In the last couple of years or so, you would be hard-pressed to find a newer decidedly non-hardcore band with as many fans from the hardcore scene as High Vis. The UK outfit's two studio albums—No Sense No Feeling (2019) and Blending (2022)—and assorted singles and EPs, struck a chord with audiences in our culture via their driving, impassioned, and often anthemic songs, always delivered with grit and power.
It's no surprise High Vis have deep roots in the hardcore scene, including members who have been in such bands as Dirty Money, Crowd Control, and Tremors.
High Vis will be releasing their third album, Guided Tour, in October, and will out on tour throughout the US, UK, and Europe throughout the fall and into 2025.
With two new songs (both included below) from Guided Tour out now, I spoke with High Vis singer Graham Sayle about his interesting musical upbringing, his UKHC roots, and how his life has changed since his band's breakthrough.
Things in your world must be crazy right now, balancing all of the great opportunities that have come High Vis' way with your respective careers and family lives back at home.
It’s been a mad few years! I’ve finally taken the plunge and quit my job so hopefully that will make the juggling act more manageable. Last year, I was leaving work on a Friday and jumping in the van to go on tour for three weeks. I wouldn’t even get home before I had to go straight back into work!
I’m looking forward to not having my civilian job hanging over my head so I can focus on doing the band in the way I want and not compromise.
Something interesting about High Vis I’ve found in the last few years is that many fans didn’t come to discover you through the band's connection to the hardcore scene. Have you noticed that from your perspective out on tour?
It always amazes me that there are so many people from "outside the circle" coming to the shows and I think it’s sick.
Obviously, we’re all hardcore kids and I’m so thankful of how much people from our scene have embraced us doing our thing. But seeing how it’s connected to people outside of that is so cool, fuck knows where they heard about us but I’m into it!
Let's go back a bit. Before hardcore, were you passionate about music? Do you remember the first hardcore bands/records you discovered as a kid? Did you have any musical mentors in your life that introduced you to the music/culture?
My parents are both bikers so I grew up in a house where they played a lot of music. I got into shit like Guns N' Roses when I was like 8 or something and then started to rebel against guitar music around 10/11, because everyone around me where I grew up was into techno, happy hardcore, and jungle.
I was really lucky that I got into hardcore around 14/15 when I met all the Liverpool olders who steered me in the right direction. They gave me loads of music and helped me not differenciate between sub-genres of hardcore and punk. Liverpool was always known for mixed bill shows so that really helped me keep an open mind.
What are some of the local UK hardcore bands that had a huge impact on you when you were coming into it?
Dead and Gone Records was starting up around that time so the bands The Last Chance, The Down and Outs, SSS, Walk the Plank, and I used to buzz off going to London to see bands like Knuckledust, Ninebar, 50 Caliber.
I loved how all these bands that were sonically totally different and made people act in totally different ways, yet all belonged to the same culture. I also loved being a little prick when I was younger, so seeing bands like Knuckledust when it felt legitimately dangerous and I could dive on peoples heads was perfect.
I’ve seen High Vis play packed headline shows, and bigger festivals here in the States. It was one of those rare things in hardcore where both my fellow oldheads, and also younger folks all were psyched with the band and the gigs. Before you came over here, what were your expectations for the shows/turnouts?
Mate, the tours in the States have been so fucking cool. I never In my life thought we’d have some of the people I grew up loving their bands coming to our shows and telling us that they’re into what we do. I loved playing Philly at the Church. It’s such an iconic venue and to have so many people down with our thing felt amazing.
The big festivals are such a weird experience and I don’t think I’ll ever get used to them but I love playing them because it’s such an alien thing. Sound and Fury is different because it’s just hardcore on a massive scale, and that was boss. There’s too many individual shows to name and if I’m honest, we didn’t have a bad show on any of the tours we’ve done over there which is fucking unbelievable.
Though you just dropped "Mind's a Lie," the first single off Guided Tour was “Mob DLA,” a track more in line with High Vis' previous records. From a stylistic standpoint, what we can expect from the rest of the LP in terms of the stylistic vibes?
"Mob DLA" is one of the harder songs off the LP and it felt right to put it out first with everything that’s going on around the world. The album has so many different facets, as it’s been a work in process from around the time ‘Blending’ was written.
We are always writing stuff so the album reflects the different moments in which the songs were written.
I’m still waiting for the big anthemic acoustic High Vis ballad! What are the chance of that?
You might be waiting a while, I reckon "Untethered" off the LP is the closest you’ll get to a ballad from us. It’s definitely the most emotional one for me.
Post-punk. Post-hardcore. When someone you meet finds out you're in a band, how do you describe High Vis?
I do everything I can to minimise the conversation and if I’m really forced to, I tell them it’s a punk band that doesn’t look like one.
Gun to head, what's your all-time favorite UK hardcore record
Knuckledust - Time Won’t Heal This. It's incredible from start to finish. It captures everything that I love about hardcore in the UK:
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Guided Tour will be out on October 18th via Dais Records (pre-order).
High Vis US and UK + Europe tour dates below:
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