Black Hi-Lighter
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Black Hi-Lighter

Highland Park, California, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2012 | INDIE

Highland Park, California, United States | INDIE
Established on Jan, 2012
Band Rock Alternative

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"Stream: Black Hi-Lighter, ‘Clear Blue Heaven’"

Eighteen months after their audacious debut “Bite the Bullet,” L.A. quartet Black Hi-Lighter return next week with a second full-length, “Looks and Lies” — another record that feels like it’s part of rock ’n’ roll history although most of rock ’n’ roll history has already been written. The work of singer-guitarist James Poulos, guitarist-producer Eric Liljestrand, drummer Mark Reback and bassist David Wright, “Looks and Lies” springs from the Bowie/T. Rex family tree, and, owing to Liljestrand’s shredding, posits the foursome as a band who could’ve held their own with L.A. Guns back in the day. Included are the four singles BHL released between albums — ”NU4NYC” (No Use for New York City), “Blackout,” “Plastic Flowers” and “I Got Tired (It Hurt So Bad),” which find vocalist Poulos darting between his best glam falsetto and a properly insolent punk snarl. Curiously, “Looks and Lies” (out Sept. 9) comes with “secret spy code instructions” — you’ll need the cipher to decrypt, and we’ve put our best agents to work on it. Meanwhile, Black Hi-Lighter indulge their artier side on the album’s opening track, with its Wordsworth-inspired title “Clear Blue Heaven.” Rock isn’t dead; it’s up there somewhere.

||| Stream: “Clear Blue Heaven”

||| Live: Black Hi-Lighter celebrates its album release Sept. 13 at El Cid.

||| Previously: “NU4NYC” - By Kevin Bronson, BuzzBands.LA


"Bite The Bullet sounds like a breakthrough waiting to happen"

Tonight we have Black Hi-Lighter performing in our loft at 7PM!
While Arcade Fire might be hogging all the David Bowie right now, this quartet have been mining the best of glam Bowie and T. Rex since 2011, creating an intoxicating glitter-garage sound that's slithers and stomps with the best of them. Steadily gaining notoriety since the release of their first album Seductio ad Absurdum, their new record Bite The Bullet sounds like a breakthrough waiting to happen. We're hopping on the hype train early, and are stoked to be hosting Black Hi-Lighter in our loft the night Bite The Bullet is set to drop. It's sure to be a raucous evening.
So get out your best glam gear and come on down to Origami tonight at 7PM for a slinky good time. In the meantime, give a listen to "Chinese Gong," the lead single off Bite The Bullet below! See you tonight! - Origami Vinyl


"Bite The Bullet might be the best glam album of 1974"

When it comes to defining his band, Black Hi-Lighter frontman James Poulos succinctly offers up “trashed cut-up glamour with a loud heart of gold.” He’s not fronting: Bite The Bullet might be the best glam album of 1974, replete with Poulos’ vocal affectations, guitarist Eric Liljestrand’s sense of the appropriate and the in-the-pocket grooves of bassist David Wright and drummer Mark Reback. “The point of art is to pull people into creating an unpredictable possibility, and the point of rock ‘n’ roll is to plug that experience into sex and death in a way that ends up affirming life and love,” says the singer. “It’s not like we printed that out on paper and stapled it up on the wall. We didn’t have to, because that’s the place the music is always pointing to. The point is to move people.” Up next: SoCal gigs with Free Energy this summer and a new EP in the fall. [JP] - Alternative Press Magazine


"Getting Cozy With… Black Hi-Lighter!"

Black Hi-Lighter was created in 2010, by original members James Poulos (Vox + guitar) and Mark Reback (drums) in the creative hub that is Los Angeles’ eastside. They’ve since added bassist David Wright, and lead guitarist Eric Liljestrand to the line-up. The band’s latest full-length record BITE THE BULLET, released on 3/19/13, was produced by Grammy-winner Eric Liljestrand, and Amoeba Music described it like this: “Highland Park’s own glitter-garage contenders bust out with a tuff slice of classic stomp n’ roll! James’ vocals channel the sneer and howl of Bowie or Suede, while the band churns out pummeling, no-nonsense trash riffs in the engine room. Hot stuff, could be big!” Alternative Press magazine said “BITE THE BULLET might be the best glam rock album of 1974.” Six different songs from the record have been getting radio airplay on several college and internet stations, such as the BuzzBandsLA program on Moheak Radio, along with podcasts like “Straight To Your Head” out of the UK, and the web series “Dates Like This”. - AMBY - A Music Blog, Yeah? Toronto, Canada


"New Music We Like - Black Hi-Lighter "BITE THE BULLET" - Hot Stuff... Could Be Big!"

"Highland Park's own glitter-garage contenders bust out with a tuff slice of classic stomp n' roll! James' vocals sneer and howl while the band churns out pummeling, no-nonsense trash riffs in the engine room. Hot stuff, could be big!" - Amoeba Music


"Now Playing @ The Listening Station: Black Hi-Lighter"

“Blonde Beats of Prey” – Black Hi-Lighter
With shades of The Faint about them, Black Hi-Lighter’s garage-punk meets new-wave sound makes for a glitterbomb of rock. The over the top posturing and diction of James Poulos’ vocals are instantly ear perking. After a fit of involuntary headbanging caused from this Highland Park ensemble’s unhinged style, you may well be wishing your head was jerry-rigged to a lever and pulley system. Poulos offers a candid and clever approach in his storytelling that shines new detail and memorable one-liners. – Marni Epstein - The Eastsider LA


"GBLA Podcast 002: BLEACHED / BLACK HI-LIGHTER / JOHN RABE"

Today we're talking LA in a special smog-soaked GBLA as we sit in the grass with Bleached, sit on the floor with Black Hi-Lighter and sip a vermouth martini with Off Ramp's John Rabe.
Bleached plays the El Rey 08/18 & 08/19. Doors @ 8 pm, tickets $25 here. Black Hi-Lighter plays the Echo 08/17 at 12:30 p.m. as part of the Echo Park Rising festival (RSVP here). - Gateway Band LA


"Ears Wide Open: Black Hi-Lighter"

Highland Park quartet Black Hi-Lighter makes you feel like you’re caught between T. Rex and a hard place. The foursome of James Poulos, Eric Liljestrand, Mark Reback and David Wright are loud and proud and brash without resorting to Xeroxing bands whose ghosts haunt those 1970s videos uploaded to YouTube. In March, Black Hi-Lighter released the full-length “Bite the Bullet,” an in-your-face collection of guitar jams that chew through glam, punk and garage-rock rock as if escapist bombast were a new drug. Guitarist Liljestrand, who has a host of producer credits and a Grammy for engineering/mixing, makes it hurt so good, with the veteran rhythm section nary missing a beat. Eyeliner-adorned frontman Poulos, half sneering and half crooning, is a writer and purveyor of pop culture, and if Black Hi-Lighter is one of those grand exercises in participatory journalism, we can’t wait to read the piece. One thing for certain: We have no use for New York City either. - BuzzBands.LA


Discography

Still working on that hot first release.

Photos

Bio

Black Hi-Lighter's live shows are audio-visual spectacles that will excite your ears, eyes, heart & soul, and reaffirm your belief in rock n' roll.  "Looks and Lies" the band's new full-length LP will be released on 9/9/14 and was produced by Grammy-winner Eric Liljestrand (U2, Ringo Starr, Lucinda Williams).

Black Hi-Lighter has been getting steady radio airplay on such prestigious stations as KCRW 89.9 FM in L.A., the "BuzzBands.LA" program on KCSN 88.5 FM, and is in regular rotation on The Independent FM (formerly Moheak Radio). The band were also chosen as "Local Anesthetic" Band of the Week by DJ Julie Slater on her "Out On A Limb" radio program. College radio has also been spinning the band, with WZBC 90.3 FM Boston College, WBGU 88.1 FM Bowling Green, and KOXY Occidental College radio, heading the list.

Amoeba Music describes Black Hi-Lighter like this: "Highland Park's own glitter-garage contenders bust out with a tuff slice of classic stomp n' roll! James' vocals sneer and howl, while the band churns out pummeling, no-nonsense trash riffs in the engine room. Hot stuff, could be big!"

Alternative Press says: "Bite The Bullet might be the best glam album of 1974, replete with James Poulos vocal affectations, guitarist Eric Liljestrands sense of the appropriate and the in-the-pocket grooves of bassist David Wright and drummer Mark Reback."

Origami Vinyl says: "Sounds like a breakthrough waiting to happen. We're hopping on the hype train early."

Band Members