As I made my way to The Paradise on the evening of August 1st to catch the formidable double bill of Wavves along with local psych punk outfit, The New Highway Hymnal I was struck with the notion that it must be a kind of a big deal for a band that grew up in this area to play this venue for the first time and based on the amount of people that got in the venue prior to their set perhaps I was on to something. Over the past couple of years The New Highway Hymnal have been steadily gaining some well deserved attention for their energetic and high volume Live performances as well as their Vanya Records issued 2012 debut LP, Whispers. The band had just returned home from a short U.S. tour when they took to the stage and treated the near capacity Paradise crowd to an impressive and raucous set witch consisted of several tracks from there aforementioned Whispers as well as new song, all while the Lysergic Factory provided a backdrop of psychedelic imagery. On tracks like Through Stained Glass and Factory Song the band demonstrated a skill for delivering a hypnotic and captivating live performance. The trio of Hadden Stemp, Ameila Gormley, and Travis Hagan played with healthy amounts of precision and chemistry, which might explain the dudes in the mens room asking me "who The fuck was that opening band" to my simple response, that was The New Highway Hymnal.
Wavves walked on stage with little fan fare, strapped their instruments on went at it full bore as they tore through a meticulously executed set with Nathan Williams only pausing briefly to re-tune his guitar and drink a beer. William's focused largely on songs from last spring's, Afraid of Heights LP as well as selections from 2011's King Of The Beach and even pulled out cover of Sonic Youth's 100%, but it was on tracks like Sail To The Sun and Green Eyes where William's displayed his strength as a performer a midst massive hooks and a dense wall of guitar fuzz.
The New Highway Hymnal will play The Ash Gray Proclamation Presented and totally free Summer Fades show with Eldridge Rodriguez and Slowdim at The New World Tavern in Plymouth on September 1st.
