Last month it was announced that Danish psych-blues rockers Highway Child would reunite at Freak Valley Festival 2025 in June. It’s been a minute since the last word from the band — whose first two albums, 2008’s On the Old Kings Road (review here) and 2009’s Sanctuary Come (review here) were released through Elektrohasch Schallplatten; a third, self-titled full-length followed in 2011, and to-date, that’s the discography — but that strum at the head of “Lonelytime Blues” still rings like a clarion of garage-style heavy rock, bluesy enough to live up to its name and shuffling in its groove like the best of heavy ’70s rock while keeping its bluesy foundation in swing and mood such that they avoid sounding like Graveyard. Circa 2009, this was an accomplishment unto itself.

Indeed, it’s difficult for me to separate Highway Child — then comprised of vocalist Patrick Lykke Heinsøe, bassist Christian Norup, guitarist Paw Eriksen and drummer Andreas Henriksen — from the time circa 15 years ago when they came up. Considering how the rest of the 2010s would shake out, they were probably three or four years ahead of their time with the 11-track/36-minute first LP, not only getting a jump on the vinyl revival but on the ascent of a psychedelic bluesy sound. They weren’t the first to adopt the sound among their generation, but their take on On the Old Kings Road is rife with a sense of refresh, bringing together poppy Beatlesian bounce, some shove and melodic wisp inherited from turn-of-the-century desert rock as emphasized by Queens of the Stone Age, rad jangly basslines, soul and swing.

At the time, Highway Child were distinct from a lot of what Elektrohasch were releasing. The German imprint helmed by Stefan Koglek, also of the band Colour Haze, was at the time digging into the European underground to find the next generation of heavy psychedelic rock. Bands like Hypnos 69, BeenObscene, My Sleeping Karma, The Machine and The Kings of Frog Island had given the label a formidable roster of underground acts, soon to be bolstered by the woefully shortlived ascent of Sungrazer from the Netherlands.

Highway Child were a part of this movement while also being apart from it. As “Branded a Fool” dons an acoustic arrangement and a semi-Western strut, the band counteract the twisty heft of “Change Yourself,” but the sleaze of fuzz rocker “Highclass Bitch” — which let’s just say probably isn’t a song that gets written in this day and age; or at least gets a different title — builds to a solo-topped culmination that a sunnier piece like “Lovin’ Lovin'” or the rush of “Love for Sale” flesh out as an aspect of Highway Child‘s persona. This pulls together the bluesy vocal reach of “Gold” with its classy, somewhat restrained shuffle and the penultimate “Just Like You,” which takes the boogie and tambourine-for-extra-movement mentality of “Love for Sale” just before it and blows it out party-style with a stage-ready fiery blues jam, ready for the eponymous closer “Highway Child” to back it with firm declaration. However it’s ultimately defined in terms of vibe — and I’ll argue for it as a nascent version of what in the years since has taken shape as a heavy psych blues sound; kin to some of what Elektrohasch was doing at the time but on its own wavelength — the band brought vitality to the studio and a sense of variety to the songs.

As rockin’ a start as “Lonelytime Blues” and “Change Yourself” give it before “Branded a Fool” unplugs with prescience for “High” at the tracklisting’s middle, On the Old Kings Road is never only about one thing. As the centerpiece, “High” rolls out with harmonica hypnotics to complement the vocals and acoustic guitar, and where “Lovin’ Lovin'” departs into ’60s-type psych rock “Oooh”s and such — thrillingly holding its rhythm all the while — that shift underscores the manner in which Highway Child let each song become its own thing.

It’s not that the album isn’t fluid in terms of how the tracks are arranged. Just the opposite. Each piece brings another look, another element, sometimes just a tempo change or a break, that adds something to the entirety. As such, the full course of On the Kings Road becomes richer, and though the band never quite had a penchant for the same kind of molten heavy exploration as some of their peers — thinking of a band like The Machine, who at this point where more directly jam-based, or the jazzier aspects of BeenObscene — hindsight makes On the Old Kings Road feel all the more brazen for just how much it stands out as individualized in the end. The context that just a couple years later, Elektrohasch would stand behind the first All Them Witches record and ignite an influential course of the subgenre that continues to flesh out, brings to light just how much potential their was in psych-blues at the time. Or, if you want to put it to a different label, consider The Devil and the Almighty Blues.

But the dictates of trend are what they are, and Highway Child‘s tenure as a band went the way it did. As to the story of their reunion, in January they were announced for Kun For Forrykte festival — Freak Valley was announced after; there’s also a club show this August in Aalborg — and had this to say about it: “So, we met up at the end of last year and had some fun. That turned to be quite a night, so we kinda decided it was time for us to blast some ears off again.” Simple as that. Band who’s not a band decides to be a band again.

I do not know who’s in Highway Child at this point in terms of personnel, whether it’s all the same players or not, but the basic question at this point is how much of a reunion we’re talking about, and that’s probably not a question the band can answer until these shows are done and a response is gauged. Reissues or a new album? Slow down. It’s true to the organic style of the music they play that the band would take their time, see how these shows go, and then take it from there rather than enact some broad-looking 10-year plan or some such. Highway Child will get back on the stage, I assume playing at least some of these songs. Whatever happens subsequent, that’s good news.

As always, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading.

—

At the risk of being honest, I feel more than a bit like I’m limping to the finish of the week. Literally as I hurt my ankle the other day and figuratively on an existential level. There was a bunch of news that I’m behind on, from a Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol video to a new Candlemass EP and the first single from the Temple Fang record, but I woke up yesterday morning to start writing the Kryptograf review I’d planned to put up today — obviously it didn’t happen — and just couldn’t get it started.

Admittedly, I’d woken up at 3AM and my head was elsewhere, but I stared at the screen for like 45 minutes between being distracted by other stuff and decided that was enough torturing myself for an album that’s actually fun and let it go. If I can find a day, I’ll write it up, because it’s a good record and there’s a decent amount to say, but if I don’t get there I’ve saved a space for it in the next Quarterly Review.

That happens three weeks from Monday. Starts April 7 and runs seven days to Tuesday, April 15. That lets it end right as I’m leaving for Roadburn, which will be dumb interms of keeping up with announcements or whatever else is going on in the universe other than writing about 10 records a day or covering what will be one of the busiest festivals I attend this year, but the writing needs to get done and I don’t have anyone to blame except myself for my own stupid scheduling. It’ll work out.

Busy weekend coming up, at least for the kid. She had a playdate yesterday, a kid came over, and it was fine, and there’s another playdate tomorrow morning and then Sunday is a birthday party. Tonight Brant Bjork is in PA and tomorrow he’s in Brooklyn. It’s sold out tonight and I don’t know about tomorrow. Fair enough. Would be cool to see the Trio after catching them in Budapest last summer, but I don’t think it’s doable. Alas.

Last weekend we had The Patient Mrs.’ mother’s 70th birthday party, and so a lot of this week was dedicated to recovering from that, so I guess it makes sense I’m exhausted, but I ended up taking yesterday for some downtime after banging out the news posts for today — plenty of time to do that when you wake up at 3AM — and hung out with The Patient Mrs. and that did me a world of good as it will. The evening I was nodding out on the couch and she was at a school board meeting, the kid playing Mario Odyssey, tired from her playdate. At least if I’m limping into the weekend, I’m not alone. Next week is The Patient Mrs.’ Spring Break. Such as it is, relief is on the way.

Okay, time to punch out. I hope you have a great and safe weekend. I’ll be back Monday with more shenanigans and old news stories you’ve already seen the press releases for. Don’t forget to hydrate and watch your head in the meantime.

FRM.

The Obelisk Collective on Facebook

The Obelisk Radio

The Obelisk merch

 

Tags: Denmark, Elektrohasch Schallplatten, Highway Child, Highway Child On the Old Kings Road, On the Old Kings Road

This entry was posted on Friday, March 14th, 2025 at 11:28 am and is filed under Bootleg Theater. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.