Highstreet
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Highstreet | |
|---|---|
| Image:Highstreet Members |
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| Origin | Isle of Lewis |
| Country | Scotland |
| Years active | 1996 - present |
| Genres | Heavy metal Thrash metal Hard rock |
| Labels | Megaforce Records Elektra Records |
| Members | Paul Murray Murdo Caise Calum Murdo David Channon |
| Past members | Columbo |
Highstreet are a kitsch young band from the Outer Hebrides originally composed of Paul Murray, Murdo Caise, Calum Murdo and Columbo. They formed in 1996 and had a minor hit with the single Tell Me Baby which reached no.49 in the UK charts. The success of this single prompted them to record an album. They spent the next 5 months in their home district of Ness on the Isle of Lewis writing material for it but their progress was hampered when drummer and founding member Columbo left the band siting Paul's substance abuse and age difference as his reasons. This created a rift between the remaining members and in their search for a new fourth member the band nearly imploded. Rumours surfaced that local guitarist and Yngwie Malmsteen fan Peadair Smith was to be appointed as a new guitarist but these were unfounded. Eventually however they did find a new fourth member in the shape of keyboardist David Channon. This new found eclecticism gave the band a new edge as they headed in a more pop direction. After a year of 'bonding time' with the new member they went into the studio with producer Donald Eadie and recorded the album, entitled 'I Wanna Play Bass With Rhinos'.
On release the record was critically panned with many reviewers pointing out its lack of originality, poor composition and sub-par vocals. The album however was reasonbly successful and reached a chart position of 58 in Brazil.
They only released one other album called 'Boogerman's Journey' which was mostly B-sides and unused material from other work. Its release went unnoticed and to date only 3 copies have been sold. Probably bought by the members' family out of charity.
To this day they remain fairly popular amongst the older audiences in their hometown of Stornoway and have a regular place as the houseband at the 'Rangers Club'.
