Johnny Stevens, vocalist and guitarist for the Brooklyn-based trio Highly Suspect, stepped into the alleyway outside our San Francisco offices to perform a stripped down version of “Saratonia.”

The band, which also features twins Rich and Ryan Meyer, got their start in 2009 while they were working as a cover band in Cape Cod. The band recently released their full-length Mister Asylum; they previously released three EPs and an eponymous full-length.

Stevens has said the band’s sound evolved from laid-back, beach reggae roots from their days on the coast to their current harder rock sound -- a sound that has earned them comparisons to Kings of Leon, Queens of the Stone Age and other rockers of that ilk. In regard to the move from the groovy vibe to harder rock, he told the paper:

“Our style definitely has evolved,” he said. “Moving to the city, just seemed to open us up from that vibe. In New York City, when you’re surrounded by bricks and buildings, and the people in Brooklyn, where we live, you have very different experiences to write about. Everything in our songs is taken from our own experiences – nothing is fabricated – so living in New York just opened up a whole lot of new possibilities.”