Biography:
To say that High Maintenance’s first album, “Wasted Time” almost broke the
band is an understatement, to say the least. After almost five years of
the ins and outs of band life, recording a CD almost became the final
chapter in a long story, and in the end changed the face of the band altogether. Call
it the group’s need for perfection, but “Wasted Time” almost ended up being
the title of the album for a completely different reason, that being the
time wasted in producing the album, as well as the previous four years that
the original members had spent together, putting as much time as they had
into making this band what it had come to be, one of the great local acts in the
Pittsburgh, Pa area. From this extremely difficult situation, the band has
been reborn, sporting some familiar faces, and a new one as well.
Each of the original four members of the group had played to together
in some way, shape or form in high school, as all attended Gateway High
School in Monroeville, PA. These were good times, but essentially a time
when nothing serious ever emerged between them. They each graduated and
went on to College, losing touch musically over the next five years, and in
some situations, lost contact all together. It wasn’t until a chance
situation occurred that, just as Mike Radage and Denny Stewart had joined
together to begin a band, Mike Bell and Dan Siegel had just reestablished
contact with the same intentions. The two groups came together to form
High Maintenance.
The next few years found the group playing clubs in the Pittsburgh
area, mainly as a cover band. No genre of music was out of the question,
as the band played tunes from the likes of Eric Clapton, Outkast, No Doubt,
Matchbox Twenty, Faith No More, and even Britney Spears. It could never be
said that someone could come to a show and not hear at least something that
they liked. The draw to a High Maintenance concert was based around a high
energy, fun and entertaining evening that the concertgoer was certain to
experience. This continued for the first 3 years, until the band became
complacent with the cover scene and wanted to move in a different
direction…
The next phase of High Maintenance focused around the band beginning
to produce music of their own. It began almost unnoticeably, as the group
wrote their first song together, “Gone”. Shortly after, “Rearranged”
materialized, but would go through many different overhauls before making
any kind of appearance at a show. These songs would end up being placed
into set lists, sometimes without ever being mentioned. The songs had very
positive feedback, and it spurred the band into creating more original music,
which would get equally positive feedback. There was only one thing
left to do…
2005 would be the year the band finally got into the studio to
record a full length album. It was a time that everyone was very excited
about, however, long hours and conflicting ideas would take their toll on
the group. It would take almost a year to complete the actual recording,
and in the end, was too much to keep the band together. Too many
differences in opinion and too many internal struggles forced the group to
part ways, leaving the original CD’s release in doubt.
After the split, Denny Stewart, Mike Bell, and Dan Siegel decided to
get back into the studio to finish the CD. Although they decided not to
reform the group, they did want something to remember the past five years
that were spent together. During this time, Mike Radage joined with Shadow
Jones, and up and coming group in the Pittsburgh area, and decided against
finishing up the album in order to focus his efforts with his new group.
The three finished the CD, and moved on to other endeavors.
With Denny Stewart moving to Philadelphia to pursue other interests
and Mike Radage enjoying success in Shadow Jones, Mike Bell was left with
only one alternative in attempting to reform the band. He persuaded Dan
Siegel to rejoin, and the search began for members to fill the open
positions. The first to sign on would be a guitar virtuoso out of
Somerset, PA named Jim Mulhollen. Mulhollen’s talent far exceeded anyone
the band had seen, and with that came the answer to the problem of filling
the void left from Denny Stewart’s extremely versatile lead playing. The
biggest obstacle came from attempting to add a new bassist. Mike Radage
was a gifted bassist, and a perfect match for the group. Where would the
group find another like him? It would just so happen that Shadow Jones, at
that point, were having a bit of a shake up as well, leaving Mike without a
group. Bell and Siegel were quick to convince Radage to come back, and
High Maintenance was reborn.
The band wants to learn from previous mistakes and is once again
prepared for the long haul, armed with a new cd, and new lineup of talent.
Where they go from here will pretty much be decided by how far they want to
go… Members Bios: