“HIGHFIVE was a Hardcore band straight outta Denver. I think they made a big enough impact that they are still somehow are a part of the consciousness here. I loved them not only because of their music, but the band’s vibe was irreverent – a big “no no,” in the let’s-take-ourselves-too-seriously world of Hardcore. In fact, if they could be summed up in two words, it would be “Fuck It.” This caused them to be scorned in certain corners of the scene and were dismissed as “Bullshit Watered Down Hardcore.” It was a moniker that they embraced with humor and I loved them for it. They were everything Rock and Roll is about. I pulled out my biggest guns to make sure their feature was special. At the time, I was very interested in moving my interviews from print to film. It was an idea that had been suggested to me since the beginning, but I was unable to do because I didn’t have the right mortals to make it happen. For Highfive, I did. I even unveiled new, royal attire, beginning with this feature. Using the contributions of the mega-talented Aaron Saye and Jeremy Atkins, we put together a little interview film that stands as a hilarious classic (Jeremy also took the death photographs). It’s something I was never able to achieve again with another band – at least not on the same level. Talking about this murder wouldn’t be complete, if I didn’t acknowledge guitarist, Bobby VaLeu (aka, Boy Toy Bobby). Bobby is like play dough. You can twist him, turn him, roll him into a ball and he will be Ok with all of it. He’s just a great dude. He posed with my band for the CD cover of “All The Cutest Boys are at Hardcore Shows.” (check out the photo at the bottom of this page ) That’s also Highfive’s guitarist Meth Candy Rhandy, down on his knees in front of him. Our guitarist Faggoty Ann didn’t show up to the shoot, so we had Rhandy put on his costume and join in on the fun. And finally, we used a snippet of a Highfive song to begin our song.”

~Maris The Great