By: David Rachac
Having some time this spring to finally get caught up on some local CDs, I was pleasantly surprised by Moonlight Girls, the 2005 release by High on Stress, particularly by how deftly principal songwriter Nick Leet melds power pop and country rock without pandering to the clichés of either. And as good as I thought the CD was, seeing them live at the 400 Bar has given me an even greater appreciation for their unique sound.
Leet and guitarist Ben Baker look unassuming onstage, but you can’t help but be impressed with how they fill the room with the big guitar sound that used to be a staple of the Minneapolis scene and is now only starting to make itself heard again. Although it was the debut of new bassist Jim Soule, he and drummer Mark Devaraj locked into a groove quickly and the whole band sounded amazingly tight. With Baker taking most of the solo leads (and playing keys periodically), High on Stress plowed through 13 songs in about an hour, pausing only for between-song tuning and short, friendly banter with the receptive crowd.
To start the show, High on Stress sandwiched two new pop-oriented songs around “You Have Conversations With Jesus,” the outstanding lead-off track from their CD. They followed with two of their more country-oriented songs, “Gold Star” and “Sleeping In The Backs Of Cars,” although the “country” part kind of evaporated in the face of the ringing guitars. After finishing “Cop Light Parade” (a song that Leet said he finished that day during his break at work), they followed with “Geldof vs. _______” (where the blank is filled in differently for every show – for tonight, it was Kyle Lohse, but only God and Baker know why), which featured Baker on lead vocals and Leet taking the guitar lead.
Following “My Former Life On The Cutting Room Floor” (a song that Johnny Rzeznik would have been proud to call his own), they played “Cash Machine,” and no amount of reverb and distortion could chase the pure honky-tonk out of it. The band talked about a festival show they are doing that is being headlined by Jackson Browne, and then got a good reaction from the crowd when they played “Eyeliner Blues” and Leet sang about a girl with a “Jackson Browne poster on her bedroom wall.” A mid-chorus shout-out to local faves The Ashtray Hearts also got a few cheers. After finishing their set with another new song called “Willow Pond,” they came back and played “Traffic Report” as an encore, possibly the only other High on Stress song Soule learned in his short time with the band.
High on Stress is playing the Steel Bridge Songfest in Sturgeon Bay, WI, the weekend of June 10, and plays locally at Club Underground on June 23.
Set list:
Abbey Rose
You Have Conversations With Jesus
Table 8 in Queens
Gold Star
Minot
Sleeping In The Backs of Cars
Cop Light Parade
Geldof vs. Kyle Lohse
My Former Life On The Cutting Room Floor
Cash Machine
Eyeliner Blues
Willow Pond
Traffic Report
Photo by David Rachac.
Location Info:
400 Bar
Artist Info: High on Stress
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