New High Low

It all began in the fall of 1996 when Sean Heneghan and Caleb Burroughs took the stage with a drunken Jerry Springer to play some classic Beatles. With that performance, the two college friends knew that at some point they would share the stage again. Each of the two became a frontman for a different popular Milwaukee band, Sean with Jettison and Caleb with The Long Goodbye. Playing around Milwaukee at such places as The Annex, Harpo’s, Thai Joe’s, The BBC, The Globe, The Cactus Club, Conway’s, The U Pub, UWM, and MIAD, each band found fans and honed the craft of playing great live, original rock music.

Around the same time, Thom des Enfants was playing drums in Elgin, Illinois’ own The National, a contemporary of The Alkaline Trio. After this group disbanded, Thom joined up with guitarist Mark Bachara to form The Glass Family, a band that played around Chicago for some time.

Upon graduating from Marquette University, Sean found himself back in Chicago, where he had grown up performing Irish folk songs at festivals and pubs with his father. Not wanting to forsake his love of music, he formed New High Low with Mark and Thom in early 2002. The band began to craft its own niche, a marriage of classic sounds, heartfelt lyricism, and new-wave vibes.

Writing songs and playing such venues as Chicago’s Martyrs, Fireside Bowl, Abbey Pub, and Milwaukee’s Cactus Club with Asian Man Record’s Colossal, New High Low began to entrance audiences with its sound.

With Sean’s vocals harkening such singers as Neil Young, Nick Drake, and Glen Hansard, Mark’s guitar feeding back and swooning much like Nick McCabe or Jonny Greenwood, and Thom’s drums alternating between jazzy swank and tribal thump, the fellows knew they were onto something. In 2003, Caleb moved to Chicago after having spent additional years in Milwaukee’s music scene hosting a popular singer/songwriter workshop and haunting local blues jams. Adding Carol Kaye-inspired pop basslines and vocal harmonies learned in church as the son of a preacher man, he rounds out New High Low. This lineup first took the stage to perform a humane society benefit with Duvall, the new band of ex-Smoking Pope, Josh Caterer, and have since proven themselves irresistible, infectious, and intoxicating to their crowds.

These guys’ sound is hard to pinpoint as they note a hodge-podge of influences, from The Beatles and The Who to classic punk rock from crooners of old standards to modern bands such as Wilco or The Walkmen. But what is easy to pinpoint is the response from audiences and audiophiles, alike, as they experience the mix of warm electric piano, keening guitars, deft drums, sensible bass, and sweet, sweet singing that is New High Low.

Catch the boys at upcoming shows in Chicago, Milwaukee, or Madison and look forward to their upcoming EP.