LETS ALL GET NAKED!!!

Now that I have your attention...

This blog is going to be about many things you probably didn't know about me. And a little bit about Honeybone. But mostly me, because I like to talk about myself. Most girls do, apparantly.

The title of this blog wasn't entirely random. I have joined a burlesque troupe. Well when I say joined, I joined one then some bitchiness happened, then the group split, then we formed another one from the ashes. We are Foxy Rockettes Burlesque.

Aren't we a sight! Theres seven of us though, not 6.

You may be thinking to yourself... Rachel? Burlesque? Being Girly? YES people, although I am a girl who plays drums, I also like to be girly and dance in a sexy manner. It's quite fun, and the feathers from my Happy Coin boa decorate the floor of my flat so beautifully. I even have a burlesquey name. 'Raq-hell Rouge'. Pretty cool I'd say.
We have a show on Friday, ya'll should totally come it's gonna be totally amazing. That's TOTES AMAZE for all you young hipsters.

I'm even doing a solo routine. I KNOW! Talk about throwing myself in the deep end. I didn't know the first thing about burlesque when I started this but I bought a couple of books and watched some vids and the other girls have been totally awesome. I'm going to dance to 'The Spy' by the Doors. I don't particularly like the Doors very much (I read a biography about Jim Morrison and couldn't even finish it because he was such an asshole), but the song is good. It's a cool song, look it up.

Apart from myself, we've got Billy Rocka, Feather Tornado, Senorita Pussa, Sailor Vie (hope I spelt that right), and Blossom. Theres another girl but I don't know her burlesque name. Her real name is Natalie, and she is cool. She has sparkly shoes and I want to steal them.
The Show also includes acoustic duo 'Girl On Girl Action' and MC Hannah Port. Entry is $5, and it's at Theatre As Is next to Chipmunks at 7.30pm on Friday 27th May.

BRING IT ON

This is the facial expression I imagine whilst typing the above

I am somewhat of a performance whore this week. I don't usually tell people this, but I'm in another band.

WHAAAAT!?

It's ok though, it's not my band, and I don't often play drums for it. Mostly I sing (haha). It is a corporate covers band that do show-acts. What are show-acts I hear you ask? Basically, we dress up as famous bands/singers and imitate them for money. Talk about musical prostitution. It's become somewhat of a guilty pleasure of mine, as I do Blondie, and it's fun to stagger about on stage acting drunk (sometimes the acting isn't even needed). I'm also Freida from ABBA, and that's fun too, because a Swedish accent always makes me giggle.

So this Wednesday we have the annual Mayoral Concert at the Dunedin Town Hall. Don't come if you're under 60. I get to play drums for this one because our lucky drummer had to work. Dick. Playing drums is much more work than singing. You actually have to set stuff up and carry stuff.... I'm just too lazy for that sort of thing. The gig goes from 1.30-3pm and the average age of the audience is usually around 70, so we just do oldish stuff, like 'Pack Up Your Troubles'. Janine (other singer chick who is miles ahead of me in terms of talent) and I are dressing up as 2/3s of the Andrew Sisters and singing Bugle Boy. Which is awesome cause that song rocks.

AAAANNNDD THEEEEN

And then you can give us our food, because we're ready to eat!

On Saturday Honeybone is in the OUSA Battle Of The Bands finals. I told you I was a performance whore. It's gonna be really awesome, because both Kitten Surprise and Not For You! Got into the finals as well! So come along to that if you want to support some sweet Dunedin Sounds, plus it's only a dollar to get in. Well technically it's gold coin entry, but who pays $2 when $1 will suffice? Honestly, they must be kidding themselves if they think someone belonging to the 'poor student' group would give up a dollar like that. Ok, we're getting off topic. Where was I?

Oh yes.

Battle of the Bands finals Saturday 28th May!!

Burlesque Show 27th May!

That girl in the poster is pretty hot, her name is Bettie.
Kels (my twin sister) designed this. She can design anything!

Come to both of these. Don't come to Mayoral concert unless you want to hear Dave Cull singing 'Pack Up Your Troubles'. Which could be interesting! Anyway thats $5. But I'm giving you a choice with that one. The first two are COMPULSORY.

Unless you have a note from your mother.

Gigs and a bit of Bitching

Hello all you beloved readers, I love you. You guys rock my world.

I hope that gave you enough warm fuzzies for the day. It's nice to feel loved.

Anyway enough with all the carry-on. This blog is just going to be me raving about the last two gigs we had and how awesome they were. Because they were AWESOME.

This guy knows

On Thursday we played a gig at Refuel with Flower, Black Sky Hustler and Not For You!. Flower were pretty cool, they played 2 instrumentals and changed up their genres, it was a good start to the night. Then Black Sky Hustler came on and BLEW MY MIND! They are a band that play punky style music, and all three members sing in unison. It was so simple, but so awesome. I couldn't believe no one else in Dunedin had thought of singing like that. Who needs harmonies :)

Not For You! are a punky/ska sort of band that remind me of The Offspring. They are wicked cool guys and I had heaps of fun dancing to their set. They had heaps of mates too, which was handy cause we don't really have that many. It was so refreshing to see a band that wasn't hung up on fitting into any kind of 'scene' or being 'unique', because bands like that are a dime a dozen in good ol' Dunedin. Which is quite ironic considering by trying to be unique, they end up sounding exactly like everyone else.

Yes, dears you are all unique.

Plus, it's also nice not to be hated on. Honeybone is almost the Nickleback of Dunedin in terms of haters. Thats our claim to fame. Not For You! actually like us. AND their bassist reads this blog. HEY SAM!

Our last gig was the 'Fiddy Club' gig at XII Below on Saturday night. There was an all-ages show in the afternoon but by the time we played pretty much everyone had left so we took that as a chance to have a wee jam. Good times had by all.

The gig started late, because of graduation the restaurant above XII Below was packed right up till about 10pm, which is when the first band, Rusty Pilot, played. They were a great mix of genres, and had some lovely harmonies going on, which are always good (I do realise I contradicted myself... but I'm allowed to. SO THERE).

Ash and the Matadors were up next and they were wicked. I loved that band the first time I saw them at a Refuel open mic night, and I love them now. Their songs are melodic yet rocky, with just the right amount of country/folk influence to keep me interested. Check them out when you get a chance, you won't regret it.

Matt Langley followed Ash, and Oleh followed Matt. Matt is a country singer song-writer who won the APRA song-writing award at Gore's Gold Guitar Awards last year, so he's pretty talented, check him out. He sang a beautiful rendition of 'Wagon Wheel' with the MC, which I loved as I am a hillbilly from Alexandra thus the words to that song are drummed into us from when we were sitting in the back of our Pa's wagon.

Oleh is a one band band, complete with loop pedal. He played dub infused goodness, and played everything right down to beatboxing. It was pretty cool, and we weren't keen to follow him. But we did, because what else were we going to do?

So we went on to a significantly smaller crowd than at the start of the night, but because the place was packed at the start of the night, the crowd was till pretty decent. Then some of our mates came form a party they were at, and made us look real cool by singing to 'I'll Be Your Devil'. Nic Dwyer even sang into the microphone. He rocks. So does his band Kitten Suprise. Check them out, I love them.

Aren't they ultra sexy!!

So that's about all I wanted to rave about. I could bitch about some stuff, but I don't know if I'm in a bitchy mood. I'll give it a shot.
*deep breath*

Simon Sweetman, you suck, your band is shit (so I've heard) so you don't really have the right to go around bashing talented, successful musicians such as Dave Grohl.

This is part of his blog about the Foos.

Foo Fighters albums exist to be played on The Rock. Foo Fighters albums exist to be played by people who have no idea what good, strong rock music is. Foo Fighters albums exist because Dave Grohl is laughing at how they are lapped up. Foo Fighters albums exist because Grohl's  jump-behind-the-kit-and-jam-with-anyone mentality has reached its logical conclusion.

Dave Grohl is a good drummer - he's better serving a song behind the kit than he is when placed anywhere else on stage. But Dave Grohl is not at all one of the great drummers. He is above adequate; highly skilled even. He is no innovator. He might deserve two thumbs up for walking away from one of the most iconic and important bands of the last 25 years - and the last rock band that really mattered. But then, it might have been better if he'd just let his playing in Nirvana be his legacy. 

1. Foo Fighters are one of my favourite bands, and I am completing an Honours Music Degree. So by saying that The Foo Fighters only exist to be played by people who don't know music, you've insulted a good amount of people who read your blog. Including me. Nice one.

2. Who the great drummers, oh wise one? Some names would be nice. Maybe because you don't know of any? Just because Dave Grohl doesn't play crazy fills every two bars doesn't mean he isn't good. He has feel. That's what a good drummer is, one who has feel. The days of drummers like Keith Moon who continuously play drum fills are over, Dave Grohl plays exactly what the song needs every time. 

3. Grohl didn't 'walk away' from Nirvana, the main member in terms of songwriting, image and sound died. If Nirvana carried on, they would have become more hated than Nickleback. 

In the world of most careers, those who cannot do, teach. In the world of the performing arts, those who cannot do, review. 

Thank you and Goodnight.

BOOM!

I couldn't decide what to write this blog about, so it's gonna be a little bit about everything thats been going on of late. I like the title, it's like I'm shouting.

Honeybone had a wee filming experience last week. We played two of our songs live at Refuel whilst film students from Aoraki Polytech filmed it. It was a bit random playing in Refuel in the afternoon but we still had fun. I got to show off my AMAZING interview skills and wear a risque corset and Drew got to show off his brand new fluro green and pink leg cast. Its like he shops at Supre. The girls will love it. The footage that was filmed of us and other bands will be filmed on a Sky TV channel sometime in June. Don't ask me the name of the channel or the date, as I either was not told or forgot. My bad.

In other news..

On Friday, Honeybone entered the first heat of OUSA's battle of the bands. We came second. Another band came first. And another band got the wildcard. Basically, the bands that came first and second get into the finals. We were surprised, as Honeybone has entered into this competition since 2009 (BOTB was the very first gig we ever had), and never made it anyway, so we weren't expecting to get anywhere this year. We just entered for fun, and to get some exposure, you know free gig and all that. But look at that, we're in the finals. Boom.

The whole concept of BOTB or other such band competitions has never sat well with me. Music, for me, is about playing what you love, and sharing that love with others (yes - a rather hippie concept I know). And yet people seem to love turning bands against each other by making it into a 'whos better than who' contest. A little silly really. Also some bands love to be competitive, and hate on other bands. Honeybone has never been a well-loved band in Dunedin among the uni-music crowd, we're just not hipster enough for all those in tight coloured jeans. We've had a bit of bashing after Friday's performance, and I'm in no position as to tell you, beloved reader, why. I don't think we did anything except play the music we love to play. Sorry to offend you all, Dunedin music scene-people, but we've got better things to do than bitch and whine about other bands who are completely different to our style and have nothing to do with us whatsoever.

'Like, Honeybone are sooo derivative'

Like play gigs. Thursday 12th May at Refuel with Not For You, and Saturday 14th May at XII Below as part of the Fiddy Club gigs.

Oh and by the way, it's Drew's 21st Birthday on Friday 13th so if you see him, give him a big sloppy Honeybone style kiss. 

Ciao!