HIGH ON STRESS IN THE PRESS...
by Dave Rachac - June 1, 2006
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.
by Bob Longmore - January 20, 2006
From the opening chords of “Eyeliner Blues,” the band managed to make the tiny stage and unfortunate acoustics of the 331 Club irrelevant. “She’s the last to know/ and the last to let it go,” went the chorus. Any band that can successfully work references to Keith Richards and The Ashtray Hearts into the same song is going to do just fine.

High on Stress deftly straddled the line between rock and alt-country, between Westerberg and the Bottle Rockets. During the countrified “Traffic Report,” I downed my Premium because it is certified drinking song. Lead Singer Nick Leet bounced to the beat as he sang, “It’s times like these/ when I’m weak in the knees.” Then guitarist Ben Baker leaned into the microphone and the two singers harmonized to create a ghostly beautiful sound, filling the room.

The highlight of the set was during “Minot.” Leet pounded his acoustic guitar, driving the band through an organ-laden kiss off to the North Dakota town, “This is an ode to cover bands/ bad punk rock/ and all the things I can’t stand.”

The band played with intensity, but at the same time, they weren’t afraid to have some fun up there on the stage, epitomized when Leet put up the devil horns before the song "Cash Machine," letting us know he was there to rock.

Most of the songs High on Stress played were from their album, Moonlight Girls. However, when compared to their live sound, the album hardly does the band justice. High on Stress is definitely worth checking out, perhaps in a different venue - where they can crank up their amps, and their booze and heartache-soaked songs would sound even better. by Bob Longmore