Graduating from crowded basement gigs and DIY venues to their first Pitchfork performance is Chicago born NE-HI, a band that started as a one-time project and grew into one of the city’s favorite groups.
Members Jason Balla, Alex Otake, Michael Wells and James Weir met on DePaul’s campus, though none of them were studying music. In fact, their becoming a band was pretty accidental—a friend knew they had been casually jamming together and asked them to score a film he was working on. The film never materialized, but the self-taught musicians decided to stay together.
According to Michael Wells, the band’s guitarist, not much has changed since NE-HI’s conception—other than adjusting to crowd size.
“We were playing basements mostly back then, and DIY spaces. We kind of learned that we had to play a little differently or our songs needed to hold up in a place other than a cramped basement with all of our friends,” Wells said. “We had to learn to use what we had, our energy and what we do naturally, and hone it into writing songs that fit bigger rooms.”
NE-HI takes inspiration from ’70s and ’80s post-punk bands like Wire and Echo & the Bunnymen, creating an intimate, nostalgic sound—and you could say nostalgia is kind of their thing.
The Empty Bottle and the now-defunct Animal Kingdom music venue in Logan Square are two of the spots that NE-HI frequented in their earlier days, though the band still considers The Empty Bottle, where Wells and Balla work, a home-base. There’s no question that NE-HI’s Chicago roots are central to the band’s unity.
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“Being from Chicago and getting started here is very different because all of our friends—and when I say friends I especially mean anyone that’s supported us from the beginning—come to our shows,” Wells said. “To have these people that supported our music from when we first started and no one else gave a (bleep) is cool.”
Even now, when people do “give a (bleep),” NE-HI’s attitude remains the same: humble. When asked what they were most excited for with their performance at Pitchfork, Wells was just happy to be able to attend the festival.
“I think we are playing the main stage which is pretty cool,” he said. I’ve never been to Pitchfork. Im really excited to see what its all about and see all the cool bands playing.”
You can catch NE-HI at their pre-festival show at Lincoln Hall on July 15 and at Pitchfork on July 16.
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