Cape Cod, MA · blues rock · alt-rock

Highly Suspect

1 upcoming festival →

Bluesy, scuffed-up rock delivered with a chip on the shoulder and a genuine gift for a chorus — grit and hooks at festival scale.

Highly Suspect started in 2009 as a cover band, playing Sublime, Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd songs in bars around Cape Cod, Massachusetts, with Johnny Stevens on vocals and guitar alongside twin brothers Rich and Ryan Meyer on bass and drums. All three had gone to Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School together. They later moved to Brooklyn, New York, where they began writing original material and recorded early EPs with producer Joel Hamilton.

Between 2009 and 2013 the band released a string of EPs, First Offense, Gang Lion, The Worst Humans and Black Ocean, along with a self-titled compilation, sharpening songs that would reappear on their debut album. Black Ocean's version of "Lydia" was co-produced by Hamilton and Gojira's Joe Duplantier.

Their sound combines blues-rock riffing with grunge and modern alternative rock production, with Stevens's rasp and openly confessional lyrics at the centre. Highly Suspect signed to 300 Entertainment and released their debut album, Mister Asylum, in 2015; its single "Lydia" reached number 4 on the Mainstream Rock chart and brought the band Grammy nominations for Best Rock Album and Best Rock Song.

The follow-up, The Boy Who Died Wolf (2016), produced two Mainstream Rock hits, "My Name Is Human", which reached number one, and "Little One", which peaked at number two. The lineup expanded to include guitarists Matt Kofos and Mark Schwartz, and three further albums have followed: MCID (2019), The Midnight Demon Club (2022) and As Above, So Below (2024), with later records adding more electronic and hip-hop-influenced textures to the guitar core.

Read more

blues rockalt-rock