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High In The Low: The Story of Our First Record
Rock and roll mythology isn’t just about the records—it’s about the stories behind them. The chaos, the triumphs, the disasters, the choices that shape an album long before the world ever hears it.
High In The Low is one of those records.
It’s the album that starts with me joining the Army Reserve and ends with me wrecking my car in a DUI. The accident left me with brain damage and a shattered talus, and the sessions for the album were abandoned.
We wouldn’t self-release the record until 2010, by which point we were already deep into recording its follow-up, The Deuces.
Back in 2006, I was stuck in Show Low, Arizona. No money, no clear way out, and a band that felt too small for the dreams we had. The only way forward? The Army Reserve.
I signed up, took the signing bonus, and instead of using it to build savings or plan for the future, I did the only thing that made sense to me—I dropped a small fortune at Guitar Center. It was the kind of spending spree that, in hindsight, felt legendary.
We spent so much money that the store let us draw the Gorky logo on their wall, as if we were some famous band. We weren’t. But in that moment, it felt like we could be.
What did I buy? The biggest speaker I could find. The biggest guitar I could find. At the time, I had no understanding of pedals, tube amps, or the nuances of sound design. I just knew we needed to sound big.
Gorky had always been a scrappy little garage band, but I wanted more—more volume, more power, more presence.
So there we were, playing tiny clubs, lugging around a 4x12 speaker cabinet, absolutely overwhelming the space. It looked ridiculous. But it was a defining moment. That gear lasted for years—two decades later, the drum set and guitar are still in use. That impulsive spending shaped the sound of High In The Low in a way nothing else could have.
The album itself documents that transition—from small-town punks playing dive bars to something bigger, louder, and more unhinged.
A lot of these songs we wrote in high school or shortly after, and our gear just couldn't cut it. We couldn't make it sound like we knew it was supposed to sound, and what it came down to was our equipment. I mean, Ben's drumset was stitched together by leftover pieces from kits that the various school departments had trashed and replaced already, thanks to the kindness of our public school music teachers.
Impressions of High In The Low
High In The Low feels like a time capsule—a document of a band in transition, searching for identity while absorbing the sounds and culture surrounding us. It captures the energy of youth, the angst of uncertainty, and the thrill of discovery. It was written and recorded in an isolated world, in a town far removed from major music hubs, yet it reaches for something larger, reaching back to rock and roll’s roots while simultaneously looking forward.
The Sound: A Collision of Garage, Punk, and Classic Rock
Musically, the album grabs from everywhere—there’s garage rock grit, punk urgency, classic rock swagger, and an early attempt at psych-leaning textures (even though we hadn’t yet discovered reverb). The big, overpowering 4x12 speaker cabinet setup resulted in a raw, loud, unfiltered sound, which adds to the charm of the record. We were pushing our technical limits while maintaining a visceral, in-the-moment quality.
The dual influence of Chuck Berry and The Beatles is especially strong, which makes sense given our attempt to go back to the foundations of rock music rather than emulate contemporary scenes.
Songs like "Kick It!" and "Motorcycle" embody that primal rock and roll energy, while "Waiting For Your Love" is a clear nod to McCartney-style melody and arrangement.
The emo-punk undertones show up in "And It Goes On", revealing our attempt to engage with modern sounds but still retaining our own raw songwriting style.
The Lyrics: A Blend of Personal, Literary, and Countercultural Themes
Lyrically, High In The Low is full of longing, frustration, and reflection on youthful experiences.
Many of the songs are about relationships and missed opportunities, likely reflecting our age at the time—just a couple years removed from high school, still processing those emotions.
"No More Time", for example, carries the pain of hesitation, while "Kick It!" is about the innocence of just hanging out rather than hooking up.
There’s also a spiritual and philosophical undercurrent, which has set us apart from many of our garage-punk contemporaries. The Vedic references in "She Spoke" and "When It’s Over" hint at a broader search for meaning, which makes sense considering our upbringing in Show Low—detached from major cultural centers, left to explore deep ideas in our own way.
At the same time, there’s a playfulness in the writing, most notably in "Come On, Sing The Alphabet!", which was my attempt to craft a surrealist, childlike anthem in the vein of The Beatles' "Yellow Submarine." The double meanings and wordplay also add another layer to the album’s themes of youth, experimentation, and the chaos of early adulthood.
How High In The Low Reflects Its Era
The mid-to-late 2000s were an odd time for rock music. The garage rock revival (Strokes, White Stripes, The Hives) was fading, while emo, post-hardcore, and indie rock were taking over. Meanwhile, bands like The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols were being rediscovered, making psych rock a future direction for many bands who started in punk and garage.
High In The Low reflects this in-between moment. It’s too raw and punk-driven to fit neatly into indie rock and too rooted in classic rock and roll to be part of the emo/post-hardcore movement.
Being from an isolated scene, we absorbed these influences organically rather than by chasing trends. The result is an album that feels honest, unfiltered, and deeply tied to our own musical and personal journey.
Final Impression: A First Chapter in Gorky's Mythology
If this album is Level One of Gorky, it serves as an origin story—the blueprint of what was to come.
There’s a hunger in the playing, a recklessness in the storytelling, and a charm in its imperfections.
The fact that it was never meant to be a final product at the time of recording makes its eventual release in 2010 even more significant—it was a delayed but essential piece of our journey.
At the end of it all, High In The Low isn’t just about a band—it’s about a time, a place, and a mindset. It’s about wanting more, taking risks, making mistakes, and figuring it all out along the way.
And in that sense, it remains timeless.