The sisters who made their mark in the hardcore scene have a new single, showcased by Local Spins this week along with fresh tracks by The Native Howl, Full Cord and other Michigan artists.
Creating a Memorable Live Experience: Hail Your Highness (Courtesy Photo)
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Spawned by northern Michigan’s hardcore scene as teens, the sisters in Hail Your Highness have since settled on a somewhat softer, dreamier, indie-rock version of themselves.
They’ve even created a seven-song soundtrack for a “precious” new sci-fi/fantasy novella being published later this year – an Aimee Ogden-authored book featuring a watermelon radish and a fox as its central characters.
“It’s this beautiful little story,” said guitarist and singer Jessie Bobenmoyer of the project she recorded with her sister and drummer, Niki, for Vermont publisher Psychopomp that officially releases the “Starstruck” novella on June 17.
Creating a Novella Soundtrack: Hail Your Highness (Courtesy Photo)
“They approached us and we were like, wow, that is really interesting: You want to score essentially a soundtrack to a novella. That’s such a cool thing. … We’re just super stoked about it. It will be the most songs we’ve released at one time in a very long time … so it’ll be nice to see how that resonates with people.”
The sisters also are stoked about their brand new single, “You Again,” released last week. They describe the song as creating “a sense of catharsis” while “deconstructing over 20 years of indoctrinated, high-control religion,” recorded at Indianapolis’ Threshold Studio Productions with engineer Brian “Bone” Thorburn.
“It’s definitely a sense of us honoring ourselves now, but also honoring and giving justice to our younger selves who didn’t quite know how to express what we’re able to express now that we’re older and have lived it,” said Niki.
Added Jessie: “‘You Again’ is definitely a shift for us in being more open what we went through as kids with religious indoctrination. It’s a representation of letting go of a version of yourself that you can never get back and coming to peace with that.”
VIDEO: “You Again,” Hail Your Highness
MAKING LIVE SHOWS ‘AS FULL AND AS HUGE AS POSSIBLE’
Raised in Grayling surrounded by rock ’n’ roll, the sisters in Hail Your Highness have made music the centerpiece of their existence from a young age, with Jessie sneaking strums on her dad’s guitar at age 7 or so (“The guitar was as big as you,” recalled Niki) and Niki starting out on a little electric drum-pad kit.
By their teens, they were so serious about their music they turned to home-schooling so they could concentrate on their hardcore-leaning songs and touring, eventually solidifying their sound in 2016 as a two-piece band.
“That’s always something that shocks people when they see us live,” Jessie said. “We do utilize (backing) tracks. All the tracks we record ourselves are built by Niki, so everything is us, and we really do like to sound as full and as huge as possible, just so it really drives our sound home.”
The duo also utilizes visuals as a backdrop, synced with their tracks, “which is super-cool just to add another layer of just creating an experience …”
Added Niki: “We’re essentially creating a show we would want to experience as the listener or the person viewing it.”
On Stage at The Pyramid Scheme: Hail Your Highness (Photo/Chelsea Whitaker)
They insisted that being on the road with their parents at a very young age allowed them to “learn life skills” in a hands-on way.
“It was easier to learn through music and song and just self-expression and being outside,” Niki said. “You’re learning how to be in the real world, and I think that is definitely a very different experience for the majority of what teenagers experienced growing up.”
And while hardcore “was a huge outlet” for the sisters as teenagers when they leaned into screaming and heavier vibes, Jessie said they eventually “started incorporating these indie elements and really special shoegazey elements” into their music.
“I think a lot of it started when we got into a band called The 1975,” Niki added. “They really softened our sound. They shifted us into a more pop, softer indie approach because it was getting hard physically to perform heavy music every night back to back.”
The band performs May 17 at GT Vinyl Roof Top in Cadillac, June 14 at Rotten Princess Records in Grayling, June 28 at Pug Fest in Ferndale, July 26 at The Coin Slot in Traverse City, and Aug. 8 at Ziggy’s in Ypsilanti.
“We’re proud to be part of the diverse community that resides in Michigan,” Jessie said. “It definitely helped fuel that teenage Midwest angst that inspires so much great music.”
For this week’s edition of Local Spins, Hail Your Highness featured the band’s new single as well as the song, “Dandelion,” written after the death of a friend.
Listen to the interview and the duo’s songs below as part of the podcast of the Michigan music showcase which also featured tracks by The Native Howl, All Points Bulletin, David Chown, Miriam Pico & Laurie Sears, La Dispute, The Vig Arcadia, Full Cord, Joshua Davis, Travis Atkinson and Saltbreaker.
Local Spins regularly airs on Fridays and Sundays on WYCE (88.1 FM), which currently is hosting its Spring Fund Drive. Consider a donation to keep this community radio station showcasing Michigan music and eclectic programming by clicking on the “Donate” button here.
The show also airs at 7 p.m. Saturdays on Interlochen Public Radio.
PODCAST: Local Spins Michigan Showcase (4/25/25)
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