New Heights: Live in Singapore

An Interview With the Band

By Nishant Store

You’d have to be a doddering mountain hermit to not have heard the song ‘Peaches’ by New Heights. Nudged into the limelight by a viral YouTube video, this band has already carved out a niche online fan base.

Close on the heels of their first full-length album, the New Heights is all set to perform in Singapore on 7th July, at TAB. In an online interview, the band opened up to Campus Magazine about all the experiences they’ve shared:

New Heights has been around for a while, recording a few short studio albums. What motivated the band to do a full length one last year?

What most people don’t know about us is that right before we recorded our full length record, we almost broke up. At that point in time we had been together for six years. We came to a crossroad and made a decision to record what could have been our last project unless something good happened. A little after we made that decision, our song, “Peaches,” went viral and really helped us to re-focus and keep going.

What’s it like to be able to play to Asian audiences?

It’s very humbling. The thing that is great about playing to Asian audiences is that they feel invested into us and really support what we’re doing. We can’t thank them enough.

Could you share the inspiration behind New Heights’ ‘Music Mondays’ covers on YouTube?

It was just a clever name that we threw out there to get people interested in what we were doing weekly and hoped that they would hop on board to watch.

‘Peaches’ is definitely New Heights’ best known song. Can you describe the writing process that led to its creation?

Chris: It was really an amateur writing process at that time because I was so young. I was 17 years old and still relatively new to writing songs. But what sparked the initial idea was a phone conversation with a close friend who was struggling with depression. Her name is Peaches.

What are your plans for the future? Now that the band is more commercially known, are there any specific artists New Heights wants to reach out to or try to collaborate with?

We’re getting ready to release a brand new single that no one has heard before and shooting for a September 2012 release. We also really want to tour a lot more (US and Asia) this coming year and next. We’d love to one day collaborate and write with Ryan Tedder from One Republic.

Are there any clandestine memorable exploits the band would like to reveal to the public?

Well if we shared them they wouldn’t be clandestine anymore! Ha-ha, but to be honest, none that come to mind.

To know more about when to catch these upcoming alt-rockers in Singapore, visit the TAB website: www.tab.com.sg/