EP Review + Interview: High Wire’s “Different Places”

 

Pop punk records have a strong tendency to be more direct and less flowery and metaphorical than their emo or alt-rock counterparts. Pop punk just seems to be the perfect genre in which to tell a real-life story, albeit with embellishments and some dramatization thrown in. High Wire stick with this trend on their newest EP “Different Places.” All of the Chicago band’s music is based on real-life events, giving it a grounded, gritty sense of truth. 

“The whole EP is a reflection on self growth that varies from a changing relationship to how you view yourself. The places we start compared to the places we end up or want to be,” High Wire explain. “Different Places” is deeply personal, yet resists the urge to fall so far into a personal experience that it isolates the listener. Because of its story-like format, the EP is easy to follow along with and get caught up in, the same way a good novel is. 

As in any story, the words are important. Unlike most groups, High Wire write lyrics collaboratively. Vocalists Mark Nussle and Cameron Jones do the majority of the writing, but all four members work together to finalize the songs and make sure everyone is satisfied with the end product. Each song tackles a topic that is of personal importance to everyone in the band. This collaboration helps to give “Different Places” its wonderful universality, making sure that the record isn’t too grounded in any individual experience.

Moving on and letting go is a strong theme on “Different Places,” approached in a different way on each track. “Count On Me” is a fiercely catchy, sing-along anthem, euphoric in its resolution that it’s okay to move on. “Empty Room” is a more melancholy take on inevitably losing something while gaining something else. “Different Places” and “Nothing Left To Lose” are pop-punk bangers, propelled by relentless guitars that lend an upbeat energy to the gently melancholy lyrics. “Something In The Way” takes a turn towards energetic, stadium-size pop-rock, and the EP finishes off with “That Was Then, This Is Now.” The last track is a matter-of-fact statement of purpose, that just happens to be layered over driving guitars. It’s a solid conclusion to the somewhat back-and-forth reminiscing of the album, a clear, written-out set of beliefs and rules for the future. This clarity and confidence makes the struggle throughout the EP feel validated, ending “Different Places” on a strong and uplifting note. 

It also happens to be High Wire’s favorite track. The band says “the opening line lays out the theme of the whole song, which is about acknowledging the need to improve oneself, without slipping back into the same pitfalls that led you to destructive behavior in the first place. It’s the most powerful song and really embodies the whole feel of the EP.”

“Different Places” is very clear-cut pop-punk that comes off as more real and less fabricated than most records in the genre. High Wire list Blink-182, New Found Glory, and All-American Rejects, a whole roster of pop-punk greats, among their influences, but they are determined not to sound exactly like any of them. “We wanted it to feel like an alternative record coming out of the late 90s early 2000s. The main goal with this EP was to write music that we would want to listen to that sounds like High Wire,” the band explain. And while if you were going to say which well-known band High Wire sound like, the first name that popped into your head would probably be one of the three listed above, that’s not all there is to the band, or to this EP. “Different Places” is thoughtful and inspiring, but also fun and catchy, hurtling through an array of earnest songs with wild abandon and newfound hope. 

In the end, High Wire’s wish is simple: “We just hope that people connect with the music and enjoy it as much as we have creating it.” And the best way to connect with the music, according to the band, is “blaring it in the car with your friends.” A must for fully enjoying any record. And “Different Places” has plenty of enjoyment to deliver. 

Favorites: “Count On Me,” “That Was Then, This Is Now,” “Nothing Left To Lose”

Similar to: Sleep On It, Knockout Kid, Homesafe

Listen to “Different Places” here.