INTERVIEW: Mona Miluski – High Fighter

Heavy metal’s underground is alive and well. Populated by countless bands brimming with quality, the underground may be a tough proving ground for bands to start their ascension up the ranks, but, for the fans, we are more than spoilt for choice. Since their formation in 2014, German sludge/stoner crew HIGH FIGHTER have been forging quite the reputation with 2016’s debut full length Scars & Crosses racking up praise. Now, two years after their effort, the band are taking to the road once again for a short stint across mainland Europe and the UK. We spoke to vocalist Mona Miluski to talk about the tour (which we here at Distorted Sound are proudly sponsoring), alongside discussing their killer sound and where the band are up to with album number two.

Hello and thank you for taking the time to talk to Distorted Sound today. You are currently gearing up for a short run across the UK in August. What can we expect from this upcoming tour?

Mona: Thanks for having us on Distorted Sound. It’s been more than three years ago that we toured the UK on our first European tour ever back in early 2015, and we’re stoked to finally return. We will be touring with MY DIABLO and TUSKAR, two killer duo’s from the UK, I love this diverse and mixed package of heavy bands! Expect some heavy, sweaty and energetic shows, with lots of old and new song material we will perform live on stage.

One of the dates on this run is Riff Fest is Bolton so is it fair to assume that this tour has been booked to centre around this upcoming festival show?

Mona: That’s true. When we got invited to play Bolton’s Riff Fest, we booked a few shows around it, with the big help and support of Buried in Smoke Promotions. We come a long way from Hamburg, Germany, so a proper tour around it only made sense and we look forward to also play some new places we have never been to before. On our way and back, we will also stop for some shows in the Netherlands, France as well as Luxembourg. So yeah, it seems the idea of playing Riff Fest, now almost became a proper European tour.

This tour is hitting up a number of smaller places here in the UK. Was that always a conscious decision, to have HIGH FIGHTER perform in some of our smaller towns?

Mona: Not really, at least we haven’t thought about it that much. It’s a good mix of small and big towns I’d say, we once played London and it’s been awesome, on the other hand we look forward to play a city like Edinburgh for the very first time. And we only heard good things from shows and the scenes in Bristol as well as all other places we will hit on this tour. It’s not always about the size, but about having a good time with good people, no matter where.

How does the UK scene compare to that of back home in Germany?

Mona: I can only speak for us as an underground band of an underground scene, I don’t see any big difference. A rock n roll spirit is a rock n roll spirit, a metal crowd is a metal crowd, the joy of heavy music has no borders. But I do see a difference when it comes to booking shows, as well as some kind of, let me say hospitality for bands. The UK is a tough market to play live, especially for small bands from abroad. No real fees, and you can be really lucky if you get a warm meal or a drink. Dealing with UK promoters is different compared to for example in Germany. Maybe because every band wants to play the UK, and if you don’t like their deal in which you won’t get food, drinks or a place to sleep, you can fuck off and play somewhere else. German venues or promoters, as well as in a lot of other countries we have toured so far, seem to take a bit more care about the bands they host for a show. At least and so far, we were lucky to experience that way over here. So please, come to our upcoming shows and help us to buy some food and drinks, [laughs]!

And this tour comes still in support of 2016’s Scars & Crosses. Now that your debut has been out for a number of years, how have you found the reception for that record?

Mona: We actually never expected the attention and such heavy support we got for Scars & Crosses. We mix quite a lot of styles in our music, what didn’t make it really easy for us in the beginning to be honest. People need to categorise, it’s our human nature. You can’t put us into one category only, and we even may have confused people with that in the beginning. Is it metal? Is it stoner, doom or sludge? What is this band about. We never cared about one style or tried to fit into one scene only. Being the open-minded spirits we are, we just kept doing our thing. So we really appreciate that nowadays it seems to be more and more okay for people that we like to mix genres, that you may even find several different styles happening in one song. Our debut got us on a lot of various shows, we could play Wacken but also a Desertfest, we toured with black metal bands such as DOWNFALL OF GAIA, heavy doom bands such as AHAB or CONAN, and the other time with ELDER or played a show with Brant Bjork. The various our music may be, the more various we are when it comes to play live and receive attention from more than just one heavy music scene. The album also got us a lot of great press, reviews and features all over Europe and the UK, we’re still stoked and grateful how it all turned out for us with our first album, with a lot of support from our label Svart Records, too.

So moving forward, where are you and HIGH FIGHTER up to with your next studio record? Any details you’d care to share?

Mona: We are in the middle of heavily writing our new album, and we plan to release it in the Spring of 2019. We may not be the fastest ones when it comes to releasing one record after the next, as we tour a lot in between and there are all of us involved into the songwriting. But the record is getting more and more into the right shape, and we can’t wait until it finally sees the light of day early next year.

And for your next record, how do you feel you have developed as both a musician yourself and as a band on the whole?

Mona: For me personally, I appreciate the fact we could play live a lot, as we grew as a band on stage. And I think it’s important that all of us five people in the band are very open-minded when it comes to music in general. We individually dig many different styles and let them all happen to create a HIGH FIGHTER sound. Beside touring a lot and spending two days a week in our rehearsal room, HIGH FIGHTER also has a huge family vibe in the band. We spend a lot of time together, not just as a band, also as friends and family. All of these facts may have defined our development as a band.

With HIGH FIGHTER’s doom/sludge style can we expect you to carry on in that vein on the new release or do you have some tricks up your sleeve?

Mona: We always try to evolve our sound, but never write our songs by what people may wanna hear or expect next. Our style won’t change extremely and we will always continue to let a various mix of styles happen in our music. At this state I’d say, a few new songs may go a bit more progressive, while others may even have a punkish straight forward sound. Still under our sludge, doom and stoner metal blues flag, we just let it happen, no matter what genre you try to name it.

For the tour itself, can we expect any new songs to make an appearance in your set?

Mona: Yes we will definitely try a few brand new songs live on this upcoming tour. It will be a good mix of old and new ones.

You’ve shared the stage with the likes of CONAN, ELDER and performed at festivals like Wacken and Summer Breeze for example. How were those experiences and how have you helped grow the band?

Mona: Every tour, every gig, helped us to grow the band and we loved every single moment of it. Of course shows at like Wacken Open Air were huge for us! But no matter if there were hundreds of people or just ten in the crowd, we enjoy every live gig. Appreciate the great friendships we have made with other bands, such as ELDER, DOWNFALL OF GAIA, CONAN or AHAB to name just a few, we had so many fantastic moments and vibes with all of them, as well as made a lot of important experiences on tour, grown as a band and got the chance to play live as much as we can. That’s what we enjoy most, being on the road with great people, go on stage every night and simply having a good time out there.

To close, we’ll offer you the floor. Do you have anything to say to the readers of Distorted Sound?

Mona: Cheers for having us on Distorted Sound. We look forward to bring some distorted sounds live on stage this summer when we finally hit the UK again. Come and trip with us!

HIGH FIGHTER hit the UK later this month and we certainly recommend you check out a show. Tour dates are as follows: 

23.08.18 – TILBURG (NL) Little Devil **
24.08.18 – BOURNEMOUTH (UK) The Anvil
25.08.18 – BOLTON (UK) Riff Fest **
26.08.18 – EDINBURGH (UK) Bannerman’s
27.08.18 – BRISTOL (UK) The Old England
28.08.18 – MILTON KEYNES (UK) The Craufurd Arms
29.08.18 – LONDON (UK) The Devonshire Arms
30.08.18 – LILLE (FR) Bobble Café **
31.08.18 – PARIS (FR) Rigoletto **
01.09.18 – BELVAL (LUX) Mix n Kawa **
** HIGH FIGHTER only

For more information on HIGH FIGHTER like their official page on Facebook.