When Ryan Meyer was requested how he is feeling to have Highly Suspect’s newest album, As Above, So Below, out, he wasted no time along with his reply.

“Honestly, never been better,” Meyer instructed Chuck Armstrong on Loudwire Nights (Sept. 20).

“The past couple of records were experimental. They were difficult to make for the wrong reasons and those challenges and experiences led us to realize what we didn’t want and what we needed — and that was to strip back all of the bullshit and just make a record in a room, all together.”

Fans can hear precisely that once they hear to As Above, So Below; you may hear toes stepping on pedalboards and Meyer placing his drumsticks down.

“A lot of the takes on the record were one pass all the way through,” he mentioned. “We wanted it to be authentic and real and something that people could resonate in because, to each their own, but there’s a lot of records out there that are so perfect and so clean and the drums are quantized to a grid…”

Meyer mentioned that they’ve tried all of that earlier than, however it by no means felt proper.

“This record feels like us and that feels so good … That’s how we’re going to be doing records from here on.”

The Make-or-Break Moment For Highly Suspect

As Meyer opened up concerning the difficulties of recording earlier albums — and together with the sudden struggles the COVID-19 pandemic introduced — he admitted the way forward for Highly Suspect, at one level, did not appear sure.

“There was a conversation in the back of a hotel on a rainy night in Houston,” he recalled. “We were talking about going into pre-production and there are all kinds of ideas being tossed around about how we were going to do it.”

Eventually he and Highly Suspect’s bassist, Rich — who can also be Meyer’s brother — had sufficient of that dialog and put their collective foot down.

“We were like, look, here’s the deal. We’re either going to finish up our contractual obligations, the festivals we have booked and the tours we have booked that the fans bought tickets for, and we’re going to call it quits. Or, we’re going to make an album together in the same room, writing together, working through our issues together and we’re going to make this album as a band, as a unit — or it’s not going to happen.”

Meyer admitted that it took that make-or-break second for the band to notice what they wished to do. Even with that readability, although, no one knew precisely what they wished the brand new album to sound like.

In truth, Meyer mentioned he did not even care.

“I [wanted] it to be the thumbprint of the band,” he mentioned.

READ MORE: Shavo Odadjian Explains Why He’s So Happy With His New Band

“It needed to be the unique thumbprint of Highly Suspect and the only way we’re going to get that is if we go in there without any sort of idea of what it needs to be or what trend it needs to compete with or what sound is doing well at the time.”

Eventually, the sound that emerged was one that everybody was excited to hear.

“This feels like all the music that I grew up with when I was on construction sites and there was a boombox blasting in the corner … It just sort of came out in the music.”

What Else Did Highly Suspect’s Ryan Meyer Discuss on Loudwire Nights?

• What it was like being a brand new band and swiftly having fame and success — and Grammy nominations
• Why he felt like Highly Suspect was a canopy band once they carried out songs like “Natural Born Killer” dwell
• Why he believes As Above, So Below is one of the best report Highly Suspect have ever made

Listen to the Full Interview within the Podcast Player Below

Ryan Meyer joined Loudwire Nights on Thursday, Sept. 20; the present replays on-line right here, and you’ll tune in dwell each weeknight at 7PM ET or on the Loudwire app; it’s also possible to see if the present is out there in your native radio station and hear to interviews on-demand.