Twice As Nice
They turned down the major labels, built 1.3 million fans from street corners up, and just dropped their second album entirely on their own terms. High Fade are exactly the kind of band this platform was built for.
The story of High Fade is one of the more compelling ones in independent music right now. Harry Valentino, Oliver Sentence, and Heath Campbell didn’t get here through playlist algorithms or label machinery. They got here by playing anywhere that would have them — street corners, festivals, club stages across two continents — and letting the music do the work. What started as a viral busking phenomenon has become a genuine international force, and Twice As Nice is the record that proves it wasn’t a fluke.
Recorded between East Iris Studios in Nashville and London’s legendary RAK Studios, the album is their most ambitious and fully realized work yet. They turned down major label offers to stay on RPN Records, their own imprint, and that decision is audible in every track. There is no committee sound here. No compromise. Just three musicians who know exactly what they are doing and have given themselves the space to do it fully.
Twice As Nice channels the chaos and intensity of life on the road into something genre-defying. The funk is filthy — “Swamp” and “The Fly” lean hard into the band’s gritty roots, built on grooves that demand a physical response. But the album doesn’t stay comfortable. “War,” “Sick of Myself,” and “The Joke’s On You” push into darker territory, exploring conflict, frustration, and the kind of resilience that only comes from grinding it out for years without institutional support.
Then there are the storytelling tracks — “Retro Inferno,” “Room 634,” and “Dollar for the Bus” — which capture the strange poetry of touring life through sharp, unforgettable characters. These are songs that feel lived-in because they are. This band has spent years accumulating exactly the kind of experience that makes a record like this possible.
The range across eleven tracks is impressive without feeling scattered. High Fade have figured out how to expand their sonic palette without losing the thread of who they are — and that is harder than it sounds for a band coming off a viral origin story with something to prove.
From street corners to sold-out rooms across two continents — entirely on their own terms. That is not a marketing angle. That is the actual story.
For the EV audience, High Fade represent something worth paying attention to beyond just the music. They are proof that the independent route — the hard, slow, uncompromising version of it — still works. 1.3 million fans built through relentless touring and authentic chemistry. Major label offers turned down. A second album made exactly the way they wanted to make it.
That is the template. Not the shortcut. Not the algorithm play. The actual work, done over time, without asking permission. Whether you’re a fan of rock, funk, or just artists who operate on their own terms, Twice As Nice is worth your time — and the North American tour kicking off May 13 is worth finding a ticket for.
