The Start (Origination Story)

We met when a mutual friend put a garage band together to play at our high school talent show. We auditioned and performed decently for a group with only a few rehearsals. There were 7 of us in that first group, 5 guys, 2 gals.

We were Napoleon Dynamite in the flesh.

But, then there was Ms. Morgan, the high school assistant principal, and we had to get through her first…

She was not going to let us play because of “suggestive lyrics” in the song we auditioned with for the show. It was a Tom Petty and the Heartbreaker’s hit song, Breakdown…

Ms. Morgan: “I’m sorry, but we just cannot let you go on. The lyrics of that song are waaaay too suggestive.”

Us (confused): “Huh??...What part?”

Ms. Morgan: “Didn’t you sing ‘Break down, go ahead GIVE it to me’? No…that is not going to fly.”

Us: “Oohhh…Really??…Well, what if we change it? We can sing ‘Go ahead and say it to me’ or something like that, right?”

Ms. Morgan (very reluctantly): “Well, okay, but you better make sure you do, or there will be consequences!”

The next day at rehearsals, well, we were pissed. So, what do you do? We concocted a plan for revenge.

We were signed up to play Breakdown and The Clash’s Train in Vain, and we decided that when those two were complete, we would refuse to leave the stage and go right into a third number … AC/DC’s Highway to Hell …but with a twist…instead of “hell” we would sing “Yeah!” and make a mockery of the prudishness that was Ms. Morgan and her ilk.

Thus, the birth of The Highway to Yeah!

The call to get out on the H2Y represents a rebellious love of free expression that unites The Leavers to this day.

We continued the band into college, With a couple of iterations, rotating drummers, of course, and then went our separate ways for a time. We stayed connected though, and after David Bowie’s passing in 2016, and Tom Petty’s in 2017, we decided it was time.

It is time to get back out on the Highway to Yeah, for you and for us. 

Can you dig it? We hope that you can.