High Dials videos
High Dials
The High Dials are an indie rock band from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The band started out playing a brand of pop music strongly influenced by 1960s British mod styles,[1] but their sound has evolved to incorporate power pop, psychedelic music, shoegaze and folk rock. --------------------------------------------- Over 7 years and 4 albums, Montreal band the High Dials have turned out a varied repertoire of anthemic pop, upbeat psych and melancholic folk-rock balladry. They’ve won high marks for their live performances from Brooklyn Vegan, Spin, Magnet and the New York Post, who declared them “a must-see band”. The High Dials debuted on NYC-based Rainbow Quartz Records in 2003 with “A New Devotion”, a mishmash of retro-freakbeat sounds and shimmering pop with a hidden lyrical storyline. The album made a fan of Little Steven Van Zandt of Bruce Springsteen fame who played them heavily on his syndicated radio show and slotted them in with the Strokes, the Stooges, New York Dolls and other music legends at his Underground Garage Festival in 2004. “War of the Wakening Phantoms” was their follow-up album. Produced by Joseph Donovan (the Dears, Sam Roberts) and mixed in LA by Dave Bianco (Tom Petty, Frank Black, Teenage Fanclub), it won widespread rave reviews from such influential publications as NME, Spin and the Washington Post. The album went to number one on Canadian college radio charts and the High Dials supported the release as tour partners for both Brian Jonestown Massacre and Neko Case, criss-crossing North America and the UK over many months. In 2007, the band released “The Holy Ground EP”, which featured a collaboration with Rod Argent, legendary songwriter of High Dials’ heroes The Zombies! That same year, they enjoyed sudden mainstream exposure when their song “The Holy Ground” featured in a prominent ad campaign for Rogers mobile in Canada. In 2008, the High Dials’ released their third LP “Moon Country” (Fontana North/Universal, 2008). Begun in a remote stone cottage in Ireland, the eclectic, sprawling double album showcased everything from droning dance grooves and spaced-out rock to wistful cosmic folk. They returned to the road in support of the record, a cycle that peaked with a memorable opening slot for Echo & the Bunnymen at SXSW 2009. In 2010, they reunited with Rainbow Quartz, and set about building a home studio in an abandoned (reputedly haunted) Montreal building that once belonged to the Canadian navy. The recordings were mixed by Michael Musmanno (Lilys, Cadence Weapon) in New York City. The resulting album, “Anthems for Doomed Youth” is out November 2, 2010. Currently on the High Dialian roster: Trevor Anderson (vocals and guitar), Robbie MacArthur (lead guitar), George Donoso III (drums), Charles Prénoveau-Giguère (bass), and Eric Dougherty (keys).
While the High Dials are often classified as a latter-day neo-psychedelic or mod band, that's way too neat and simple, and ultimately inadequate (if not flat wrong by the end of the 2000s). There's certainly an air of throwback about the Montreal foursome, who bask in shimmering string arrangements cut with a Village Green Preservation Society lilt; however, their sparse and melancholy yet buoyant power pop has more in common with fellow Canadian indie rockers like Thrush Hermit and Treble Charger.
Featuring Trevor Anderson on vocals and guitar, Robbie MacArthur on guitar, Eric Dougherty on keyboards, and Max Herbert on drums, the band debuted on the Rainbow Quartz label in 2003 with A New Devotion. The record revealed a band still fairly steeped in the British '60s (but with disarmingly modern twists) at that time, and caught the eye of the E Street Band's Little Steven, who grabbed them for performances with the Stooges and the Strokes. A diverse EP, running from timeless instrumentals to sleek pop, appeared the following year, signaling an act not immune to experimentation. the High Dials continued to evolve, releasing a nicely (if not spectacularly) reviewed full-length every year or so, reaching a crescendo on 2008's sleek Moon Country, which found the band dabbling in everything from country-rock to psych-folk to post-disco. Released in 2010, Anthems For Doomed Youth signaled a return to the melodic, '60s-inspired pop of the High Dials' debut.