Hello everyone. Hi! We’re here with Benjamin (singer) and Ben (guitarist) from Highway. How are you?
Ben - Very well.
Benjamin - Very well, and you?

Good. How is this promo day going? How do you feel about the hype surrounding the album?
Ben - It’s great! It’s cool, it’s fun.
Benjamin - It’s moving forward, it’s getting closer. We’re more and more impatient.
Ben - The release is imminent. We’re delighted, and it’s great to meet medias, to talk about all the work we’ve done for over a year. That’s it, this is the outcome. The baby is about to be born. We can’t wait.

On April 24th, 2026, Last Call for Rock’n’Roll will be released. So why this title? Why “Last Call”?
Benjamin - Well, basically, we wanted it to be a kind of unifying album. Something like a rallying point around that title, Last Call for Rock’n’Roll, to say: we’re not lost. There’s a bit of an end-of-the-world theme on the album cover.
Ben - And in life.
Benjamin - Not that much. But yeah, we wanted to say that rock is still here, we’re still here, and so are the other artists. And Last Call for Rock’n’Roll is a nice battle cry.
Ben - Yeah, a battle cry, a rallying call. Rock’n’roll will save the world. That’s what we’re saying. That’s what we need.
Benjamin - We need to spread it, it’s a good word.
Ben - It’s like a loudspeaker saying: come on, this is the last call, this is the moment to join us.

So isn’t that a bit paradoxical? Because in a way, you’re bringing back something, a style that was more popular in the 80s and 90s, and you’re bringing it back today, in a refreshing way. Isn’t that a bit paradoxical, this idea of “now is the time to join us”?
Ben - No, actually, that’s exactly why we need it. There isn’t that much of it anymore. And I think this kind of good vibe rock that we’re offering, we need it. Everyone needs it in their life. You shouldn’t miss that call. That’s all it is. So it’s not paradoxical. We are like that, we make that kind of music, and I think people need it. Rock’n’roll that makes you feel good. Simple. Not depressive.
Benjamin - Yeah, that’s true.
Ben - It’s true that in metal and rock nowadays, there’s often a darker side, more and more. And I think we need light instead.
Benjamin - We want to bring color. Bring fun, desire, joy.
Ben - That’s what rock’n’roll is for us.

How did the creation of the album start? What launched it?
Ben - The time had come.
Benjamin - Yes, exactly. We were coming out of a Covid period where we worked on an acoustic album, and we wanted to go back to an electric album, like we had done before, but more accomplished, with more work and research on melodies and sounds. We wanted to show what we can do better now than before.
Ben - So yeah, that’s how the process started. The previous album came out in February 2022, so 2023 and 2024 we toured around that. Then we got back into writing Last Call. Anyway, it’s a never-ending process. When you like writing songs, you finish some and you start writing new ones.
Benjamin - You make an album, you play shows, and then you want to make another one. You’ve evolved, you’ve grown, your life has changed or not, and you want to bring what you can do now, new things, feed from the past few years.
Ben - That’s the writing process of an artist.

If you had to choose just one thing, what has evolved the most since your first album?
Benjamin - Just one thing… The melodies. The work on melodies, the work on vocals… everything. We already had songs with very catchy choruses, but the idea here was to push that even further. Like: wow, this song is cool, it stays in your head. We really tried to push that to the maximum.
Ben - Yeah, the melody, definitely. At the beginning, for me, a song had to be a good guitar riff first. I tended to focus on guitar. Then you’d write a melody over it. Now, for me, the core of a song is the melody. As a composer, I almost start with a vocal line now, with chords behind it, and then we build everything around it. I kind of switched the way I see things. Before it was really guitar first, now it’s what will touch people, us and the audience, what will make you feel good: the melody. That’s what changed.

Were there songs that you started working on but didn’t make it onto the album?
Ben - There are bits, yeah. If we finished a song, it’s on the album. But yeah, there are riffs lying around. I’ve got loads of riffs on my phone, jam ideas and stuff, and a lot of them will probably be starting points for the next album. So yeah.

So no actual full songs left aside?
Benjamin - No. Everything that was finished is on the album.
Ben - The best of the best is on the album.

How do you compose as a band?
Ben - Usually I come with a general idea: music, vocal line. Then I bring it to the band, and everyone adds their own touch. Drums, bass, vocals… I build the foundations, basically.
Benjamin - And then we build it together.
Ben - We build it together. The decoration and everything.
Benjamin - We finish with the curtains.
(laughs)

We have an album with strong rhythms and big riffs, like in Action, but also softer moments, especially in Mayday, which almost feels like a ballad.
Benjamin - Yeah, it’s a ballad…
Ben - A personal ballad. Something apart. It’s not a power ballad, you know.
Benjamin - It’s kind of sweet. I hope it will be in the quiz. (laughters)
Ben - It’s a melancholic ballad, more like a 60s folk vibe, like Simon & Garfunkel.
Benjamin - Very focused on voices and harmonies. It talks about something personal.
Ben - Yeah, I wrote it after my father passed away. Mayday was the shock of losing him. It’s raw emotions put into singing. It couldn’t be a very fun song. But there’s still some light in the melody, some hope. It’s a personal cry, turned into music with the idea that at some point there’s a light that helps you get through it. It’s something we all go through after losing someone. We’ll all experience it at some point. I think this song can speak to everyone. It’s a pure melody. It’s not even about a musical style. It’s just a song. It can appeal to metal fans as well as people who listen to pop music. I think it’s the most universal track. I hope it will resonate with people the way it resonates with us.

Is there another song that matters almost as much to you (Benjamin) ?
Benjamin - Not as much, that’s not possible. For me, Mayday is really a special track, and it has a very personal story for Ben. I really wanted it to be successful for him, I put a lot of pressure on myself for that one. It touches me differently. But I really love the second single, Bang Bang. I love it. It makes me want to… As soon as I heard it, I already had images for the music video in my head. That feeling of walking through life happy, wanting your life to feel like that. It’s very festive, very light.

On Bang Bang, there are some blues and country vibes. It feels like you don’t limit yourselves.
Ben - We don’t limit ourselves.
(laughs)

It really feels like if you like a sound, you just go for it.
Ben - Exactly. No limits.
Benjamin - Not everything works though. Sometimes you go too far.
(laughs)

That’s where I was going. Do you have a specific example?
Benjamin - Not really, no. Maybe you do (Ben).
Ben - No specific example, but you can tell right away when it doesn’t work.
Benjamin - Yeah, that’s it. We worked a lot on harmonies, backing vocals, guitars… and sometimes we pushed things too far. At some point you realize it’s enough, there’s no need to go further.
Ben - And that’s where our producer comes in, saying: guys, that’s too much, better is the enemy of good. But yeah, we don’t limit ourselves when creating. We love folk, country, I’m a huge country fan, but I also love thrash. So there’s a bit of everything. We don’t say “we have to do hard rock only.” Maybe it won’t please purists, but we don’t care. We make the music we love, and it can also bring new people into rock and metal.

You mentioned your producer, Brett Caldas Lima. How did he influence the album?
Ben - On many levels. We had already worked with him before, but this time we went further. He gave us a real sonic identity.
Benjamin - He helped us do better what we already knew how to do. He elevated our ideas, our desires. He brought something extra.
Ben - He helped us break limits, pushed us forward.
Benjamin - There were moments in the studio where we wouldn’t have gone that far without him.
Ben - Or interpreted things that way.
Benjamin - Exactly.
Ben - And that’s amazing. Having that perspective is a real luxury.

Did you experiment something new on this album?
Ben - Yes, especially with guitar sounds. It’s the first time I worked that deeply on tones: different amps, different guitars, combinations… Before, I would just come with my riff and play. Now every song has its own sound, its own identity, while keeping a unity across the album. We also went very far with vocals. And there are lots of first times: percussion we never used before… It’s very rich. I think it’s the most accomplished work we’ve done.

What do you want people to feel after listening to the album?
Ben - That they feel happy.
Benjamin - That they feel good, happy, and that they think: what just happened?
Ben - Yeah, like wow, that was crazy.
Benjamin - And that they want to listen again. That they feel like they didn’t catch everything the first time.
Ben - And that they come back to it again and again.
Benjamin - That’s what I want. That at the end they feel like they experienced something.
Ben - That they spent an hour going through many emotions: fun, harder moments, melancholy, energy, smiles… something human.
Benjamin - It’s a human album, made by humans, for humans.

Do you have a message for your fans?
Ben - Thank you guys, thank you all.
Benjamin - Thank you for following us, some of you since the very beginning.
Ben - Welcome to the new ones.
Benjamin - Keep spreading the word of rock’n’roll that we’re trying to carry with Highway.
Ben - Come see us live. Music also lives on stage, so come support bands, us, others, the local scene, the French scene. It needs to stay alive. See you at the shows.

Thank you very much.
Benjamin & Ben - Thank you!