Reader, I am convinced that the feeling of heaven is reunion. For what do we anticipate, day one on the streets of glory, but a blow-out reunion show with long-lost friends and family—those lost parts of ourselves—that missing strength.
Discontent to wait on heaven, defunct proto-punkers The Highlands have reunited for a 20th anniversary show or two (at 40-something years old, they’re only half-way dead).
They have a bit**in’ show planned for us at the Arlene Francis Center on Friday, May 22, with support from OKOK (new garage rock), Passive Relentless (post-punk synth), Moon Sick (psychedelic space-punk) and Cherry Spit (rockstar noise-rockers out from Denver).
That’s a lot of talent. But with dues paid along with venue fees, Highlands deserve to top that vertiginous wall of sound. Theirs is primitive, chaotic proto-punk with two drum kits, cello and a violin revolving a pastiche of DC punk, K-Records, American folk and free jazz. So chinstrap that wig.
But all in all? The emotional core of the thing will be reunited friends getting one with sound, loving on each other. With the young punks, expect friends and fans from 2010’s contemporaries the Polar Bears, Iditarod, Santiago, New Trust, Velvet Teen, Chores, Moggs, The Crux! and all of Astronomy Club Ghost Story Records.
Cincinnatus Hibbard: Dean, you’re the primary song writer. This material is from the late aughts. Does that date it?
Dean Tisthammer: Most of our old music was written during the Bush era. But that means it was influenced by themes of corporate exploitation of nature and humanity, imperialism, war, the impact of technology on the human mind. Those themes feel even more relevant today. There is some element of nostalgia in reuniting, but the music and the themes of Highlands really started resonating with me again. It feels vital.
I think of your song, ‘General Displeasure of the Populous.’ That resonantes. In terms of sound—do you think the Highlands sound is still relevant 20 years on?
Anthony Jiminez: To this day, there is nothing else like The Highlands, especially locally. The variety of instruments, the quirkiness, the lot. We staked our spot.
Y’all are punk rock jazzers, so it’s natural for y’all to rework your old material. You have a lot—three albums of it. How have you been reworking your old songs?
Adam Erwin Martinetti: Yes. We are much better able to execute on the ideas and vision that we had in our 20s.
Anthony Jiminez: And there’s more maturity to our playing too—refinement. We’re not coming from that place of adrenaline and haphazard chaos because we’re not in our early 20s anymore… We’re grown-ass men (laughs).
Adam Erwin Martinetti: For me, I have always associated our old music with trauma—it’s been interesting because I’m coming to the same music more from a place of healing.
Dean Tisthammer: You can put those raw and visceral feelings you had into a context…
Tell me about reuniting with your bandmates.
Adam Erwin Martinetti: It’s been a lot of fun, but still it’s strange. I’m meeting people that I used to know very well but have changed so much. Meeting them on their own terms and learning more about the people they are now. It’s a lot different, but the same jokes still work (laughs).
Learn more: The Highlands top the bill at 7pm, Friday, May 22, at Arlene Francis Center, 99 6th St., Santa Rosa. $15 at the door. Old 4-track recordings from Dean Tisthammer’s parents’ garage can be sampled at acgs.bandcamp.com.
