Just because The Higher can bust out pop tunes, it doesn't mean that's what defines them. Their first two albums, Histrionics (2005) and On Fire (2007), branded the band's trademark sound of R&B and pure rock. "We fuse the rock and R&B that we know, and put it into our own words," founding member and bassist Jason "Face" Centeno says, citing Michael Jackson, The Dream, Al Green, Jimmy Eat World, and Maroon 5 as influences.