FIRST LISTEN: Jason Scott & the High Heat, ‘Suffering Eyes’

The narrator of Jason Scott & the High Heat‘s “Suffering Eyes” is perpetually unlucky in love — but he’s certainly not blameless in the situation.

Scott wrote the newly released song, which is premiering exclusively on The Boot, after a conversation with a patron at a bar he was playing. The man “was wasted and lamenting about recently losing the ‘love of his life,'” the artist recalls; however, Scott adds, “It didn’t take long to figure out he’d been here before, and would be again. It was all her fault, and he couldn’t understand what he’d done wrong.”

“He said ‘F–k sad girls’ when he got up to smoke a cigarette. That stuck with me for some reason,” explains Scott, who turned the man’s plight into “Suffering Eyes,” a jangly, heartland rock-meets-alt-country lament. His parting words appear in the bridge: “I know it’s tragic, baby / I know it is what it is / You f–k with sad girls, I guess you get what you get.”

“Suffering Eyes” is the lead single from Jason Scott & the High Heat’s forthcoming new album, Castle Rock. Due out on Feb. 11, 2022, the project is the full-length debut from the Oklahoma City-based band.

“Castle Rock is a town in Colorado I moved to when my parents split up as a kid,” says Scott, who grew up in the Pentecostal church and was a preacher-in-training before leaving the church and devoting himself to a career in music. “It felt fitting as the title of our first full-length record. It’s a tribute to changing times and unknowns, and we certainly had our share of those during the writing and recording of this album.

“The artwork shows the star that sits atop the rock; it’s been up there forever, and you can see it from miles away,” Scott adds. “Hopefully, Castle Rock the record can be this kind of monument or marker for those who hear it. I know it’ll always be special to us in that way.”

In addition to Scott, Jason Scott & the High Heat are guitarist and keys player Taylor Johnson, bassist Ryan Magnani, guitarist Gabriel Mor and drummer Alberto Roubert. Fans can keep up with them at JSAndTheHighHeat.com.