It’s been a hell of a half-decade for Higher Power. Heralded in 2019 as the UK’s answer to genre-busting U.S. heroes like Turnstile and Code Orange, the Leeds lads’ sublime second album 27 Miles Underwater seemed set to slingshot them to stardom when it arrived in January of the following year. Then COVID shut down the world. “We were just on the cusp of something,” their mercurial frontman Jimmy Wizard sighed as we caught up in late 2021. “That was taken from us, but you can’t focus on it too much or you’ll be angry and bitter, and you’ll struggle to move forward…”
And yet, it’s felt like they’ve still struggled for traction over the intervening two-and-a-bit years. Standalone single Fall From Grace (released to coincide with that interview) felt like a fresh start, but didn’t end up signifying the broader creative return fans were hoping for. Guitarist and co-songwriter Louis Hardy had left the band, then returned during an electric set at Outbreak 2022. Further festival sets at the likes of Download and Slam Dunk, as well as support slots with homegrown heroes like Enter Shikari, Boston Manor and Neck Deep – with whom they’re currently in the U.S. – kept them limber, but the step up to the next level they’d been waiting for never really came.
Until now. Signing to heavy music mega-label Nuclear Blast and dropping celebratory new single Absolute Bloom, the stage is set for the Yorkshire quintet to finally move on to the next chapter. We caught up with Jimmy to hear what they’ve got planned as they tear into 2024 and beyond…
How exciting does it feel to kickstart the new era of Higher Power?
“It’s well exciting! We’ve been so busy at the start of the year that it’s kind of crept up on us!”
Nuclear Blast is a label that’s renowned for promoting metal heavyweights like Meshuggah, Slayer and Anthrax, but Higher Power have always been a hardcore band fascinated by the worlds of pop-punk and alt.rock. How did your relationship with them come about?
“We were without a label for a bit after everything ended with Roadrunner. A bunch of labels hit us up after that, but none of the offers were that great – it didn’t feel like they supported the artist. Nuclear Blast was definitely our wildcard – probably the last on our list of labels that we would make sense on, and we were probably a wildcard for them, too – but when we met them and their offer came through, it was easily the best that we received. We’re just stoked that someone wants to support us. It’s cool that anyone wants to give us money to make music. They’ve given us time. They’ve given us freedom. They’ve definitely not put too much pressure on us, which has allowed us time to make our next album. Plus, they seem like genuine, chill people, so it was a no-brainer!”
No pressure to write more gnarly riffs, then?
“No, not at all (laughs). I was actually like, ‘You know we’re probably going to get progressively more melodic as a band?!’ One of the guys was telling me that there were a few angry old metalheads commenting about how they didn’t like it when our video went up on the Nuclear Blast YouTube earlier today, but fuck ’em. We’re just here for a good time!”