Since we have just completed a tour of good ol' South Island, NZ, I thought it fitting for this blog to have a middle earthy title. Is it a copyright infringement? I'm sorry, Mr Jackson, if that is the case (resisting the urge to write "I am for reeeeeal" after that. Oh woops I already did).
So how was it?
IT WAS GREAT
We played with some rad bands, sold some merch, caught up with friends and family and even had some relaxation time. Highlights include a keytar legend by the name of Hong An of The Laon rocking Hey Joe, a security guard showing us pictures of his 50 guns whilst doing door duty and fitting all of our gear into a Daihatsu Cirion. Luckily we are small people.
The car is smaller than Drew, almost
This is the backseat. There was a small space for Peter to sit.
We flew into Christchurch on 13th February and after spending half an hour waiting in line for customs we were good to go. That evening we played with The Laon and Stomping Nick and his Blues Grenade. The Laon of course were fantastic, wonderful dudes and we were stoked to play with them. Hong has now gone back to South Korea, good luck to you, good sir. Stomping Nick is a man of many talents, as a one man band he rocks guitar, drums, vocals and harmonica all at once and rules at it. He blew us all away and everyone at Dux that night, if he comes to your town be sure to check him out. You can listen to his music online here
Stomping Nick does his thang
The Laon
We played too
Valentines day dawned bright and early and we set off for our home town, Dunedin, to play a show at Queens that night (not to be confused with Queens High School). Drew and I gifted each other V for valentines, while Peter's gal Tash was in Melbourne, so I assume he sent her a text or something. Romance ay. The road from Christchurch to Dunedin is long and uneventful, but the farmers leaving their muddy gumboots outside the Oamaru Subway made me tear up a little. Good ol' NZ. Never change.
We played Queens along with Bad Juju, Iron Mammoth and Black Sky Hustler that evening to an awesome crowd. Queens is a newish venue in Dunedin (new to us in any case) and it's a perfect little bar with vintage couches and even mirrors in the girls toilets. That gets my vote. Bad Juju are a 'drinking band with a singing problem' and are just incred. Their keyboardist Sarah definitely brings the sex appeal in a crocheted bikini, and you should probably never ever miss one of this bands shows, cause you'll probably regret it. Black Sky Hustler played a set of badass loud as fuck rock and we loved it. Queens loved it. The world would love it. And so would you. And of course the great Iron Mammoth were just fucking awesome. Drums, organ and trumpet/glockenspiel combine to make one hell of a band. We love them a LOT. Melbourne would love them too, so you cats in Iron Mammoth should get over here soon!
Black Sky Hustler
Bad Juju
Drew and Peter and their guitar/bass
About halfway through our set, Drew (in typical guitarist fashion) had some technical difficulties, so Peter and I embarked on our version of Spinal Tap's 'Jazz Odyssey'. One girl did some sexy coyote ugly style dancing down the front to that, so it must have been good.
We played the Waitati Music Festival (in Waitati, a 20 minute drive from Dunedin) the next evening after Drew and I attended a hens night and stag do respectively. The weather was cold, windy and rainy (welcome home, Honeybone) and I was sure people would leave before our set at 10 that night. But not only did people stay, but it seemed more people were around by the time we played (or maybe it was just dark). We finished the night with 'Rocking In The Free World' and got an encore. It came to our attention most people thought we were an Australian band, so we quickly assured the people of Waitati we were from just over the hill.
This kid wanted to punch ALL THE BUBBLES
Crowd at Waitati. All wicked cool people.
The Invercargill and Oamaru shows were both fantastic, it appears that the smaller NZ townships harbour a great love for live music. We played with Iron Mammoth and the Sparrow Thieves in Invercargill at Tillermans and the amazingly groovy Reed St Posse (who swap instruments!) in Oamaru at the Penguin Club. We loved playing both shows (Both venues had a drum riser!!) and the crowds were rad. The Invercargill show included a midnight/very early morning drive back to Dunedin, as we needed to organise things there early the next morning. I believe we arrived back in Dunedin at around 4am, and got up at 8am. Rock and roll indeed. We played Oamaru that night, so we were a little worse for wear, but it ended up being a great evening with the Reed Street girls and some sweet as Oamaru hospitality.
Peter at Tillermans setting up
Doing the door at Tilly's
Iron Mammoth!
The Penguin Club
Reed Street Posse at the Penguin Club!
Behind the drums
The next day we celebrated with Drew's sister Mal and her now husband Geoff as they were married in Moeraki. Drew played at the ceremony, was MC for the reception and we were also the wedding band. It was a wonderful afternoon/night and everything went pretty smoothly. Weddings ay. Tis the season.
After that, Drew and I went up to Alexandra for a few days to spend time with my parents, and it was a very relaxing 4 days. Peter hung out in Dunedin, and he enjoyed his time off too. Drew and I went on one of those paddle tricycle things at Lake Wanaka and two burly shirtless European boys came to drag us out of the water when we were done. Classic.
Romance
The last gig of the tour was 'Who Killed Dr Glam', a final glam rock show by the Doctor of Glam himself, (aka Ian Chapman), Honeybone and Kill Martha (along with Khamzin Tribe belly dancers and poet Proff Goff). It was incredible, amazing, and glittery. Ian is a lecturer at Otago Uni in the music department, so he taught Drew and I a few years ago. I was in the Dr Glam band back then, so when he was organising the last ever Dr Glam show it was awesome that he made it so I could play drums for him again. The venue (good ol' Refuel, where we used to play a lot back in the day) was packed, the beer was flowing and the glitter was being spread by stage manager and sex appeal artist Sarah. Somehow this same glitter is now on my bedroom floor in Melbourne. Glam will never die. Honeybone played directly before Dr Glam, so I played drums for around 2 or so hours that night. I was dirty and sweaty, tired and glittery by the end of it, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I was home.
Glam band - me on drums.
Thus ended our first South Island tour. It was probably the best trip I've ever had. Thank you to everyone who made it possible, our parents/families, the bands, everyone we borrowed gear off, and of course everyone who came to the shows. You are the reason bands like us exist, and we are so stoked to know all of you. I can't wait for the next trip home.
Our next gig is the Red Hill Music Festival on March 22nd. We are so excited about this gig, and it's for an awesome cause, as all profits from this festival go to the Shitbox Rally and the Cancer Council. If you can make it, we'll see you there!
xxx
This still hangs in the Refuel girls toilets. Our second ever gig. Pretty rad.
NB: I tried to change the blog design to reflect our new album artwork, but can't figure it out. Just pretend it's all updated and pretty :)
A very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!
My Mum's Christmas tree. She rules.
This year has been full of surprises, twists, turns and greatness. Our second year in Melbourne has been absolutely fantastic, and I thought what better way to round up the year than with a End of Year blog, especially since my last one was so long ago.
Of course, the most impressive thing we have done this year is finish the album, Talk Back Baby, which was a labour of love, most of the time. I for one had many moments where I turned into a three year old and whinged 'It's too haaaaard I don't waaant toooo'. Luckily for me my two awesome band mates are not as babyish and sorted me out. And we did it, it's done and released. I am so proud of it, my first ever full length album that I have released, and even if not many people hear it or give a shit, I know that I have done something to leave my mark on the world. The music will carry on after I'm gone, even if I have to make my grandkids play it to their friends (Jeez Grandma, this is old fogey crap).
Other fun things have happened this year. We moved to Coburg, and discovered a delightful little sandwich place called 'Tasty Sub'. All the sandwiches/wraps are $4, and they are awesome. And they're open like SUPER early. Bonus. More of our cool mates from NZ moved to Melbourne, and now we've got our own wee posse of people to come to shows and act like they're impressed. It works I tell you. Hype is everything. Fake it til you make it.
Drew started working at Cranbourne Music this year and has now started doing guitar and pedal repairs. He's moving on up in the world. I am still at my office job, and Peter is still at Daiso, confusing all the customers because he's not Japanese.
Probably the second coolest thing that happened this year was the Amanda Palmer House Party that happened at the 'Bone house back in September, and Amanda telling Dave Grohl about our band. I will probably never get over how awesome that weekend was, even if Mr. Grohl hears about twenty bands per day from various people, and if he never even checks us out, I will still be happy because he (and AFP) knows Honeybone exists. And let's face it, with a band name like that, we're kind of hard to remember.
Lately we've been putting our noses to the grindstone learning covers for Drew's sister's wedding in February. We are the wedding band, so we get to play songs like 'Why Does Love Do This To Me', 'Be Mine' and 'April Sun In Cuba'. Classic Kiwi stuff. What's amazing is how 'Why Does Love' is so well known and loved in New Zealand, and nobody knows it in Australia. I keep getting caught out by things like that over here, Australia and New Zealand seem so similar, and yet there's all these tiny differences in culture and language. You forget most people don't know what 'chur' or 'sweet as' means. Anyway, I digress. We haven't been practicing much of our own stuff, but don't you fret, we're not going anywhere and we're coming for YOU in 2014.
2014 is already panning out to be a rad year. We're going on our first ever official tour, playing Christchurch, Dunedin, Invercargill, Oamaru, Melbourne, maybe even Hobart and Sydney. Who knows what will happen. But I know if 2014 is anything like this year, it'll be awesome.
Keep on keeping on kids. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, from all of us here at Honeybone.
Thanks for all the support, and we'll see you in 2014.
Momo especially hopes you have a wonderful Christmas
After two and a half years, a lineup change and moving countries, we have finally released our debut album 'Talk Back Baby'. It's been such an incredible, stressful experience, both wonderful and horrible (only sometimes).
ALBUMS
We had our album launch at Melbourne venue Yah Yahs, and it was such a fun night. We played with our friends The Naysayers and The Velvets, who are both really awesome bands and you should go see them or listen to their stuff online when you get a chance.
The Velvets were up first and absolutely blew me away with their badassery, complete with Green Bullet harmonica microphone and loudspeaker vocals. We saw them last year and I was like woah, and this time I was like WOAH. They really are a must see band, fo sho.
The Naysayers were up next, and as per usual they rocked the casbah. They are the best 'non-threatening garage rock band' I know. They even played a Beatles song, after admitting they had recently played a wedding and had to learn a bunch of covers. I accidently spilled some cider on one of their new EPs (Dee Eye Why), but that's no reason not to buy one (which you can get here).
Then we were up, and boy was I itching to get behind those drums after seeing some wicked bands such as the above. We decided to play the album in it's entirety (probably the only time that's going to happen), so there were a few songs we had to practice quite a bit to get them worthy of a Honeybone set. Our poppiest song ever, 'Down My Rhode' was one of these, we have only ever played it once back when we were still a four piece. We had Drew's midi keyboard hooked up to my laptop which was running Garageband and got a really nice dirty electric piano sound. The main issue with this song was Drew transitioning from keys to guitar for the solo, but I think we managed it.
The below photos were taken by Dimi Kostakos, and she is rad. Thanks Dimi!
It was a wonderful sweaty set, probably one of our best we've played in Melbourne. We played for over an hour, yet it was over so quickly. For our last song we did 'That's Alright Mama' (made famous by Elvis and covered by many others) and our wonderful pal Ashleigh got up on stage and encouraged others to also. So we had a bunch of mates and randoms rocking out with us to close the night. So. Much. Fun.
In other news, the deluxe album packages will be shipped out to the people who bought them this week, we had to wait as the T-Shirts were going to take a while to print. We've sent the album off to a few music blogs for reviews (eek) and a guy on twitter likened me to Dave Grohl, which made my day (I was sitting at my desk at work grinning like an idiot for about 10 minutes).
Next weekend (the 2nd of November, to be exact) we are playing Cherry Bar with a cool band called The Modern Age, and another one, The Sand Dollars. It's going to be so very rad to play Cherry, we've been keen since we moved here, as it's such a notorious rock n roll venue. Watch out Cherry, we are coming for you.
We're stoked to hear when people buy and like our album, so let us know! You can use hashtag #talkbackbaby on Twitter and Instagram, or you can post on our Facebook page. Tell all your friends, tell your Mum. And keep an eye out on iTunes and Spotify, the album will be up there soon too!
You may have noticed we have a new promotional video
We worked with King of Comedy Andy Weston on this one, and we think it's tops.
Sure, the first time you watch it, it's a hoot. But what really MAKES the video is when you notice all the hilarious small things you didn't notice the first time. We like to pretend we planned all this out, but we didn't, not all of them.
Honeybone's Hilarious Easter Eggs in the new Promo Vid:
1. The old ladies delayed reaction after the CD is thrown at her (0.15)
GILF
This isn't something I planned to do, this is just extreme bad acting. And since that's what all informercials are about, it makes the video all the more funny.
We recommend watching that over and over. Make a GIF if you like.
2. The random guy with his kid in the background watching Sambo Blissett as he spits out 'blood' at the train station (0.39-0.48)
Since we filmed this in a public place, we couldn't really tell the guy to go away. We thought it would be good to have people in the background, like a real life event. Unfortunately (or fortunately), this guy didn't quite understand his role, and was extremely interested to see what we were doing. He looked very alarmed when Sam spit the tomato sauce out onto the ground. Poor guy.
Little did we know that a train station guard was standing right behind us as we filmed, and he kicked us out after we stopped filming (apparently you need a permit).
Since we're hardly professional film makers, we thought we'd keep this in, as it adds to the hilarity.
This is what it looked like to outsiders. Not that interesting, really...
3. The Backstreet Boys are on our album artwork (1.04)
When we filmed this, we hadn't yet printed the album in it's physical form, so we needed a dummy case.
What better CD to use than the greatest album of all time, 'Backstreet's Back' by the Backstreet Boys (one of Drew's favourites in his large collection).
This one was done on purpose, but out of necessity than comedic value. But it's great.
I hope you enjoyed my little guide to our promo video, keep an eye out for the next one!
Oh and our album comes out in officially 6 days!!!!
We have a Facebook event for our album launch, which is at Yah Yahs on Smith Street on the 18th of October (which is a Friday, great news for all you Mon-Fri people out there!). If you have Facebook, you should click on the link below and click 'attending'. If you are a cool kid and don't have Facebook, here are the details:
We are playing with two awesome bands called The Naysayers and The Velvets. It is free entry (yay) and doors will be around 8pm, with the first band on around 9 (to be confirmed). We will have our album there for sale, as well as t-shirts and lots of other fun goodies. The Naysayers will probably bring copies of their new EP 'Dee Eye Why' and you can get one. How exciting.
This gig is two weeks away and we are very very excited. We're going to play at least one new cover, so it's worth coming to watch us butcher one of the greats.
Here is the teaser video Drew made for the album, he made it in half an hour, like a boss.
Wow what a weekend. I'm still on quite a high from it all. If you 'like' our page on Facebook, you'll probably already know most of what I'm going to tell you but I'll include lots of details so you don't get bored (and if you still get bored, then you don't need to read on and we'll still be friends, maybe).
Warning: this blog contains Amanda Palmer. Here she is eating my face, I hope it tasted good.
I don't really know where to start so I guess I'll let you know about our album preorder while you're still paying attention. Last week, we put our album 'Talk Back Baby' up for preorder on our Bandcamp page. You can order a digital copy for $8, or you can order a physical copy for $15, and we'll ship it to you. It's all very exciting, and your money will go to paying for mastering and printing the album, which is nice because then we don't have to put all our personal funds into it. If you're thinking about getting a copy, have a think about doing a preorder, as you'll be helping us out AND we'll also know how many to print (AND if we get suddenly famous, you're guaranteed a piece of music history). Win win!
This is the album artwork, Kelsie Trainor drew and designed it. Rad!
So some of you may be wondering what 'AFP' stands for. It stands for 'Amanda Fucking Palmer' and she was IN MY HOUSE on Saturday. Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up. Amanda Palmer put a $5000 package on her Kickstarter for her latest album, if you bought it she would come and party/play at your house. A bunch of cities decided to band together and pitch in for a joint party. This is what happened here in Melbourne and when someone pulled out because the tour dates changed, I took their place and paid the necessary contribution. Then they didn't have a venue, I was all like 'I've got a rad little house with a cute backyard' and suddenly I was hosting the Amanda Palmer Melbourne House Party for 2013.
Look at all the people in my yard!
With a LOT of help from my wonderful friends (old and new) we set up for the party on Saturday. We had streamers, signs, pink flamingos and garden gnomes (see example A). We set up a band area, an eating area and a filming area for Guy and his crew who are making a documentary about the house parties. It was a lot of work, but my pals helped me pull it off and I am very very grateful, they rock and I would have been a slobbering jittery mess lying on the ground in the foetal position without them (too many to name, they all know who they are. All the loves to you all xxx).
Example 'A'
Example 'B'
Honeybone played and it was glorious (see Example B). Amanda and her bandmates Jherek Bischoff and Chad Raines liked us, which was totally rad (I, in a weird fit of self-confidence, actually asked Amanda what she thought if the band. I hope I didn't put her on the spot, considering it was in the middle of my interview with Tom Dickens for Guy's doco lol). There were some gorgeous dogs who came and one of them kept barking at my kick drum, which was hilarious (although initially worrying when I first saw people laughing during our set). Some other wonderful people played also, including William Robin, Becca Tilley, Brendan McClean, Tom Dickins and Amanda herself with her band. I got to play snare and brushes for her song 'Want It Back' (see the video at the end of this blog) and the grand finale 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'. I still can't believe she asked me to play with her, it was unbelievable. Also she played with a few other people, who were all stoked to play, including another cool drummer called Lisa who played Blister In The Sun with her.
Here she is with The Jane Austen Argument's Tom Dickins.
As well as asking me to play with her, Amanda also took a photo of me with my drums with 'Hi Dave' and our Bandcamp link sharpied on my hand, and she is going to show it to DAVE FUCKING GROHL when she hangs out with him soon. Since he's done house party things before I guess she'll have a chat to him about it and she will be totally telling him about my band. Squee indeed. I cried on her after she took the picture, what a baby. She's awesome. She also recorded a quick message for our promo videos. She's the bees fucking knees and I'm so happy to have met her and her amazing fan community.
Chad played my drums after we moved them off the staging area
The tarp matches my top.
A sneaky AFP watches the Honeybone set
Passion during The Killing Type
The band minus Thor Harris
The party went so very smoothly, 'Take A Walk On The Wild Side' was played and the neighbours poked their head over the fence (to listen and not to complain about the noise). Amanda played ukelele on the garage roof with Drew sitting by her feet, and I was super happy she didn't fall through the roof, because that would be just my luck for my garage roof to kill Amanda Palmer. Everyone was safe, don't you fret.
Ukelele Anthem on the roof
Drew in awe
Sunday morning was clean up day, and then straight into filming promo videos for the album. I don't want to give too much away but they involve me dressed up as an old lady and our friend Sam Blissett spitting out blood (tomato sauce) at Coburg Station (we were promptly asked to leave after that). And of course Amanda Palmer. But just you wait, it's going to be legendary. These videos aren't music videos, the best phrase I can come up with is 'promotional videos'. You'll see, you'll all see.
I've got the old lady DOWN
Filming at the train station
And now because I really like to live it up and not have any rest, a week of working overtime lies ahead of me and then I fly to Wellington to hang out with my twin sister Kelsie and my awesome Mum (who told me she wants Amanda Palmer to tell Dave Grohl about her too, and how awesome she thinks he is but alas, it was too late). This weekend will be awesome, but Wellington has a lot to live up to considering the weekend I just had.
Bring it on.
So if you want to check out Amanda's music, please head to www.amandapalmer.net and you can find all her stuff there (for pay what you want, which is nice). She's also a rad blogger. Word up.
And if you are new to Honeybone, please go to www.honeybone.bandcamp.com and you can download free music and even preorder our album, if you feel so inclined. You can also like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter (and you can follow me on Twitter too: @raq_hell).
Oh yes and we've started booking shows for our NZ tour next February, keep an eye out, we'll be making the announcement when all the dates are confirmed! Yay first tour ever!
Thanks for reading, and stay classy, world.
Xxx
P.S. here is the video of Amanda Palmer, Chad Raines, Jherek Bischoff, William Robin and I playing 'Want It Back', which is a song off Amanda's latest album. I get a drum solo and I grin like a total noob.
