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November 27, 2024 8 mins

As Highly Suspect prepare to play three arena shows around New Zealand, their singer Jonny Stevens called up to share his memories from their 2023 visit, a weekend that changed his life and let us know what to expect this time around. 

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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to Radio hodar Keys Off the Record podcast with
Angelina Gray.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
We're talking to Johnny Lead, singer from Hailey Suspects, coming
to New Zealand to play three shows. We've got christ
Church on the twenty seventh, wolf Brook Arena, twenty ninth November,
Wellington TSB Arena and some of the first Auckland Spark Arena.

Speaker 3 (00:22):
Good a, Johnny, how are you?

Speaker 4 (00:24):
Hello? Hey?

Speaker 3 (00:25):
How are you good?

Speaker 4 (00:26):
How are you doing? Yeah? Good?

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Coming back here again. You must love New Zealand. You
were here what about a year ago?

Speaker 4 (00:32):
Yeah? I do love New Zealand and it seems like
New Zealand was us. So this is kind of like.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
A it's working well, I know that last year what
it was Trust's Serena in Auckland and then playing a
shot at the power Station, which I love the POWERstation.
It's just great for acoustics and I like that kind
of smaller vibe. How did you find taking the big
show into a slightly more intimate setting with lots of
bodies smashed up against each other.

Speaker 4 (00:55):
That was a big show for us, you know what
I mean? Like it might have been smaller for you. You
might have a lot of bands that and play the
bigger arenas, but that was pretty large for us. We
usually are in smaller clubs around the world, so yeah,
didn't feel intimate.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
That's really interesting because here in New Zealand you're like,
you know, you're in a real band.

Speaker 4 (01:12):
Yeah, not used to that at all. That's that's weird
to me. We're like, we're a club band everywhere else.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
How are you going to be How are you going
to be doing that? In terms of bringing the stage
show to an arena? Does it change much for you guys?

Speaker 4 (01:23):
Yeah, we're working on it right now, working with our
production team and trying to figure out what it is
we can do to like rely like, I think the
music should speak for itself. And at the same time,
you know, don't want to just look like a bar
band in an arena. So I guess you'll have to
come to the show and find out.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
All Right, we're going to go into three tunes for
Highly Suspect. We'll kick off Johnny with the first track
on the album as above, So below bring new album.
This one's Summertime Voodoo Highly Suspect.

Speaker 3 (01:50):
On Hodakids There we Go.

Speaker 2 (01:59):
That was true right, Number one from Harley Suspect's latest
album as above so below, which they'll be performing actually
in just a few weeks time here in New Zealand,
aw called Summertime Vodo Johnny from Harley Suspects, Can you
tell me a little more about that Shune?

Speaker 4 (02:13):
I honestly can't, Like I can tell you how it
was recorded, but as far as like the anything, I
feel like I couldn't be more direct with the lyrics, right,
I don't think there's anything more to say than exists
in those lyrics, Like it's very literal. Everything about it

(02:34):
is extremely literal. So I don't know, like what else
I could say about the song, and maybe that's my bad.
Like I feel terrible not being able to give much
more insight to it, but I feel like I did
it with the lyrics.

Speaker 3 (02:47):
I think it makes sense.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
That's good though, because you can just say self explanatory
and then that's the end of it, so that's easy
explains it.

Speaker 4 (02:54):
Stuff that you sound like an asshole, which I always
sound like an Asshole'm aware of that, but like I
genuinely tried to make not even tried to, just had
to make these lyrics as real as I've ever you
know what, I mean, and I always read my lyrics.
These ones are like there's no metaphors. No, there's no sweet,
beautiful poetry. I wish I was better at metaphors. And

(03:14):
just the older I get, the more gruff and literal
I become. I'm like, here's what happened, and I'm going
to sing it like I didn't care.

Speaker 3 (03:21):
It rhymes, h bloody love it all right?

Speaker 2 (03:23):
Well, in the next tune, I want to know a
little more about if you if you can as plastic boxes.

Speaker 4 (03:28):
Yeah, all right, I'll tell you about that one. That
one I can be a little bit more insightful about,
definitely and being literal again in the song, and so
the story is told. But yeah, I went to a
heart break up with somebody that I loved very much.
And I'm a person that has a hard time letting
go of the physical thing like love letters and photographs

(03:51):
and like, I don't know, I'm not a hoarder, but
I definitely like to hold on to things that are sentimental,
which doesn't make sense because eventually I'm gonna be dust
and none of it's going to be, uh, you know,
something I can take with me. But while I'm alive,
I like to for some reason put myself to the
hell of looking back upon nostalgic trauma so stupid. So yeah,

(04:12):
that one was just you know about this this one
weekend where I really, like I knew the relationship was over,
but it didn't become real until you start packing up
people's things and what they left behind, and didn't have
the heart to throw those things away, so instead, I
like threw myself out of.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
That apartment all kind of stuff that I think was
next we can overlate to that kind of feeling. So
let's listen to that shoe and thank you Johnny Harley
Suspect plastic boxes three.

Speaker 3 (04:44):
For Harley Suspect for twelve o'clock rocks.

Speaker 4 (04:46):
But you know that my situation is not under control.

Speaker 2 (04:53):
And I it's a song that kicked off for Harley
Suspect Lydia with Johnny Stevens from Harley Suspect. Can we
rehash that song one last time for the audience please?

Speaker 4 (05:09):
It's not the last time. I'm so grateful that I
get to rehash Lydia twelve years after the fact, because that's,
let's face it, the one that you know gave me
a career. Yeah, I think next year is the ten
year anniversary of that album. Yeah, basically similar actually same apartment.
That's kind of spooky, but definitely was my one of
my top People think it was like the top relationship

(05:30):
I've ever had. It was a formative one, but it
it's just the top song I've ever had. It wasn't
the top relationship I've ever had. You know what else?
I'm trying to think of something I could say about
that song that I have never said before, trying to
give you something.

Speaker 2 (05:45):
I'll sort of bring my thing to the table is
that when I heard that song, it was just so visceral,
and I hadn't heard I hadn't felt that with new
music when I heard it for a long time, so
I thought, WHOA, this guy's actually really going through something.

Speaker 4 (05:58):
Nobody was swearing that. There was like this time period
where people were kind of like it was like the
Stomp Clap era. Yes, well it was like and everybody
was dressed up like Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zero
and that's great, and everybody had their brown vests and
their and their shoes and this, that and the other.
But then a dude came out and said, I can't
fucking breathe and I think that people. I think that

(06:20):
lyric right there is what arrested people. And then you
mix that with some gretty guitars and a and a
you know, very rhythmic beat, a very hopping beat, and
it became at that time something that didn't Now luckily,
there's definitely a lot of that. I think that there's
a lot of rock bands that are absolutely rushing, but

(06:44):
at that time, somebody needed to hear something other than
Mumford and Sons. And there's no disrespect bands like I
love a lot of the songs from that era, but
I think that it was it arrested people to hear
something that they hadn't maybe heard since the nineties type
of shit at that time.

Speaker 2 (07:00):
Thank you so much for chatting to us. So I'm
just going to look here, Johnny. Do you have any
outstanding memories of New Zealand before you go?

Speaker 4 (07:08):
I definitely got to carve greenstone when I was in
christ Church and that was a very special moment for
me because I know how special that is for New Zealand.
But I was able to work with a master carver
and work with wet stones and make my own, my

(07:29):
own piece, and I thought that that was like a
really actually it was so meditative doing it, and I
was like, hmm, don't suppose you want to hire me
to do this and give me a work pieces i
live here, because I totally fucking would, and I'm not kidding.
It always like a really good for me. But every
every time I've been to New Zealand and knocking on wood,

(07:51):
it's been a fantastic, memorable, enjoyable time. My only problem
with going to New Zealand is that I haven't been
able to spend as much time as I want there.
I'm always working. Yeah, I'd like to. I'd like to
get there sometime and just like enjoy it for what
it is, because you really do have one of the
most absolutely visually stunning countries in the entire planet. And

(08:15):
I've been to a lot of them and everyone's super nice.
You know.

Speaker 3 (08:19):
Oh please you Johnny Stevens.

Speaker 2 (08:21):
Well, we'll welcome you with open arms anytime you want
to come back.

Speaker 4 (08:24):
Right And I can't wait. Thank you for having me.

Speaker 2 (08:26):
We'll see you Christi at twenty seventh Wellington twenty ninth,
first December and Auckland.

Speaker 1 (08:32):
Radio hod aches off the Record podcast Why not Subscribe
so they download automatically and don't forget to rate us
five stars.

Speaker 4 (08:40):
Thanks mate.

Speaker 1 (08:40):
Find out more about this podcast and the people who
make it at hodache dot co, dot m z
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