FiXT New Noise: HIGHSOCIETY Discusses the Collaborative Process that Led to ‘DATAMOSH’

With his latest album, DATAMOSH, HIGHSOCIETY has delivered one of his greatest artistic achievements yet. The album was released late last month via FiXT Music. The album is defined by its ability to bring together musical influences, smash them into pieces, and then build something new of them. Merging together heavy metal, hard rock, industrial, and EDM is a tall task, but it’s one that HIGHSOCIETY is up to. DATAMOSH is relentless in its approach, throwing as much energy as he can into these songs while also nicely showcasing his skills as a producer. The production is crisp, clean, and speaks to his experience in the recording studio.

While HIGHSOCIETY is steering the ship, he’s got an impressive team of artists that he has assembled for DATAMOSH. The album features the likes of Micah Martin, ENMY, BVLVNCE, Craig Mabbit (of Escape The Fate), Daedric, Young Medicine, The Anix, Coping Method, Becko, and Protect Your Heart. While each musician obviously brings their own talents to the table, it’s HIGHSOCIETY who is able to make it all work. The album is unpredictable, which is part of what makes it a very enjoyable experience. Dubstep bangers? Heavy metal anthems? EDM assaults? It’s all here and then more.

Today, HIGHSOCIETY joins us for a FiXT New Noise feature specifically about his collaborations. He speaks in detail about the special moments in bringing this album together and whether he can envision himself doing an album like this again in the future.

Every song on this album has a unique story behind it. Can you share some of the coolest or most unexpected moments from the collaborations?

HIGHSOCIETY: “The first answer is about the first song I finished for the album ‘Burn’ with Craig from Escape The Fate. I had been a fan of his since his BlessTheFall days, and I didn’t really expect him to even read my message when I contacted him, let alone respond and agree to be involved in the song! So that was pretty unexpected (laughs).

“Another one that comes to mind is ‘All for Nothing’ with ENMY, which came together pretty last minute. I actually had another artist confirmed to work on the song, and they flaked at the last minute. We sort of threw a Hail Mary to get ENMY involved, and now that song is one of my favourites on the album. I can’t imagine it without ENMY’s vocals on it. So, plans falling through ended up being a blessing!”

Were there any tracks that came together in a way that completely surprised you? Maybe a song that started as one thing but evolved into something completely different?

“The obvious answer here has to be ‘Ghosts’ with Protect Your Heart. The process was so hilarious that I ended up making a video about it, but basically, the song started as one demo that was very electronic. I passed it off to the band, and they totally reworked it into almost a completely different song. Their version was super rock-leaning. We kept going back and forth, adjusting the balance of rock elements versus EDM elements. Finally, (Vice-President) Kurtis (Redden) at FiXT suggested that we do a ‘dual release’ and just drop both versions, which I thought was a super cool and creative idea.”

Collaboration can be both exciting and challenging. What was the biggest challenge in creating an album so focused on collaborations?

“Prior to starting this album project, I had done a few collaborations, but really just vocal features where I would write an entire instrumental bed and have someone record vocals over it, and that’s it. With DATAMOSH, it was much more collaborative and involved a lot more back and forth with each song, sometimes with entire bands with three to four members. Compared to working as a solo artist, this can definitely be a challenge with managing multiple opinions/personalities, dealing with administrative issues such as contracts and release timelines, etc.

It’s definitely a huge challenge compared to my typical work as a solo artist, but also way more rewarding. I am so grateful to all of the artists I collaborated with on DATAMOSH.”

Was there a particular track that pushed you out of your comfort zone, either musically or creatively? If so, what made it stand out?

“‘HARM’ with The Anix was definitely a bit of a detour for me. I am a huge fan of his, but I hadn’t really produced music that would be a fit for him to collaborate on. With this song, I tried to channel his sonic palette and make something much more atmospheric and moody than I typically would. It was a challenge, but ended up being one of my favourite tracks on the album, and it seems like listeners feel the same way!”

HIGHSOCIETY

Sometimes collaborations lead to unexpected chemistry. Were there any artists you worked with that you instantly clicked with?

“Definitely Micah Martin. We are both insane, and I think we are the ‘yin’ to each other’s ‘yang’ musically. We both come from rock and metal backgrounds, but have established ourselves in electronic music primarily. Micah totally understood what I was going for when we did ‘Going Under,’ and working together again on ‘Voices’ was even more seamless.”

On the flip side, did you have any moments where two creative visions clashed? How did you navigate that?

“I wouldn’t say ‘clashed’ because I was committed to making sure the collaborator’s opinions and artistic points of view were also present in the songs. I didn’t include anything that the other party wasn’t absolutely stoked on and vice versa. There was definitely quite a bit more back and forth than I was used to, but it ultimately made the songs better.”

Did you have any ‘wow’ moments where a collaborator brought something to a track that you hadn’t even imagined?

“I think this is probably true of almost all of the tracks (laughs). One that sticks out was ‘OBS0LETE’ with Coping Method; this was one of the songs that I gave the least direction on vocals-wise, and Tyler completely blew my mind with what he came back with. It was somehow totally unexpected, but also totally nailed what I was imagining when I wrote the instrumental. He is an absolute beast!”

If you had to pick one track from this album that best represents the energy of HIGHSOCIETY, which one would it be and why?

“‘Going Under’ with Micah Martin. That’s part of why I put it as track #1, so it sets the tone for the album. It’s super high-energy, really catchy but heavy, and has the perfect blend of EDM and rock elements. I think it’s a great bridge from my older musical styles and the new direction I have been taking things with this album.”

HIGHSOCIETY ‘DATAMOSH’ album artwork

Were there any crazy or behind-the-scenes stories from working with these artists that fans might not expect?

“Here are a few random facts about a few songs that people probably don’t know:

“‘Voices’ with Micah Martin: We wrote/recorded this entire song in about three hours on a random Tuesday.
“‘Echoes’ with BVLVNCE: I’m sure few people know he was an employee of the label FiXT when we wrote this song!
“‘Burn’ with Craig Mabbitt: Craig is the nicest, most compassionate guy ever and is the complete opposite of ‘rockstar personality.’ I call BS on the phrase ‘never meet your heroes!’”

Now that this collaboration-heavy album is out, do you see yourself doing another one like it in the future? Or was this a one-time experiment?

“I’m absolutely doing another one! This project was truly eye-opening to how fun and fulfilling it can be to focus on collaborations. In some ways, I feel that there’s ‘no going back’ to how I used to operate and produce music before I started this project. I’d love to explore doing some smaller EPs that are still collab-focused around different subgenres, and/or doing multi-track projects with the same collaborator (i.e. a three-song EP with one artist/band) to expand on what we started with DATAMOSH.”