Ten High

Ten High a big, burly gnarly rock n roll band that seemingly dropped out of some Amphetamine Reptile sampler from the 90s rather than 2010s Arkansas. Despite their name they are definitely not a cowboy band, although at times you can tell they've heard a Gun Club album and they probably could kick your ass. It's a solid sound, a take-no-prisoners attack that I'm sure will open the eyes of folks who never thought of Arkansas music at all beyond maybe the great Bobby Lee Trammell. Find out some more about the great TEN HIGH!




What goes on in Fayetteville?
Fayetteville is basically a not-as-cool version of Oxford. A big college down full people wanting to party.

What's a good place to eat in town?
The best place to eat in town is where our bass player works, Hugos. its a 40's style basement with the best burgers on earth

How did Ten High come together?
Ten High started when Devan and Cat met working at a music store. she just moved to Fayetteville from Memphis and I just moved from Tulsa back to Fayetteville. Neither of us could get anyone to jam so we just started jamming and never stopped.

Are there places to play locally?
The best two spots to play in town are Smoke & Barrel and Backspace. Backspace is a DIY spot and theres always something cool going on. Smoke & Barrel is the sweetest bar in Town. Kind of our own DKDC

Name some bands you like, any place, any time...
Matts all about Sonic Youth, Cat swears J.C. Satan is the greatest band ever, Aaron is all over the place, but keeps it real psychy, and Devan just discovered Amyl and The Sniffers and is still freaking out.

What are you looking forward to at Gonerfest?
We're looking forward to partying with all our buds in Memphis. We have a couple shows with A Giant Dog leading up to Gonerfest so we're real excited to see them get down. And definitily Tyvek, they've been so great for so long. Just looking forward to days and days of great musicians and super party time

Anything else you wanna say?
We just want to say we can't wait to share festivities with some of our favorite bands and people on earth. Definitily ready to eat thousands of krystals and all the slaw we can find. - Eric Friedl

Ten High are a new (to me) four piece based out of Fayetteville, AR. To date, the group has released three EPs, played shows will tgh faves like Aquarian Blood, and have name checked as inspiration several others, including the Blind Shake and Ex-Cult. Recently, drummer/vocalist Devan Theos was kind enough to pass along a link to their debut full-length, Self-Entitled (get it?), and I’m glad she did.

Self-Entitled finds Ten High tearing through an eleven-song set chock full o’ straight up r’nr, hints of psychobilly, 60s beat, hardcore, garage, psych – basically anything that sounds great played loud – all chewed up and spit out on a platter. Primary vocalist Cat Owens’ shredded pipes recall Reverend Beat Man’s gruff screed, pairing like a fine ripple with the jagged-edged guitar and short/sharp drum and bass combination of Theos and Aaron Smith (as a former – terrible – bassist, I love the thick, rubbery bass sound). Theos takes the mic sounding like a young Kate Pierson on the stomping “Skin Crawlers”, which comes off like a psychobilly take on Walk Among Us-era Misfits.

As with the best of so-called ‘noise’ rock, these tracks come based on infectious melodies residing dead center in the maelstrom. “Royal Blood” employs a bit of blues boogie, while “Fakers” had my brain checking to Three Dog Night, for fuck’s sake. Brilliant, even though I blame them for having “Mama Told Me Not to Come” for a full day…bygones.

Self-Entitled is available digitally and on cassette on April 5, courtesy of Rare Plant Records. Ten High will be on Greenway Records’ upcoming showcase at SXSW, for all you lucky mallards heading to Austin. There’s also a few dates before that, as well as a west coast US tour planned for the summer – check out the Ten High fbook for the dates.

Highlights include: “User’s Choice”; “Skin Crawlers”; “Fakers”; “The Trouble”. - thegrindinghalt.com

Fayetteville punkers, Ten High, have been a favorite at the Shindig offices since their 2015 EP Cable Vision first crossed our paths. With an upcoming appearance at the Greenway Records Showcase during this years SXSW Festival, Ten High have released the track The Trouble, from their upcoming self-Entitled album due April 5.

The 11-song album will be available digitally and on cassette courtesy of Rare Plant Records. Check out The Trouble below. - Robert Locke

BEING WITHIN A RELATIVELY CLOSE proximity to the rock ‘n’ roll capital of the world, Memphis; Fayetteville, Arkansas is often overshadowed and occasionally even snubbed by its more cocksure counterpart when it comes to all things music. This by no means excludes punk rock, a world where -let’s face it- there’s more terrible bands than good as well as random onslaughts of unwarranted pretension from people who, I don’t know, just really, really suck. But there’s punk rock and then there’s punk rawk. And Fayetteville’s own Ten High are most certainly the latter.



WITH THE MAD SWAGGER OF A ROCK ‘N’ ROLL BAND BORN OUT OF THE SPIRITS OF ELVIS AND JERRY LEE THEMSELVES, THIS FRENZIED FOUR-PIECE CUTS SWATHS THROUGH EARHOLES WITH A BALLS-OUT PUNK BLISTER THAT CAN CALL THE DEVILISH CROON OF SLEAZY SWAMP ROCK OR THE PEP AND SCREAM OF THE BEST OF ANARCHO-PUNK. AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN.


TEN HIGH killing it at Gonerfest, Memphis in 2017. Photo credit Sarah LeReau
TEN HIGH killing it at Gonerfest, Memphis in 2017. Photo credit Sarah LeReau


And now, with the upcoming release of their debut full-length LP Self Entitled, Ten High are showing that they are eons beyond most garage punk bands that are circling the planet today. There’s a sense of maturity -not a dirty word- on this album. Not an evolution as such, just more a honing of a craft that Ten High have already nailed down brilliantly anyway. Take it from me, this album is a cracker!

Scheduled for release on the 5th of April, Self Entitled was recorded in two phases during 2017. Up until now, the band has only ever released EPs, 2014’s Libido, 2015’s Cable Vision, and 2016’s absolute belter This is a Pipe Dream. All three EP’s are as phenomenal as the next one, so it only stands to reason that a Ten High LP was due. It’s a natural progression.


“We just called it Self Entitled which kinda pokes fun at all the self-entitled people we’ve had to deal with.”

-Devan Theos (Drummer/Vocals)

Self Entitled is eleven tracks of pure, unadulterated rock ‘n’ roll bliss, jam-packed with the fierce, hard-edged and damn good fun Ten High sound we all know and love. But there are twists. Surprising, yet completely satisfying twists. Ten High are now on occasion experimenting with different styles, different progressions, doing it with the brashness of youth and doing it damn bloody well. All these ingredients are key to keeping any band fresh and relevant. To not wear out their welcome. Don’t worry; these guys are gonna be just fine.


“We tried to encompass a little more variation to show that we can play non-heavy stuff, too. With the ‘Xenomorphine’interludes it was fun to just play something totally different; melodic, soft, pretty songs. That isn’t what we normally do but it’s a nice lil’ change.”

-Devan Theos

Recorded and mixed by Eric Witthans at Homestead Recording in Fayetteville on a reel-to-reel, Self Entitled encompasses all that is required right now in bleak old 2018; the purity of adrenalin-pumping noise, a no bullshit, take no prisoners attitude, and an urban grit that not only smacks down the establishment, but tells the listener that everything may end up being okay after all. Along with the band themselves, credit for this magic must also go to Eric Witthans, Ben Josef (mastering) and even cover artist Etienne Fred Puaux who has somehow managed to capture the very essence of Self Entitled in the form of cultural intrigue via some freakishly great artwork.

As well as recording a brand new EP in Memphis -quite possibly at the time of this article being written- Ten High will be playing two shows at next week’s SXSW festival in Austin, Texas -one show being part of a Greenway Records showcase- as well as a West Coast tour in May.

But it’s the gear-crunching slowburn of ‘Fakers’ that I’m lifting from Self Entitled to feature here. I ain’t gonna talk about it, I ain’t gonna analyse or discuss its merits or worthiness, I’m just gonna let you play it and dig on this mighty tune for yourselves. - Benny Two Shoes

TEN HIGH

What else can be said about the Fayetteville based Ten High? The frenzied four-piece cut swathes through earholes with their balls-out punk blister that can call the croon of sleazy swamp rock or the pep and scream of the best of anarcho-punk. On high rotation around the Tom Violence Media office.

This Is A Pipe Dream
Produced by Ten High
Greenway Records
2016 -

From the sounds of this clip this new record is going to kick some ass! Check out this video clip from Ten High by David Arteaga and PLAY IT LOUD - Robert Locke

Small mention ( from our very first ep) at the bottom! - Evan Minsker

"PIPE DREAM" 7 '' MADE TOP 5 VINYL PICK AT BROOKLYN, NY MUSIC BLOG/RADIO SHOW -

Just scrolling through Ten High’s Facebook page will tell you that these Fayetteville, Arkansas rock and rollers are right up our alley.

They’ve played shows with some 50thirdand3rd favs – The Uh-huhs, Gymshorts, Bombay Harambee, and Aquarian Blood to name a few, and the artwork for their new EP is courtesy of The Blind Shake’s Jim Blaha. Starting off on the right foot for sure.

The band recently released their second EP Cable Vision – highlighting a progression from the nasty garage psych of their first EP Libido, to a marriage of the Pixies and the spirit of the early punk of 1970s New York. But really this is straight ahead, fuzzed out, punk and roll.

There are some ultra cool songs here – the Ramones stomp of Super Drew, and the sneering attitude of Double Wide are stand-outs for me. One thing is a given, Ten High are definitely a band to watch.

THigh

We are….Cat (lead vox, guitar) , Devan (Drums), Matt ( Guitar/vox) and Aaron (Bass)

People say we sound like….

There’s a few that we get a lot. The Cramps, Butthole Surfers, Southern Ty Segall and Television. We don’t really agree with a lot of that but that’s what they say! Some of it’s pretty flattering, so it’s all good.

How did you become Ten High and what’s with the name?

Cat’s granddad started a gun club in Hogeye, Arkansas back in the 70’s and called it Ten High Gun Club. We couldn’t think of a name. We had some really stupid shit picked out. One day Cat was just like, ” Hey, I have an idea, let’s just fuckin’ call it Ten High.” And at the time we weren’t sure if that would be a cool name or not but we kinda decided to keep it , at least temporarily, cos we were tired of not having a name. We were wanting to play shows and shit and we needed a name. Well, clearly, we ended up sticking with it. We found out a few months ago that there’s actually a really shitty, cheap whiskey called Ten High. We tried it and it sucks. We didn’t know about it when we named the band. Don’t drink that shit, it sucks. I just hope our music isn’t perceived as shitty as we perceive that whiskey as tasting. Haha.

Tell about the scene scene in Fayetteville

When people think of Fayetteville, AR, they think of the Hogs and college football and shit. They don’t really think of music. And the scene here kinda reflects that. It’s cool sometimes, but , generally , it’s a college town with alot of college kids and music you’d expect. . All of us have spent a lot of time in cities other than this one. Like, dirty cities. So we all sort of bring this dirtier sound to the table, I think. Cos Fayettteville is super fucking gorgeous and clean and safe. Memphis, Ft Smith, AR and Tulsa, OK aren’t really that way. We really love playing in Little Rock, it’s just a few hours away. Our two favorite bands from there are RadRadRiot and The Uh Huh’s. REALLY cool guys making super bad-ass music.

What music has had an influence on your sound?

Anything with a lot of emotion, I think. Loud rock n roll. The Blind Shake and Black Lips come to mind. The Blind Shake is so bad-ass. Cat is buddies with a few of them. Jim from The Blind Shake let us use some of his artwork for Cable Vision. We love that band so much. It’s so cool watching them because they have so much energy and power when they play, and convey so much emotion. Like , you believe everything that he says. You believe in what they do because their passion is so intense, how couldn’t you? And Black Lips are just so influential on anyone that listens to them. It’s hard not to feel inspired. Besides that, old Stax music. Not that we sound anything like Stax musicians, cos we play garage punk shit so what wouldn’t make sense. But it definitely inspires you when you listen to it. So much feel and groove and emotion. Doesn’t sound fake or pushed, sounds natural and groovy and like whoever wrote it was born to do that shit.

Tell us about your live show… We drink a lot to loosen up. We like to be really loud and let people know that we’re there. We hope they’ll dig it, but if they don’t, at least we had a lot of fun and did everything how we wanted to. We like melting faces.

What influences the band lyrically? Posers. People who have huge ego’s who walk around like they own the place. Some of those people say they play rock n roll, but they don’t. Cos they are too concerned with what everyone thinks about them to possibly play real rock n roll. Rock n roll is about attitude and not really giving a shit if anyone likes you. And saying you play rock n roll when you really play some emo poser whiny hipster bullshit is really fake and shitty and one of our songs is entirely about that exact kind of person. We all know a few. Besides that, drugs and sex and feeling good. Those are all influences cos that’s what we like.

Best concert we’ve ever seen…?

Daikaiju is the first to come to mind. Cos their live show is INSANE. Like, they are loud as shit, and then halfway through the set they set their drum kit on fire. But then, they take apart the drum kit and hand random pieces to audience members to hold and then they hold up the drummer and he plays in the air! Who the fuck does that? Then, Thee Oh Sees, cos who doesn’t love them? They influence us a lot, too. They’re the best. Then, there was a show that a few of us saw that was Ty Segall, Ex Cult and WAND. Ty is the man. Ex Cult is the best fucking punk band ever and WAND is really awesome. There’s no one like any of them. All of these bands I mentioned are all one of a kind. Maybe that’s why they are the best live show, no one’s doing it quite like them and they have lots of energy, you pick up on that when your watching them. The energy, it’s all about the energy. They translate it to the crowd and you feel awesome watching them.

If you could pick any time to travel back to for music, where would you go and what year would it be….

California late 60’s. Cos everything was genuine and badass and the shows were all legendary, although I’m sure they didn’t realize it at the time. Which makes it even cooler.

What tunes are currently on heavy rotation for you…

Lots! Our tastes are all over the place. King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard, they are the best psych garage band ever! On Castle Face, too. So, you know they’re good. Kendrick Lamar, cos we all get down on that tasty hip hop shit. He’s so fucking passionate, love it. Useless Eaters. The Singles. But all of it is bad-ass, everything they do.

If you could open for any band right now who would that be and why?

COACHWHIPS! That’s all. Just cos…Coachwhips.

If you could only bring ONE record (you can all answer if you like) in the tour van/bus/plane what would it be?

Aretha’s Gold, My Bloody Valentine-Loveless, Ty Segall Twins, cos it’s a classic. Those one of a kind records, ya know? Those people ran the game, some of them still do.

When you’re not playing and have some time off, where could we find you…

In the woods smokin’ doobs. That’s about all we do, and getting down on GTA.

From the Random Question Generator:
Did you have an imaginary friend as a child? Do you have one now?

We’re all each others imaginary friends. Aaron’s brother is his imaginary friend. I don’t know what any of that means.

What’s up for 2015/2016?
Well, for the rest of 2015 we have some light touring planned with our buddies in Manateees. We also have another EP coming out , hopefully, the beginning of next year. 2016 we plan on doing some heavy touring and putting out a full length and hopefully getting on some cool festivals. If we’re lucky! 2015 has been pretty good to us, especially for being so new. But we really hope to do some more cooler shit next year! Also, it wouldn’t hurt to have some labels that we fit with helping us put some shit out. Fingers X’D ~! - Stephen

RIYL: metal fuzz with a punk ethos

Label: Greenway Records

Don’t be fooled by the apple blossoms and northern mockingbirds decorating the pastures of Fayetteville, Arkansas. Behind all of the antique shops, past the front steps of Old Main and beyond the lush hilltops lies a dilapidated den housing a rock band known as Ten High, the state’s worst nightmare and best kept secret. Until now. NOW there’s a physical artifact floating around in the world with two snarling ragers loaded with just the right amount of metal fuzz and punk ethos to give you that righteous headache you’ve been aching for.

Greenway Records has 2 variants for your consumption. For $8, grab the milky clear version limited to 200, and for $15, palm a gorgeous splatter variant with an alternate hand-painted cover. There’s also a bundle for both for $22 for all ye fanboys so you can save a buck. These drop on Thursday, Sept 15, at 12 PM EST. Getchu some.

The Details

Limited to 300 records over two versions, the splatter features an alternate hand spray-painted and linocut printed cover by the great Dan Curran Print Shop.
The actual cover is by an incredible French artist @lechatdelaruedesartistes and I highly recommend you following his work.
Ten High brings the heat with 2 killer tracks that will have you pogoing in your bedroom. - David Hampton

Say what you want about what’s become of the punk rock genre, but with all the complaints about it becoming diluted or manipulated until it’s suitable for the masses, there’s still a place for the ugly and the unapologetic. Most people correlate punk with the UK, New York City, or the West Coast, sparking a debate of where ‘real’ punk resides but as any fan of the genre and subculture could tell you, authenticity is far more important to the movement than geographical location. With that said the last place expected to find interesting unadulterated punk was Fayetteville Arkansas.

Being from Chicago I’m a firm believer in location having nothing to do with a scene being authentic or not. I mean it’s incredibly naive and unfair to classify every guitarist in my city as a ‘blues’ musician, every artists from Nashville as country, or every musician in southern California as a surfer. What I find most interesting about the Fayetteville band Ten High is the fact they are not trying to prove to anyone how authentic they are with hype or marketing, they’re just a legitimately good punk rock band.

tenhigh1From the NYC based indie label Greenway Records, comes Ten High’s label debut Pipe Dream, a one-two punch combo of rock n’ raw punk anthems on limited pressed vinyl. The title track begins with an almost evil, dire warning “This is a pipe dream….” for ripping into a distorted wall of thrash, noise and beauty. Snotty vocals, frantic lead guitar, and unexpected harmonies throughout the chorus that begs the listener to sing along while kicking up a dirt storm in a mosh pit. The B side “Get It Together” is equal parts Black Flag and Atari Teenage Riot with it’s discord groove and knife-fight chorus.

With my first listen, I could almost picture being in a seedy underground club in Hell’s Kitchen, sharing the floor with the city’s most dangerous citizens, or tagging anarchy symbols on subway cars with green spray paint in a train yard. These two songs single handedly prove the point that location has nothing to do with authenticity. Throughout the mere minutes of both tracks, there isn’t one millisecond of pretentious showboating. Just straight up thrash punk just the way the forefathers intended.

Between Greenway’s Coke-bottle splatter, and milky clear variants, Pipe Dream is limited to 300 copies making it extremely rare right after rolling off the assembly line. With such a small number pressed I expect this 7″ becoming very elusive within the next coming months. With releases this year from Past Life, Rachel Haden, and Black Temple Shrines, Greenway Records has quickly become one of the most consistent vinyl labels on the indie scene, and Ten High is a perfect fit among their finest releases this year! Get your copy today!

For more info on Ten High, visit their Facebook page.

To purchase Pipe Dream on limited edition, visit Greenway Records - REVIEW: Ten High – “Pipe Dream”