TOYKO GHOUL ft. Terrible Johnny & Young Thug
3x Grammy Award nominated rock band Highly Suspect are
gearing up for their November 1st album release, and in anticipation are
dropping a genre- bending collaboration today with Young Thug titled ‘Toyko Ghoul‘. The track
also lists Terrible Johnny
as a collaborator- Highly Suspect’s frontman Johnny Steven’s rap
moniker.
Highly Suspect are turning the rock genre on it’s
head for their 3rd album titled MCID,
collaborating with not only Young Thug, but also with metal
band Gojira,
rapper Tee Grizzley, and
Nothing But Thieves. The
rock band, who have topped the active rock charts multiple times, are
also leading with a track with not a single guitar in it, ‘16′– which is currently
top 10 at active rock radio and is climbing the alternative charts.
Young Thug is currently coming off of a critically acclaimed #1 album, is currently on the massive 31 city ‘Justin Bieber Big’ tour with Machine Gun Kelly, and has had an explosive year with his label YSL releasing a #1 album for Gunna, and continuing to develop artists like Lil Keed, Strick, and more. Highly Suspect are currently on a national headlining tour.
MCID. This is the slogan tattooed on bodies across the world, four
letters that hold so much meaning, a mystery to anyone who is not in the know.
Highly Suspect members Johnny Stevens and twins Rich and Ryan Meyer had not
only been playing music for eight years before topping radio charts, garnering
Grammy nominations, and selling out tours- but they also had been gradually
accruing a cast of comrades that orbited their star, friends and chosen family
that would travel the world with them, move cross country with them, and become
pet parents with them. The growing community of companions have a name, and it
is MCID.
Originally from Cape Cod, the three band members played covers in
dive bars and moved to a studio apartment in Brooklyn together. In 2015, they
gained national recognition after the release of their debut album Mister
Asylum on 300 Entertainment and their singles “Lydia” and “Bloodfeather” topped
the rock radio charts. The next year they performed at the Grammy Ceremony,
receiving two nominations for Best Rock Album and Best Rock Song. In 2017 the
band traveled to Bogota, Colombia to record their second album, The Boy Who
Died Wolf. It was released in November 2016 and the success of hits
“Little One” and “My Name Is Human,” earned the band a third Grammy nomination
for Best Rock Song.
And now the band is ready to release album three, a manifesto full
of lead singer Johnny Steven’s private confessions, packed to the brim with
themes of self loathing, body image issues, substance abuse, addressing his
complicated past and trying to change his future. There is also a sprinkle of
his outspoken anti-Trump political stance, and stories of heartbreak and hope.
It’s not surprising that his most vulnerable collection of songs is addressed
directly to his chosen family, his followers, and his comrades- the title of
the album is MCID.
MCID is packed with surprise major hip hop features, a collaboration with the metal band Gojira, some Swahili versus, and a lead single, “Sixteen”, that is completely guitar free. The lyrics describe the true story of Stevens falling in love at sixteen years old, fostering a relationship for seven years, and feeling elated when she told him she was pregnant with their baby. The song describes his instant devastation the moment of the birth when he found out that the baby wasn’t his, the baby was a different race. Though a wild story, the lyrics capture the gut wrenching feeling of first love lost, betrayal, and regret. Other standout songs are his collaboration with Young Thug on “Tokyo Ghoul”, and “Canals” which captures his frustration with the Trump presidency, saying that his rage feels like “someone took a crack pipe, lit it with a torch light, and threw it on a gas line- there is fire everywhere”.
MCID is not just the third full length project from three guys who
approach the rock genre with a hip hop ethos, but it’s a family meeting and an
apology from singer Johnny Stevens whose lyrics demand accountability from
himself and urge him to be more honest and to conquer the demons that made him
who he is.
