What’s going on everyone? With the upcoming 2013 CMJ Music Marathon coming up, I was thinking of all of the bands I wanted to see, and bands that I already knew, etc. For some of these bands, I’ve known them for a while. It’s been really nice seeing them flourish over time and getting some awesome press coverage.

I’ve been noticing lots of “I’m excited to see this band at CMJ!”, and “Be sure to check out this artist at CMJ!” types of posts. Despite that, I’m very surprised that I have not seen or heard a lot of hype regarding this band that we have had many times here on Musicbeards. That band is Highly Suspect.

Recently, they put out an e.p entitled “Black Ocean E.P.”, and it’s amazing. Pure rock and roll going on here. Lyrics are always personable and passionate. Music is full of energy that goes 100 mph all the time, and never lets up. Each track has their own little moment, but as a collection they are very nice together as well. While I like all of the songs of the E.P., my favorite tracks have to be Lydia, Guess What, and Bath Salts.

In addition to their wonderful music, I’ve had the pleasure of seeing them live before. If you like their recordings, you’re going to love their live show. You can’t help but move and dance around at their shows. They are also some of the coolest and caring people I have ever seen. While I have never met them face to face, I’ve seen them interact with others. Very respectful people.

While there are certainly more artists at CMJ I want to check out and have other people listen to, (There’s over 1,000 artists!), I’m a firm believer that the good people who will be attending the CMJ festival need to check out Highly Suspect. If high energy alternative rock with passionate lyrics sounds good to you, go see these guys at CMJ. You will not regret it.