming even further from their exemplary 2019 debut No Sense No Feeling, the album represents another leap forward lyrically, too. Talking frankly about poverty and class politics, Sayle’s lyrics have always addressed the downtrodden and discarded communities across Britain slipping below the waterline. This time around, Sayle’s lost none of that social consciousness, but he’s looked at himself and his own emotional landscape, and in the process created something that feels more universal, that reaches a hand-out to people and ultimately gives a message of hope.

Photo Courtesy: James Edson