High Waisted is a lot of things: a surf-rock band that throws raucous Lower East Side parties, friends and roommates, a group of people who stay up late and get up early. Their whirlwind energy gets channeled into creating a boisterous atmosphere just as much as into the music. (Their website, so anti-corporate, ends in .party rather than .com).
The band is fronted by Jessica Louise Dye, a compact battery of infinite energy. Dye orchestrated the recording of High Waisted's first major piece, Acid Tape, in a rumored-to-be-haunted punk squat in Nashville (on acid, of course). The four-piece band came back to New York, where they all met, for their first full album, On Ludlow. There’s no contradiction in East Coast surf rock for her, Dye says: “When I first moved to New York, I was really big into surfing.” Five days a week, “I would get up, be on the train by 4:45 A.M., and be in the water by 6. Who says New York can’t be a surf town?”
They’re also keeping up more traditional New York habits, like having big parties in slender spaces. In a conversation over beers, Dye tells us how to do it:
"Lots of dark nooks and crannies. Dim lighting, preferably red because everyone looks way sexier in red lighting. It’s a proven fact, bars know it. Everyone has to have lowered their inhibitions a little bit to be a little naughty. Naughty is good. Confidence. I need all my after-party guests to be excited for what might come. I pour champagne down everyone’s mouth. There is a lot of flash photography involved. Balloons; I love balloons. I bring balloons to every after-party. And adrenaline. That’s another ingredient. After-parties need adrenaline."
All right: balloons, red lightbulbs, adrenaline. Make a list.
