The Highway is a local 4-piece who combine elements of straight ahead rock music with proggy, more complicated orchestration to their songs. On Thursday, The Highway tore up the small stage at the Rockwood Music Hall, playing tracks from their latest LP, Enter to Exit which dropped only a couple days ago.
Starting off with “Circles,” one of the band’s strongest rocking tunes, led by bassist / vocalist Daniel Tortoledo, whose raw voice takes cues from Julian Casablanca and other garage rockers. Guitarist Adam Douglass alternates between droning psychedelic picking and Hendrix-esque wailing, particularly on the scorchers “Lose Control” and “Fascinating Planet” also off Enter to Exit.
Keyboardist Griffin McMahon laid down some nice organ patches, and along with drummer Ted Macinnes, added some latin and funky flare to their songs, especially when their jams stretch out to 7 or 8 minutes. It rocked pretty hard, and when the band came together, like on the aforementioned “Lose Control” they really took off. It was at these points that the band seemed like they were bound for larger stages
Rockwood Music Hall was a great venue for the band, as the garage rock elements of The Highway translated well and kept the audience engaged. The audience was a weird one, mixing the usual indie rock crowd with a few out-of-place men in suits, who all looked like they just got out of the same board meeting. Either way, The Highway put on a good show and I suggest checking them out.
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Article by: Steven Klett
