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High Wasted
Germ Free High Fives (download track)
(independent) - 2021
Michael Panontin
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The VU's groundbreaking debut may have influenced everyone who bought it to start a band - 30,000 according to Brian Eno - but it was a later, more obscure release that was the source of inspiration for High Wasted.
"We were listening to live Velvet Underground recordings. The ones Robert Quine taped in the late sixties," High Wasted's bassist Paul Shepherd explained, referencing 2001's 3-CD set Bootleg Series Volume 1: The Quine Tapes. "They have this real, ragged quality about them. All three of us became obsessed with the sound. We really wanted to emulate that vibe."
The trio - Toronto scene stalwarts Shepherd and singer/guitarist Owen Marchildon along with their long-time friend, drummer Val Calam - dropped their first single in April. 'Germ Free High Fives' (the title of which comes from Shepherd's nine-year-old daughter, who when asked for a high five replied, "Only if it's a germ-free high five") was recorded live off the floor and certainly captures the energy of those riveting 1969 VU shows. But the guys take it one step further, with the organ betraying the dizzying intensity of the early Modern Lovers and the vocal the brawny bravado of late seventies Iggy Pop.
There's even a cool kaleidoscopic video to accompany 'Germ Free High Fives' - produced by Calam no less - so it appears they do mean business.
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