Happy Holidays from Honeybone

Hey guys

The time of year has come to wish you all a very happy and safe holiday season. We've been rather busy in the Honeybone camp, with two of our fav bands playing within one week of each other, we're a bit worse for wear. Not too tired to write an entertaining blog however. Lucky for you.

On Friday, 14th Dec we headed down to the Espy in St. Kilda to see Shihad rock the Gershwin Room. This was the first gig we've been to there (apart from playing there ourselves), and the Espy really lived up to it's reputation. One thing I was quite excited/shocked to see when we arrived was the lack of crowd barriers before the stage. This was the first Shihad gig I'd been to (and I've been to about 7 or 8 now) where I was being pushed right up onto the stage and hanging onto the foldbacks so I didn't lose my place. Fucking awesome. Shihad rocked, and they played 20 songs (I know, because I got the bass player's setlist). My knees got all kinds of banged up, and I shook Karl and Jon's hands. No biggie.

That's Karl the bass player behind Drew.

We took another week to recover, then went back down to the Espy to see THE DATSUNS (one of our main influences and fav bands eva) play for FREE two nights in a row in the front bar. Wicked awesome tastic gigs they were indeed. On the first night, some guy tried to take my place in the front and I ended up ripping his shirt in two to get my place back. Sorry bro, if you're reading, but I'm like some crazy bitch when someone tries to take my spot. Don't, you know, mess with me, or whatever.

Drew brought his 'Death Rattle Fuzz' pedal along to the show on Thursday (which is a custom pedal made by Christian, gat player for Datsuns, it's the same fuzz they used on the new album) and was hoping to get it signed. We hung out for a bit after the show then casually walked up the stairs into the band's green room.

Drew and Dolf - lead vox and bass

Dolf and myself. Best pic ever in my opinion.

We got our stuff signed and had a wee chat, it was pretty cool. The next night (after about 2 hours sleep) we headed back down to St. Kilda to do it again. The Datsuns played amazingly again (even though half of them had food poisoning), and the crowd was incredible. I didn't stay up the front again, my poor knees couldn't handle the jandle and I didn't want to ruin another guys shirt. I snuck round the side and I had this awesome view:

Spot Drew

These two Datsun's gigs and the Shihad one were probably the best gigs I've been to all year. What a way to end 2012.

From all of us here at Honeybone, have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The Night of Idgaff (where everyone gave a flying..)

Thursday night the 22nd of November was EPIC!

We played at Idgaff bar, which I'm sure you all know is an acronym for 'I Don't Give A Flying Fuck', or my other favourite 'I Drink Goon And French Fries'. It's either one or the another...

The venue was dirty, the crowd was drunk and all the bands were wicked cool. We had Polygasm and The Naysayers on the bill with us, and they were both incred. Please check these two bands out, they are both destined for greatness. Polygasm also did a mega-jam and got their mates get up and play (they even did a drummer-swap) and Drew got to jam with them. So. Much. Fun.

Drew jams

Polygasm's facebook is here.

The Naysayers facebook is here

Check em out mother'uckers.

We finally remembered to bring the t-shirts we printed last year to the gig, and half-way through our set I dumped them on the front of the stage and watched the crowd go nuts for free t-shirts. Everyone immediately put them on, and suddenly we had a Honeybone Army. It was probably the coolest moment in Honeybone's career.

Totes Amaze, Kels^

We even got paid. Which was nice, and slightly unexpected. Oh yeah, and I did a drum solo, which was okay too.

We also unveiled a new song that I wrote a few weeks ago. I don't often write for Honeybone, so it was very cool when we pulled it off. The song is called 'Talk Back Baby' and is a duet between Drew and I, basically having a fight onstage. Unfortunately I still have to play drums so we can't make the fight physical, but it's still a cool song. Who knows, we may play it again at our next gig...


Which is:

23 Angles of Attack and Honeybone at the ROCHESTER CASTLE! Our good mate Tash's favourite watering hole, the Rochy is a perfect blend of $5 shots, hipstery cool kids and good tunes. We went there one Friday night and if you took a photo of the dance floor, it would have seemed like any other bar. Except they were dancing to Nine Inch Nails, the Rolling Stones and Joy Division.

It's this coming Thursday the 29th of November, come on down for a good time!

Facebook event is here

xxx

Competition!!!

Hey guys

We posted this on our facebook page the other day, but I thought I would make it just that extra bit more official and post a blog.

As you might know, we have a gig on Thursday night at Idgaff Bar on Hoddle Street. The lineup is sussed (Naysayers and Polygasm), the sound guy is booked and the posters are up. So, the competition is thus:

The deal: We spent the weekend doing a 'ninja-style' poster run with the help of our amazing mates, Paul and Ashleigh. We went round shops and (in the midnight hours) postered up quite a few lamp-posts around Brunswick/Carlton/Fitzroy/Northcote. We reckon we put up HEAPS, so hopefully some people should see them, right?

We want YOU to let us know if you've seen a poster round! So, the first person to post a picture of a coloured copy of the gig poster on our facebook page, we'll BUY YOU A DRINK at the gig, AND give you a free Honeybone t-shirt.

There are posters up in Melbourne CBD, Fitzroy, Carlton, Brunswick and Northcote!

Here's a pic of what you're looking for:

We're also unveiling a NEW SONG, so don't miss this gig, it's going to be wicked cool!

xxx

A Much Needed Update

Holy shitballs

I'm not even going to bother apologising, as I've done that many a time before, and I will never be a regular blog poster, unless I get mega rich and can quit my job.

(But I am still sorry).

I have so much so tell you all about, let's start with the least recent.

Don't worry, it won't be THAT long

Most of you will already know this (as our friends/facebook fans), but I know you want to hear this story again. It's classic. In the last blog I told you (in a rather excited fashion) that we had purchased a van. I should not have been so excited. When we bought it, the guy (holding back on using stronger language here) said 'you will not have to spend another cent', as he'd sussed the road worthy cert and registration etc.

I should have smelt the pungent aroma of underwear burning, because his pants were DEFINITELY on fire.

Drew, Peter and I are not what you would call 'motoring enthusiasts' (which is ironic since I work at a car leasing company). Needless to say, we didn't notice much wrong with the van until it stopped completely. Which is a hilarious story...

One Saturday morning Drew and I decided to drive out to Bunnings in Coburg to grab a trolley to put amps and heavy stuff on. We had a practice room booked for that afternoon and thought it would be a great time-saver. I should also mention this was AFL Grand Final Day, which is really, really huge for Melbourne. On the way to the practice space from Bunnings, we thought it would be grand to drive down Sydney Road. While plodding through the 5km an hour traffic, Drew and I began to get light headed from the fumes leaking through the engine into the cab. Then the van began to smoke. People were looking. I was beginning to feel faint so we turned down a side street so we could get some fresh air (the van's temperature gauge was so far to the right it looked painful). We missed the turn off to the practice room so Drew did a U-Turn. After we got onto the right side of the road, the van died...

Long story short, we figured out how to access the engine, discovered there was no water or oil and had to pay $30 to cancel practice. We let the engine cool down for a couple of hours and bought water and oil from a service station. Then we managed to drive the van home.

So Drew took the van to the mechanic. We figured it was an oil leak, nothing major, maybe about $200 to fix. The final bill: $1350.

Yep. Anyone who knows me well can imagine my reaction to that news. Let's just say I didn't find the entire contents of my handbag for a few weeks (because I threw it lulz).We had screwed spark plugs, majorly cracked radiator hoses, one buggered cylinder etc etc. In a simpler time I wouldn't have known what any of what I just said meant (and I envy all who don't, because you probably have more money than me).

However, we managed to scrap the money together and get our van back (after reverting back to our old trick of taxi-ing to gigs we had for two week), and now she runs smooth.

I'm super happy, cause taking gear on trams like ^this^  SUCKED.

Moral of the story: Don't be a dumbass. That's actually the best I can do (I'm not so hot on morals).

In other news, we have exciting news!

Our amazing friend Ashleigh Dunn is going to be our new business guru/role caller/general awesome help lady! She's going to do heaps of cool stuff for us, like suss an ABN (Australian Business Number) so we can invoice people like pros, she's going to help with ideas for gigs, sort out tax shit and just basically be awesome at life (Ash is a PRO at life. She BAKES THINGS).

That's her on the right, with our other awesome mate Tash. Model-central, am I right?

We also have some gigs coming up, the next one is at Yah Yahs on Smith Street on 15th November (that's next Thursday folks). We be playing with some cool bands, 23 Angles of Attack and The High Drifters. Not sure if there's a door charge... here's the Facebook link. It'll be rad. RAD.

Our next gig is the VERY FIRST gig we've organised and are headlining at. We are playing at Idgaff Bar on Hoddle Street on the 23rd of November with the Naysayers and Polygasm, who are both wicked cool bands that I dig (and you will too). This gig is special for TWO reasons (minus the headlining thing):

1. It is the night before Peter's birthday so we might be playing when the clock hits midnight. I'm calling a 'Let's embarrass Peter and sing Happy Birthday to him' kinda thing (he'll probably hate me for suggesting that. Sorry mate).

2. Two of my FAVOURITE people in the world (except you, my wonderful fan-people) are going to be there! Kelsie Trainor, design-extraordinaire and my twin sister who fucking rocks the entire world, and Alex Meijer, another design extraordinaire and fellow hell-raiser in the Sex Pit flat of 2010. They also bring with them their boyfriend boys, Andy and Kris. Who are also way cool.

SO Melbourne people who want to come to a cool gig AND see/meet someone who looks A LOT LIKE ME... come to Idgaff on the 23rd! (Facebook link here). And also it would be rad if you came to the Yah Yahs one too. We like people to come to all of the gigs.

Best. Poster. Ever.
Thanks to Kelsie Trainor, who is a mega legend 

Single Release/Honeymobile!

It has HAPPENED! Our single from our upcoming album has been RELEASED! You can download it for FREE (I'm so into emphasing words with caps lock) here: www.honeybone.bandcamp.com. Thanks to everyone who's downloaded it so far, and some cool cats like our mate Ryan even gave a wee donation. Fancy that.

Check out the artwork by our good mate Paul Emery:

Paul is amazeballs (I can officially use that word cause it's in the dictionary) and his beautiful GF (and our other very good mate) Ashleigh Dunn was the official 'lighting director' for the 'photoshoot'. She rocked at the lights and stuff. I told Ash she could have a whole paragraph in this blog so there you go. Thanks Ash! (And Paul).

It's terribly exciting that we finally have some new music out. We recorded the main tracks for 'Don't Need You' in Albany Street Studios, Dunedin NZ last year (sometime around July) and we recently reworked some of the vocals and guitar parts in our bedroom here in Melbourne. The b-side 'Down Into My Grave' (acoustic version) was recorded by Drew and I on a cold rainy Saturday night in our lounge. We used my new AKG kick mic to mic our feet stamping the floor and the 12 string acoustic Drew bought not long after we moved here. It's so much fun to play, it works both in an acoustic and non-acoustic setting. We played it at our most recent gig in Footscray, and people seemed to enjoy it. That's always nice. Look out for it at our next gigs!

In other news...

Drew and I are now the proud owners of a Toyota Hiace 2000!! Drew picked it up on Friday night and apparantly ended up driving through the city at 7.30pm as he missed the turn off to Punt Road. I can only imagine the hilarity that would have ensued, but alas I was in Wellington, NZ getting some much needed company from my wicked cool twin sister Kelsie. Now we can finally bring our own gear to gigs and I get to play my drums! I haven't played them since February which is a little bit ridiculous and if they had feelings like real people, I'm sure they would be a bit hurt at the neglect.

Here are some photos of the Honeymobile:

Drew is Proud

It's got fish on it...

Back of the Van 

It's absolutely unbelievably amazing these two large events happened on the same day. I have never owned a car before so it's a bit surreal. Needless to say there's going to be some awesome times ahead!

On another note, thanks to everyone who's read my post 'A Strongly Worded Blog'. I've had some great feedback and there are so many bands out there who have been stung by these types of gigs before. It's so awesome to see everyone sticking together and supporting each other in this! Cheers!

xxx

Things are Happening

Hey guys

Just thought I'd post up a wee update about how things are looking in the Honeybone world. Sooo much has been happening lately it's been hard to get any time to sit down at my disgusting dirty laptop and write something of interest.

We've played a couple of awesome gigs recently, and been to a few more. Highlight of the last month? THIS:

Yep, that is Drew and I in the front bottom left (I'm the fangirl with my arms out like a tard). Yes that is Karl and Jon from Shihad. They ROCKED the Hifi on Thursday night and I am now unable to move my neck much as I am a total bogan and have whiplash from too much headbanging. Rock 'n' Roll.

We had a band meeting (slightly interrupted by van-viewing, more on that later) to discuss the new album. Basically, we had to decide which songs we were keeping, which to scrap and what needed done/redone. I think I posted last year when we recorded in the 'big kids' room of Albany Street Studios in Dunedin? We recorded five songs in a live setting, bass, drums and guitars all at the same time. One of these songs was 'Espionage', our 10-11 minute epic prog jam. We listened back to the recordings the other day and unfortunately, only ONE of these songs is worth keeping (and it isn't Espionage). I'm gutted, because we got such a good sound out of that studio (plus the kit I played was worth a LOT and sounded wicked cool). But we really want to put out a record that is fucking awesome, and if we put out something that is average, we will be kicking ourselves in a year or so (plus it's not really fair of us to ask you for money for a product that isn't as good as it could be).

The impact of this decision means we won't be releasing the album for another couple of months, so just sit tight you pretty little things, once it's done it's going to be FUCKING EPIC.

Meanwhile, we've been redoing as much as we can without going to a studio (recording guitars,bass and vocals is pretty easy in our pokey wee flat). We're also working on a few new songs, and reworking old ones.

ALSO we're currently working with our good friend Paul Emery on the design of the 'cover' for the our upcoming single. He is a rockin' cool guy, and he's come up with a wicked concept. While we're on the subject, if anyone has an SLR camera we can borrow to take pics for the cover, Honeybone will be so happy we'll do any kind of favours in return.

We also have almost bought a van, which is super exciting! We'll be able to play shows with OUR OWN GEAR! Which means I get to play my kit which I haven't played since February. It must be missing me, the poor thing. We'll have enough money to pick it up next weekend, and I'll post a pretty picture of the Honeymobile once I get back from my weekend in Wellington.

Tonight we are playing a gig in the city at a place called DV8 and it's going to be awesome so I suggest to all the Melbourne peeps that you get yo asses down there! I hear there's cheap booze also. We're headlining, so we'll be on around 11.30. And then tomorrow we are playing in Footscray at The Reverend Hotel with some AWESOME bands by the names of Children Overboard and The Perfections. I have already had a total fangirl moment on this blog about Children Overboard (see blog: Band Love), and now allow me to have a fangirl moment about The Perfections.

Errrrmehhhhgerrrrd Therr Perrfeshehhrrns Err Sehrrr Errsehrrm!

They are seriously, if you were humming and ha-ing about coming to tomorrows gig just to see us, they will make it totally worth your while. Soul, horn sections, a totally babe'in front woman and wicked cool grooves.            

And it's FREE. What more could you want!?! So there you have it, tonight at DV8, doors at 10pm. Tomorrow at the Reverend Hotel, doors at 3pm.

xxx    

A Strongly Worded Blog

I promised my twitter followers (@raq_hell, if you haven't already, come on guys) a strongly worded blog. Now, I'm not too sure how strong I should make these words, and whether I should use them for their swearing/shocking power or just be STRONG in my words and opinions. As my Mum reads this blog (Hey there Mumsie), I think I shall go for the latter. But I may drop an F-Bomb, be warned. But never the C-Bomb, as, despite what Drew will tell you, I am a lady of class.

CLASS^^^

Since we've moved to Melbourne, we've played five gigs. Most have been well played (by us) and well received (by the small-medium amount of people at them). However, one thing we are now going to avoid as we have had two unfortunate brushes with them, are any gigs with the words 'Artist Showcase' 'Showdown' or 'Bands sell Tickets' in the gig description (or run by X or Y Promotions company). Our first gig of this nature was the first one we played here, which I booked on March 24th-ish, about three days after we got here. Honeybone don't muck around. I mentioned to the organiser we couldn't sell a lot of tickets, as we had only just moved here and (at the time) knew a grand total of about four people. She was like 'that's fine, just whatever you can manage'. We sold fifteen, and when we went to settle the tickets/money at the start of the gig, the organiser turned to her helper and said 'Ohhh they're from New Zealand and they sold FIFTEEN tickets, isn't that great?'. My thought was 'They can probably smell your condescension in Darwin'. Nonetheless, we made them $150, and we got the pleasure of playing a 'real' gig for a grand total of twenty minutes. We were asked back, needless to say I turned it down.

The other gig I was referring to was yesterday, and we played really well, which was nice. We sold a total of FIVE tickets at $12 each, and ended up having to pay the promotions company $40 for their sound guy (well, that's what they said it was for...), because we didn't sell fifteen tickets or more.This is the standard practice for this weekly running gig. In the run sheet, it said we were not allowed under any circumstance to provide our own sound person, so there goes that loop hole. What I thought was better about this gig than the other one was that, if we sold more than fifteen tickets, we would got $3 back from each ticket sale. So, say if we sold fifteen tickets, like the other gig, we would have $45 to put in our hot little pockets, and the 'promotions company' would have $135. BUT if we sold fourteen tickets, not only would we miss out on $42 for ourselves, we would lose an extra $40 to pay the sound guy, even though the promo company would have made $168 from the tickets. So that's $208 for the promotions company and $0 for the bands (the attraction of the day). So it's really no wonder that the 'promotions company' didn't do any promotion (that I saw/heard) for this gig, as they profit MORE from an emptier room.

With our five tickets sold, we made them $60, and paid them an extra $40, which makes $100. We gave up our entire afternoon (1-8pm), which Peter had to get off work for, so he missed out on at least another $100 (I'm not too sure how much he gets paid). Since Drew and I don't work Sundays, we didn't lose any money, however we probably could have done more productive things like record/mix parts for the new album, write new material or practice at our respective instruments. So that's a joint monetary loss to Honeybone of at least $140, which doesn't include travel costs (we had to tram it) or lunch/dinner. Not to mention the 'rider' we were provided with was bottled water, so we paid for our own drinks also (which probably came to another $100, although that would have gone to the venue, not the promo guys). We PAID $140 to PLAY a four song, 25 minute set. All for the honour of playing on a real stage. Awesome.

I do realise that this promotions company will have costs to cover. But considering there were about eight or nine bands on the bill, I'd say they're making a rather substantial profit, and comfortably covering their asses if the bands don't get enough people through the door.

Now, had we put this gig on ourselves, organised the promotion, sound guy, backline, lineup and venue, I would understand such a loss. That's what happens when you organise a gig. You prepare for loss, especially if you are a young, new band. I'm pretty sure we lost about $100 putting on our last gig in Dunedin, but everyone who came had such an awesome time that it didn't matter. We didn't mind. But gigs like these, where you have absolutely no control over who you play with, who does sound and what kind of promotion is used (apart from the promotion you do yourself) should not be done at a loss.

These types of gigs are aimed at young, inexperienced bands looking for easy gigs with little organisation/work on their part. We did these gigs as (at the time of booking them) we were unsure of how to go about getting our own gigs in this new town. What is ironic is how the people running these gigs call themselves 'Promotions Companies', yet do no promotion on their part, and rely entirely on the bands to sell tickets.

How I see it, is that there are two major problems with this concept of a 'gig'.

1. Bands who do these types of gigs aren't going to be headline acts. They're probably just starting out, they have only a small amount of fans usually consisting of family/friends. Honeybone falls into this category only because we are new in this town, not because of lack of experience. At both gigs we did, the average age of the musicians was probably 18-19. How are these kids supposed to sell a large amount of tickets when no one has heard of their band? And these companies say they are helping young, local, unrecognised acts??

2. We live in an age of a diminishing attention-span in most people, with technology getting faster, lighter and smaller, many people are used to getting results in seconds, not minutes, hours or days. No one wants to wait for anything, they want it instantly. Getting people to commit to a decision like buying a ticket for a workmate/friend/family member's gig days or weeks in advance is a difficult task. I encountered this trying to sell tickets to my workmates. No one wants to commit to a decision like that. It's not a major decision, but it's not an instant reward, like downloading the band's music off Bandcamp for free which would probably take about a minute. No one wants to give up their weekend time in advance. It's all 'maybe', especially if you're in the same boat as my band, where not a lot of people have heard us, so they are reluctant to make plans and spend money in advance. There's no instant reward, so they don't see the appeal. PLUS paying $12 to see a band play for twenty-five minutes is a little steep. Especially on a Sunday afternoon, when most young people are still sleeping off the night before.

I'm sure these kinds of companies can justify what they do in many, many different ways. But I don't see how they can justify ripping off young, inexperienced bands and still have 'support local music' on the back of their event crew hoodies. I for one would like to know what promotion they put on for these weekly 'showcase/showdown' gigs. The first one we did didn't even have our band name on the poster outside the venue. The second one didn't have anything outside the venue, as there was another gig on the same day in a different room (which I think was free),which is a bit of fail on their part.

I might sound like a total whining bitch, but the gig wasn't a total loss. About seven or eight people went away with a free copy of 'Soul On Fire' EP, and we met some cool cats by the name of Polygasm (who are freaking amazing). We're putting it down to an experience, a chance to practice loudly, and some extra 'likes'  on our facebook page.

And we LOVE having more 'likes'. Maybe one day we'll even have enough to apply for an NZOnAir Grant. LOL.

At said gig. Why WOULDN'T you like us?

Last night I was fuming. Today I am mildly annoyed. Tomorrow I will probably be indifferent, or even nonchalant. Basically I want to get the word out, in case there's some hot young band thinking doing these kinds of gigs will be a fast ticket to fame and fortune reading this. Value your music and your integrity. These kinds of gigs promise everything, and deliver nothing. They're off laughing to the bank, while you slave away at a supermarket checkout/ office desk/ cleaning mop/ another cliche musician day job to pay for the next EP recording, a van to get your gear around or a decent guitar. All you need to do to get gigs is be good at what you do and network. DON'T be an up-yourself asshole, be nice. Be friendly. That's all it takes.

Hey wow, no F-Bomb.

xxxxxxx

Oh screw it. Fuck.

'Soul On Fire' Two Year Anniversary Release!

Sometimes I think two years is a REALLY long time. Then sometimes I think it's a very short time. It doesn't seem like two years ago that we released our EP 'Soul On Fire, but tomorrow it will officially be two years ago. And that makes me feel a little lazy, as two years without releasing anything is kind of bad, considering we've got about 15 songs that were written since then.

But never fear! The next few months is going to be release-central, as tomorrow we are re-releasing the EP on bandcamp for FREE in a special two-year anniversary pack. With the original package comes an extra track that was on the dunedinmusic.com download pack called 'Hotshot Stereo', bonus track 'Mouse and The Beetle' (included on the physical copy of the EP as a bonus track) and for all you hipsters out there who liked us before we were cool, a very low-fi, slightly amateurish demo of 'I'll Be Your Devil', recorded by Drew about two weeks after the song was written.

Recorded when we looked like this. What teenyboppers!

To download the anniversary edition of our EP, go to www.honeybone.bandcamp.com after 8am Monday 16th July (that's in Sydney/Melbourne time).

Yay!

The next exciting news in Honeybone World (sounds like an amusement park lol) is the fact that we have a single that is ALMOST ready for release! Yay! Considering we recorded it about a year ago (oops lazy fairy has struck again), it's been a long time coming. It is called 'Don't Need You', hopefully you Dunedin cats will remember it as a fairly catchy number that graced many a setlist. Drew is currently mixing the track and altering the guitars, we'll master it and sort out some sort of artwork (anyone who would like to contribute art/ideas is most welcome, we all suck at art) then it'll be RELEASE time! E.T.A will be within one month hopefully. Keep your eye out, it's gonna be wicked cool.

This is a photo of one of our gigs, doesn't it look fun?

Surely the most exciting news we have as a band is the fact that we have GIGS! Yay! Specifically, a gig next SATURDAY 21st July (so soon!) at a place called Blue Tile Lounge on Smith Street in Fitzroy. We are on at 8pm and the entry is free. There are three awesome bands playing with us, go to this page https://www.facebook.com/events/433612420016245/ for more information. But you know, its FREE. There's not really any kind of excuse not to, since it's the first gig we've played here that isn't on a school night. Come on down and have a beer with us, even my Mum is going to be there.

Our next gig after that is August 12th at Espy in St Kilda. We have a ridiculous number of tickets to sell (well, 50, it's not really that ridiculous) at $12 each and we get $3 back from each ticket sold. We'd love to sell a lot so if you want to get your hot little hands on one, give me a bell at rachel@honeybonemusic.com.

Remember: 8am Monday 16th July 2012!
xxx

We Are In Band Love

If Honeybone was a 13 year old girl, we'd be all 'OMGGGGG HE IS LIKE, SOOOOOOOOOO HOOOTTTT' (Well, it's been a while since I was 13 and I don't know any, but I assume that's what they're like).

Tis not a bieber-boy we love, but a band. They are Children Overboard, and they rock all of our socks. And our ears. (PS guys if you're reading this, don't be scared. I'm not gonna stalk you or anything... probably).

This is them, they are cool.

They played with us at our gig at The Tote on July 1st and blew my mind. Twas a rainy, cold Sunday evening . Not a huge crowd which was a shame because every band that played (The New Savages and Howard also) was amazing. Children Overboard played a bluesy, soulful, rock 'n' rolly mixture of musical goodness and I was like 'woah'. And they like us too! It's like, meant to be and shit.

They have an EP online that you can download for FREE here www.childrenoverboard.com. I recommend you do it now. They moved here to Melbourne from Wollongong not long ago, so they're in the same boat (so to speak) as us. We're hoping to do a ton of gigs together and be band friends. Yay!

Their facebook page is here: www.facebook.com/childrenoverboard go like them NOW. Well you know, if you want to. I don't want to be pushy. I just recommend it.

Our gig at The Tote was really fun, even though there wasn't a ton of people (we're used to that). Our mates came down and watched us which was cool as. We played for an awesome 40 minutes, which seemed like so long compared to our Revolver 20 minute set. I hear The Tote is an 'iconic' Melbourne venue (Jack from 'Low Speed Bus Chase, fellow Dunedin band living here in Melbourne, told me that), so it was pretty wicked to play on that stage. Hopefully we get to again!

I also want to mention another band that blew my mind, on Thursday last week we headed down to Yah Yahs to watch Children Overboard (we are total fans) and they played with a band called The Velvets. They are EPIC. They played a Black Keys song that I love, and I really wanted to rock out but I was in danger of having a coughing fit so I just hung back and bopped my head a bit. They like The Checks apparantly, which is crazy, cause so do we. Funny that. We want to play with them too so hopefully we'll suss something out.

Their facebook is here: www.facebook.com/thevelvets. 

This is Us at The Tote, cheers Ashleigh Dunn for the snaps.

In the moments between falling in love with the various bands of Melbourne, we've been keeping fairly busy. Drew is getting back into making pedals and things like that, hit him up if you want something made. We're all working at our jobs during the day, writing and rehearsing at night. We've got a couple of new songs on the grow and old ones being played again (Dunedinites, remember that epic 11 minute song we used to play?). Once I get over my hatred of anything I create, songs will probably be coming out me ears.

Drew soldering something to something.

Off to practice now, ya'll come back now y'hear!

xxx

The First Australian Gig

Our first gig (not counting the Open Mic performance) in Melbourne was on Tuesday 19th June 2012. This coincided with the biggest earthquake in Victoria in 109 years.

Oh, and it was during OUR FUCKING SET! 

Seriously. Passes to the Cool Kids Club can be handed out now, thanks.

We didn't feel anything, and our mates didn't either, but the judge man did and decided to hop onto the stage after our last song and proclaim it to be the most awesome thing he has experienced, and allude to the fact that Honeybone's rock 'n' roll manner caused said quake.

I thought he just really dug our tunes, but then I checked facebook and yes, there was a quake.

This came up on my mate Ashleigh's facebook feed after about 5 minutes

So that's a pretty cool story. Although that's the whole story, so it's a short one. But a classic nonetheless.

THE GIG:

(Chur to Ashleigh Dunn for photos)

Stance

We played at 'Melbourne Fresh Showcase' at Revolver Upstairs in Prahran, Melbourne. It was a hell of a mish getting there, as we had to tram then train then change trains, whilst carrying gear and during rush hour. FUN. We had our mates Ash and Paul to help (who were total troopers cause both had worked all day and Ash was a bit under the weather), I don't know what we would have done without them. They're full on Cool Kids.

We played for 20 minutes. Our set was:

Can't Feel Your Love

Don't Need You

Edge of the Sun

Outta Time

You may or may not know these tunes as none of them are on our EP. We gave away about 10 EPS after our set, Aussies seem to like free stuff. If you would like an EP, please email me at rachel@honeybonemusic.com and we'll suss out some sort of deal.

Highlights:

- Fellow Otago Uni ex-pats Oli and BB headbanging raucously whilst all the young Aussies got out their smart phones and videoed them, as if they'd never seen anyone mosh at a gig. Apparantly headbanging is not something often done at Melbourne gigs.

Headless Headbangers Oli and BB

- Being able to PLAY REAL DRUMS. My electronic kit is beginning to get tiresome. I was terrified I'd screw up the start of Outta Time since my electronic kit won't let me play snare rolls that fast (rubber is not the same as a real snare in terms of rebound)

-IT WAS A REAL GIG. I could hear myself, and everything else! This is a rare event, but I had a huge foldback speaker next to me and the sound guy was one of those awesome ones who actually knew what he was doing. Kudos to you, my good man.

Drew Glows

I would let you in on the lowlights (is that a word?) but I cannot think of anything. All the other bands that played were pretty good, or on their way to being pretty good (I think we were the oldest band there in terms of age, felt kinda like Rockquest). The organisers were great and everything ran to schedule. Awesome.

We got through to the next round, which is great. I"ll let ya'll know the deets for that one when we hear.

In other news, we're playing with The New Savages on Sunday 1st July (not this Sunday but next week's Sunday) at The Tote. We're on around 7.30 (methinks), entry is $8. You can find out all you need to know here: https://www.facebook.com/events/344258718978219/

Follow us on Twitter: @Honeybone_ (since Facebook is going to charge us if we want our 700 odd fans on our page to see our posts, pssshhh dumb).

My Twitter is @raq_hell. I think I'm pretty cool, so you guys could maybe follow me? maybs? If you want?

love yas 

xxxxx

Things I should have remembered about Open Mic Nights.

So in  my last blog I promised a blog including what my ipod comes up with on shuffle. I have 3053 songs on my ipod, this is going to be interesting. This blog will be about other things also, but I will let you know how this goes. It will be interesting. First song: Lily of the Valley- Queen. Not bad.

So you may have guessed form the title of this blog is that I have recently had some sort of interaction with an Open Mic Night. (Oceans - Evanescence. Judge me if you will, it's really not bad).

On Monday night we went to an Open Mic at Cherry Bar in the city. And here are the things I should really have already known, but neglected to remember this time.

1. There will always be someone playing who plays for way too long, and is generally bad/weird.

This is typical at every open mic, as anyone can play, therefore everyone who can play 'ten guitars' gets up and does their version of Wonderwall. This time, there was a slight variation. This guy I'm talking about looked like a blond version of Robert Smith from The Cure. (All My Love- Led Zeppelin. Getting better). He sang like the singer from Placebo, and played songs (I'm guessing they were originals) reminiscent of The Rasmus. He wasn't bad, but after about 6 songs, we all got a little bored. He played Disarm by the Smashing Pumpkins as his closer, which was rather good and suited his girlish voice. He had a large tall badass looking guy playing the bongo alongside him. That was the funny part.

2. There will always be someone who treats it like their own show.

This has happened at several open mics I've been to. The first one where this occurred was when I was still in high school and my band plus some other musical cats from the year above decided to rock out at Oliver's in Clyde, about 10 minutes drive from my hometown in New Zealand. The guy running it got pissed at us because we brought a drumkit, and played 'too loud'. Typical old-man-who-lives-in-a-bus-with-a-hippie-wife syndrome. He played some country noodling. It was ok.

Cherry Bar was no exception. (Higher Ground- The Red Hot Chili Peppers). There was a girl who came with her whole band (who brought their own gear - wise men), minions and grandmother. She was down from Sydney apparantly, and decided this was the perfect opportunity for a gig without any organisation. Smart girl. She was pretty good, think Pink with an ACDC type band behind her (with a drummer who looked like Mick Mars from Motley Crue). Unfortunately she kept saying how nice it was for everyone to come see her, and got her 'minions' to hand out 'albums' to everybody. This album consisted of a burnt CD with the artist's name sharpied onto it (mine was scratched to hell) in a white CD sleeve with a sticker on it. I had expected more of an effort from a girl who acted so professional in every other aspect. She played for a good 30 minutes. Everyone left after she played, and we were next. Awkward.

This is us at Cherry. Ashleigh Dunn took this pic, she rocks all of the socks.

3. The gear will ALWAYS be shit.

This is something I learned years and years ago, but failed to remember whilst going to Cherry. As always, open mics are generally free, so it's not like anyone's going to go out of their way to provide a good kit or guitar amp. The bass amp was alright. The kick pedal provided broke halfway through our second song, so we had to stop. I didn't bring a drum key, so had to ask into the microphone for one. Awkward. Lesson learned. A drum key is now residing on my key chain. Silly Rachel. We played averagely, as we couldn't hear Drew (I think the amp was broken), and the place was pretty much empty. (Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin). The floor tom sounded very silly also. But thats ok, it's an Open Mic night. Expectations should never be high.

So all in all, 'twas an average gig. Think Honeybone, circa 2009. Like, just after we formed. I blame the awkward situation and the gear. It was one of those cases where all you could hear was your own voice and it's very unsettling. What's good about this is that now I am reminded is that an Open Mic gig for an actual band (not solo singer songwriter types) is never going to go well. Lesson learned. We weren't terrible, we weren't amazing. (Shihad - Ignite). No one remembers the average bands. So I'm hoping no one will remember us, and we have a second chance for a first impression at the Gig on Tuesday.

Kudos to our good mate Ash for coming to watch us, even though she was hungover. She's a champ. Chur bro xxx

Oh and the practice on Saturday last week at The Wick was in-fucking-credible. I played a REAL drumkit. I could HEAR Peter's bass. We played for FIVE hours. It totally rocked. (Stop - Shihad)

Drew being totes badass at practice.

So not too many embarrassing songs came up this time. Next time I will try harder. I do have Nickelback on my Ipod, and Kidrock. Lets hope they come up so you can all have a laugh.

xxx

Make Good Art

Hello fellow people.

Here is an amazing speech by Neil Gaiman (author extraordinaire) as he addresses the class of 2012 at University of the Arts. I don't expect you to watch it straight away, because, in this day and age of short attention spans, my blog probably wins in the competition of the least-time-it-will-take-out-of-your-day. But seriously, one of these days any one who calls themselves an artist or art lover should watch it.

The moment I decided I would watch this was the most absolute perfect moment in my life for it. Having graduated university with a music degree, moved to Melbourne and 'gotten a real job', I couldn't help but feel lost. What am I doing, working 8.30-5 Monday to Friday, wrecking my wrists typing at a computer all day, then I come home too sore to play drums? I came to Melbourne to make music and make a little money out of it. I was not doing as much of this as I would have liked. As Drew pointed out, not much point in complaining, we've only been here 2 and a half months and had our gear just under 3 weeks. Yet every day that I don't spend playing music feels like a day wasted. It was easy to be nonchalant about it all whilst at uni, because it all seemed so distant. I had no idea what I would do. Now I am here, it's pretty freaky.

So I watched Neil Gaiman's speech, after hearing about it for a couple of weeks on Twitter. Needless to say, I was rather inspired. His words 'Make Good Art' are probably the best words I've heard someone say  in a while. 'Cat explodes? Make Good Art'. That was the kick in the arse I really needed to actually stop worrying and start doing it. We had the best band practice last night. I was so excited about everything. Thanks Neil :)

So we've been practicing. Our first few practices were fairly shoddy, but this could be blamed on a number on things. We live on the 2nd floor of an apartment building, so we cannot be loud (for the sake of our age challenged neighbours). So (now that I have an amazingly hip and cool electronic drum kit) we all plug into Drews recording interface and run everything through Logic, then out through headphones. This is pretty cool for a free/quiet way to practice. However, we can't work out how to get mono sends, so we all only have sound going through one side of the headphones. Awkward.

On Saturday we have a 5 hour rehearsal booked at a rehearsal space in Brunswick. They hire gear so we don't have to lug drums over there. That's nice. I'm really looking forward to it, since it'll be the first time I've played a real proper kit since February. I wonder what that will be like. Hopefully fun.

I'll think I'm all:

But I'll really be like:

Exciting time in Honeybone's young life. We recently turned 3 years old (an event I meant to celebrate with a blog entry, but I neglected my post. Soz), and we've got two gigs lined up for the next couple of months. The first is on 19th June at Revolver in Prahran. It is called Melbourne Fresh Showcase, and is similar to a battle of the bands scenario. We have tickets to sell to that, email me rachel@honeybonemusic.com if you want to come support us, that would be so rad.

The second one is a similar deal in the Gershwin Room at the Espy on Sunday August 12th. We also have tickets to sell to that, etc. Email me if you want, that would be rad :)

I can't wait to get back into playing and gigging again. I feel a bit like a 'square' working the typical office job. But I'm using that money I earn to pay for rehearsal spaces, band vans and a new tattoo so I doubt I'm really your typical office girl on the inside. I don't mind it so much, as I can listen to my ipod whilst working, and when it takes an entire album to get to work, and an entire album to get home again, you can bet I'm getting some sweet listening done.

So my new motto is 'make good art'. Or, at the moment, 'make art'. I always seem to forget that for every fucking kick ass song, theres probably 20 or so crap ones. You need to wade through the shit, pay your dues and learn from your mistakes. This is what I've learned from ol' Neil, and it's something we all need to remember.

Make Good Fucking Art EVERYONE

Ok guys?

PS.

With my ipod on shuffle, here's what I listened to whilst writing this blog:

Amanda Palmer: Do It With A RockStar
Amanda Palmer: Want It Back
Katy Perry: California Gurls feat. Snoop Dog (oh yeah)
Shihad: Bullitproof
Jack White: Sixteen Saltines
Princess Chelsea: Goodnight Little Robot Child
Queen: Crazy Little Thing Called Love
White Stripes: Little Ghost
Jeff Buckley: Lover, You Should Have Come Over
White Stripes: Little Room
Led Zeppelin: Since I've Been Loving You
David Bowie: Ziggy Stardust
Shihad: Pacifier


I think my next blog is going to be a list of whatever comes up on my ipod whilst on shuffle. That'll be good for a laugh.

xxx

It's a GEARFEST

Hello all you magical people.

On Friday 22nd May 2012, Honeybone got their gear back.

I was all OMFFFFFFFGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD (imagine that going up at the end). But this had to be all inside my own head, as I had to work all day so could not be reunited with said gear until approximately 5.45pm that night. The things we do to save enough money so Honeybone can buy a van.

So I excitedly rushed home from said job and entered our abode. And was immediately accosted with empty boxes. I 'casually strolled' into my bedroom and saw this:

Usually you can see more of my floor

So I kind of stood there in the doorway for about 5 minutes, completely flabbergasted. Yes, that is mostly my stuff in the picture. WHY DO I HAVE SO MANY THINGS!! I ask myself that very question everytime I move. I dislike throwing things away because a part of me is still a child and thinks inanimate objects have feelings.

You would too if your toaster was this cute.

So after I got over the initial shock, I unpacked my electronic kit which is in the large standy-uppy box in the right of the picture. Out came a dead spider. Woops. Sorry Australian Customs. Naturally I meticulously combed through anything in that box (we padded my kit with clothing) for eggs. Luckily it appeared to be a Daddy spider. Mummy spider and little Timmy will never know what adventures that curled up ball of legs and fear would have.

Sorry, I digress.

So then, naturally, I took pictures of everyone reunited with their gear, purely for the purpose of this blog. Look at me, a hardworking dedicated blogger. Good at Life.

Drews things. I'm glad I didn't have to lug that cab up four flights of stairs.

My pretty drums all boxed up in a black cage of emotion. Or just a kick hardcase. You decide.

So much gear lovin'

Saturday was spent at Ikea to buy things to put our things in. Needless to say, we now have an Ikea flat. It's like that episode of Friends where Phoebe hates Pottery Barn because everyone has the same stuff. Only I hate Ikea, because in the space of 1 and a bit months, I have been there THREE TIMES. That is a little over the top. But hey, cheap stuff. And it's got cool swedish names. Score. And we are now all really awesome at building things from a box and a set of instructions with a funny guy on them. Win.

We will now begin to practice, which will be interesting. Peter has not stopped playing bass, Drew is currently noodling away at 'Since I've Been Lovin' You' and I played drums to 'Wherever I May Roam' just last night. But I bet we'll still all suck on our first practice. Ha.

*********************************************************************************

On another note, I have been listening to a shitload of cool music. To name names, Amanda Palmer. AFP. She rules all of the schools. Lately she's been causing quite the stir by putting her new album up for backing on Kickstarter and she has at this present time over 16,000 backers and raised over $700,000 USD in just over two weeks. Of course it helps that she has a rather large, awesome, crazy dedicated fan base Even still, how amazing is that? The revolution has begun. Maybe one day Honeybone will do some sort of crowd funding project. Anyone care to throw some money at the new Honeybone album once it's done?

Cheeky.

Anyway I just wanted to let people know how awesome this is, as it puts the power with the fans. They get to decide who gets the money and who doesn't. This is not the end of shit music, because one man's Beatles is another mans Nickleback. But what I love is that the crowd decides, and that is fucking awesome. There are a few crowd funding websites out there, so go have a look cause there's so much amazing stuff in the world that would never get a look in if it weren't for the internet.

This has been quite the marathon blog.

Rachel OUT.

I love you, blog readers xxx

Random picture of a shark, because they are cool.

Honeybone in the 21st Century

Oh yes, first blogpost in weeks because we finally have internet connected at our house!

I just read the last post to see what I had told ya'll and it was really shit all so I should probably be a good girl and write a really cool interesting funny long one...

We'll see how that works out.

So we have a gig! June 19th at a place called Revolver. It's an industry night showcase run by a promo company called Melbourne Fresh. If you live in Melbourne and want to come, we have to sell 30-50 tickets at $10 AUD a pop so we'd love it if you were keen. Just give me an email at rachel@honeybonemusic.com and we'll sort something out.

We get 20 minutes to strut our stuff, and it's sort of like a battle of the bands because I believe there are prizes and a final and everything. So that will be fun. Woop.

Our flat is very very cool. We moved in on the 16th of April, the first day of my new job. That was a hectic day. We still don't have much furniture because we don't have much money, but we have some camp chairs our good mates Ashleigh and Paul lent us so that's cool. They're really comfy and the drink holders are really good for holding my beer (funny that).

Here is one of them and sneaky Peter to the right

We also bought loft beds from IKEA because we will have so much more room for activities. Seriously though, they are cool except for the fact that I'm scared every morning, because I am that kind of person who would fall.


Melbourne is really really great. It takes me 30-40 minutes on the tram to get to work but it's totally worth it. 

Especially when Asian girls have Pedo Bear Bags lol

We saw The Verlaines a couple of weeks ago when we were here and caught up with some old Dunedin expats, which was great. We haven't had much money because we had to use our first pays to pay the first month of rent so we haven't been able to do a lot, but once I get paid again (I get paid bi-monthly), it'll be sweet as. There's heaps of places I really want to go to, so there's my weekends full up for the next year or so!

Our gear gets delivered to our flat next Friday which is super exciting. I figured out at work the other day (I don't do a hell of a lot at my new job haha) that it's been more than TWO MONTHS since I've played drums. So Melbourne peeps, don't expect too much on my first outing. Muscle memory will kick in for a bit, but then I'll realise just how much 2 months can set you back. We're going to get straight back into practicing which is going to be awesome. Drew will have his computer and hard drive back and we can listen to the mixes of the recordings we did last year and work out what needs redone. It's going to be so exciting, I've had a bit of a music withdrawal. Although last night I played at an open mic night at the pub a block down from our flat, which was interesting, as most open mic nights are everywhere.

We've done so much since I last posted. We went to the Storm/Warriors game at AAMI Park on Anzac Day. That was really cool because we were surrounded by kiwis (even a bunch of Maoris smoking pot right behind us, felt just like home). Warriors lost, but hey that happens.

Here's a picture of Drew putting my IKEA drawers together. IKEA rocks

Drew and I have a Narnia Wardrobe!

I feel like this a good, decent length blog. Keep an eye out, I'll probably write a really good one next week when we get our gear (woop)

xxx

Honeybone Goes To The Zoo

Yep, we went to Melbourne Zoo. All three of us. Check us out, aren't we a bunch o' pretty things.

This isn't a post just about the Zoo though, that was just one day in a whole two weeks since my last post. And things are looking up in the world of Honeybone in Melbourne.

I got a job, Drew and Peter had/have interviews, we've applied for flats (but heard nothing...) so things are getting quite exciting really. The job I am doing is for a vehicle leasing company, don't all fall out of your chairs in excitement at once. I have already done that for you :) Pay is good, I start on the 16th of April which gives me a whole extra week to act like an unemployed delinquent, which is always fun.

Like play on this EPIC pinball machine at a 50's diner in South Yarra. What fun.

We went to a really cool gig on a Tuesday a couple of weeks ago in a place called the Evelyn Hotel in Fitzroy. We went with our friend Sam who used to play bass in the Du Cats Kit, he moved here last December. I was like 'Tuesday, it'll be low key, chilled out et cetera'. Well we walked into the place and it was already packed at 9.30pm, and the people kept coming in. It was like Refuel (in Dunedin) on a really really good Pint Night. Crazy shit. The bands were awesome, the headliners have a two month residency there so they'll just keep getting better and better.

Anyway, I know you only clicked on the title of this blog post to see pictures of zoo animals. You're dying to see them, I know it. So here you go:

A Lion

Gorillas

Rafiki

Honeybone love

This butterfly landed somewhere awkward...

This is more appropriate

Aw baby elephant!

Timone

Patterns

These otters didn't show the first time we went round so we came back at the end and they decided to have a fight, it was so cute.

This concludes this post! BTW I got a twitter after a few months of humming and haaing... follow me if you want @raq_hell. And follow Honeybone if you haven't already @honeybone_.

Love xxx