A muscular, hard-hitting, and wide-ranging group in the vein of Pop Evil, Queens of the Stone Age, and Royal Blood, Brooklyn’s Highly Suspect rode a series of indie EPs and years of touring to a pair of Grammy nominations for their 2015 debut. A year later, their follow-up delivered another hit in the Grammy-nominated single “My Name Is Human,” setting high expectations for their third outing, 2019’s hip-hop-leaning MCID. The band continued to blur genres on 2022’s The Midnight Demon Club.
he band formed in Cape Cod in 2009 around the talents of Johnny Stevens (guitar, vocals, synths) and twin siblings Ryan (drums, vocals) and Rich Meyer (bass, vocals). After working regionally as a cover band, they relocated to Brooklyn and began recording original material, resulting in a pair of EPs, First Offense (2009) and The Gang Lion (2010). They continued to establish themselves with one more EP, The Worst Humans, in 2012, before heading into the studio with producer Joel Hamilton (Black Keys, Elvis Costello) to record their debut long-player. The resulting Mister Asylum, which featured the fiery single “Lydia,” was released on 300 Entertainment in 2015. Their debut received critical praise and two unexpected Grammy nominations, leading to an extensive supporting tour.
Off the road by early 2016, they immediately returned to the studio to record a second full-length, The Boy Who Died Wolf, which saw release in November of that year. The album’s lead single, “My Name Is Human,” topped Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart and earned Highly Suspect another Grammy nomination for Best Rock Song. As early as November 2018, they began teasing information about their next album which they later revealed would be called MCID. A pair of singles, “Upperdrugs” and “16,” were released in August of that year, with the eclectic, hip-hop-infused MCID, which featured guest spots from Young Thug, Gojira, Tee Grizzley, and Nothing But Thieves‘ Conor Mason, arriving in November 2019. Three years later, Highly Suspect released The Midnight Demon Club, a kinetic and life-affirming set that paired hip-hop beats and cinematic soundscapes with blazing metal.
For some people, working with a sibling would be nearly impossible. But for identical twin sisters Hallie and Dylinn Mayes, starting a band together was the only thing that made sense. “We’ve never known anything different,” says Hallie. “We’ve spent our whole life together, each and every moment.” “We’re the typical twins,” adds Dylinn. “We’re best friends and we’re never apart.” So when the two discovered music was their calling, they formed GOOD BOY DAISY, becoming an alt-pop duo with plenty of rock influence. “It’s amazing to see how our chemistry is,” says Hallie, referring to both their onstage personas as well as their day-to-day experiences recording. “It’s unfairly easy.”
Raised on a steady diet of ‘90s grunge, the sisters inherited a lot of their early music taste from their father, as well as many rounds of the video game Rock Band—featuring Dylinn on guitar with Hallie playing drums. But as they began to thumb through vinyl at their local record stores, their favorite artists grew beyond Alice In Chains and Soundgarden to include more modern indie favorites such as alt-J and Matchbox Twenty. And somehow as they grew older, theirmusic interests became even more intertwined. “We’ll never complain about who has the aux cord,” says Hallie with a laugh.
While they continued to jam out as videogame rockstars, it wasn’t until they saw a group of friends perform at a local show that they realized real-life stardom was within their grasp. “It was the first time we saw someone our age playing in a band,” says Dylinn. “We’re like—wait a minute, you can play in a band? You can get up with your friends and play music you like? That’s a thing?” “Not only that,” adds Hallie, “I had no idea that people wrote their own music. When I saw kids our own age doing it, it was a game changer.”
Both of them recall coming home from that show and immediately scrambling to get their own real-life instruments. In addition to drumming, Hallie began to take on singing duties while Dylinn stayed with guitar. Before they continued with their own writing, their first sets were still full of grunge and rock covers, featuring cuts from AFI, Hole and Rage Against The Machine. “That’s all we knew, so that’s what came out of us,” says Hallie. “The more we developed our own musical taste throughout high school, we totally changed our sound,” says Dylinn.
They began to tour every weekend while also searching for a steady writing and producing partner. “No one pushed us like we wanted to be pushed,” says Dylinn. “It was always some kind of conflict or fighting in terms of musical taste, or where we wanted the song to go,” adds Hallie.
The duo are going for it every way they can; along with future song releases on the horizon, they’re more than ready to tour and play for crowds again. “We really shine when we play live,” says Hallie. “We’re excited to show everyone how fun our concerts can be.”
Beyond that, the two just want Good Boy Daisy to be known to the world. “As a band, we hope to become the coolest household name,” says Dylinn. “We’re real people,” says Hallie, “and I can’t wait for everyone to know who we are.”