This is The High Loves.   A band that has only been around since 2018 and like many other bands over the past 18 months, has already gone through a line-up change due to the pandemic.  They lost 2 founding members and midway through 2020 rejuvenated the band with 3 new additions.

The current line-up consists of founding members, Noah Monckton (Lead singer and guitarist) and Marco Stojanovic (lead guitar player) and new members – Jaden Spanier (drummer), Jeremy Ugro (keyboardist) and Jake St Jean (bassist).   Noah and Jeremy are both originally from Victoria, BC and moved to Toronto for the music scene, while the others are originally from here.  They crossed paths at the Humber College Music Program and bonded through immersing themselves in the Toronto music scene.  Constantly catching their friend’s gigs at the Silver Dollar, the Horseshoe Tavern, the Painted Lady and many others.

Noah was especially fond of the Silver Dollar, a proper dive bar, which he had only played once in a previous band.  When the bar was added to the long list of music venues lost in the history of Toronto’s ongoing condo gentrification, The High Loves wrote a tribute to the Silver Dollar, High Rise which won them the John Lennon songwriting award in the rock category.

While Noah usually writes the lyrics and melodies for the main songs, he hit a bit of a rut at the beginning of the pandemic.   It took about 6 months until he fully accepted the ‘new normal’ and started to let go of control over his reality.  As the control loosened, he found his creativity again, writing many of the songs that appear on their recent, Too Much of a Good Thing EP.   With new members came new life to the band and ‘letting go’, provided a fresh start.

The songs are “serious fun” – playful music with personal lyrics and a definite 80’s influence combined with indie rock sensibility.  

By Fall of 2020, the band started to find their rhythm and became increasingly prolific.   They came up with big ideas. Wrote new songs.  Made demos.  Built off each other’s ideas and then finally started to play together IRL in November 2020, pre-extended lockdown.

That first time playing music together was sheer joy for all of them.  They kept jamming, recording on their iphone and refining the songs.  Over and over until they got them to a point where they were ready to record in River Radcliffe’s home studio, where River helped produce a few songs as well.

With the city opening up again, they recently had their first show back at the Supermarket and have another this Friday at Lee’s Palace.  They have also been able to produce 2 music videos from their EP – Call me Back  and Sometime.  And a new video is currently in production for their song, ‘Comes and Goes’.

Watch out for more live shows and another EP, which is written and in final stages of production and will be recording later this month.  

To find out more about the band, visit here