Geekscape Concert Review: honeyhoney Live at World Cafe Live

honeyhoney at World Café Live in Philadelphia – September 15, 2013

I can’t count how many times I’ve gone to a concert specifically to see the opening act (Bad Religion opening for Rise Against at the Electric Factory comes to mind immediately).  Usually people say, “I saw them open for (long-forgotten band) back in (some year that seems closer than it is in actuality) before anyone even knew who they were.”  Yeah, well, we all have those stories.  It seems, however, that the story has been flipped on me for lady dude band honey honey  for a few years now.

I was asked to go see Rocco DeLuca play a show at, then new venue, The Note in West Chester, PA (the bar Bam Margera owned), because he was, quote, the new Jeff Buckley.  That seemed like a good enough reason to go.  But upon the first note opening band honeyhoney frontwoman Suzanne Santo belted, it no longer matter who was going to be the next whoever.  I sat through the first few minutes pretzel-twisted in my chair, conversation dropped mid-thought, as I was completely enthralled with whatever was happening a mere 30 feet away on stage.  You know that scene in Wayne’s World when Mike Myers sees Tia Carrere at the Gas Works, everything but her goes out of focus and Gary Wright’s “Dream Weaver” plays?  It was exactly like that, only the music coming from the stage was about 100 times better than some ‘70s AM radio one-hit wonder.

So, of course, I had to buy an EP, a full-length CD and a t-shirt from them.

My radio co-worker always said, “Get there for the opener.  You never know who you’re going to catch on the rise.”  Well, this proved to be the M.O. for honeyhoney in Philly.  I caught them 3 more times as the opening act: once with folk singer Joshua James, once with “Twilight: Breaking Dawn” love theme writer and Philly native Christina Perri, and just last night with Gatorade commercial songwriter and UK heartthrob Jake Bugg.  All four times, they have blown the headliner off the stage.

I said honeyhoney is a lady dude band (which, actually, I didn’t say… they did on their Twitter profile), and it mainly consists of aforementioned Suzanne Santo, who handles lead vocals while juggling phenomenal banjo-picking skills and Satanic-inspired fiddling, and Ben Jaffe, former Nickelodeon jingle-writer who handles back-up vocal harmonies, guitar and drums – often at the same time.  In fact, Ben spent the entire performance slot sitting behind the bare-bones kit stomping the kick drum, playing guitar and singing simultaneously.  The rest of the touring personnel has changed over time, and tonight they had Ben Lewis, a man in a tan Dickies jacket, neckerchief and cowboy hat filling out the sound on mandolin, banjo and electric guitar.

You’re saying, okay, great they’re talented… but what do they sound like?  You could say a number of things – alt-country, bluegrass, Americana, folk – but they really have a sound that I truly believe could only come from the pairing of Cleveland, Ohio’s Santo and Williamstown, Massachusetts’ Jaffe meeting in California to truly capture the drunken text message, and next morning hangover regrets, that defines our current society.

Their first album, aptly titled “First Rodeo,” was the disc that replaced Bright Eyes’ “I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning” as my vacant-life, late-night go-to album.  Their follow-up, “Billy Jack,” really carved out a more distinctive and authentic sound that Santo claimed more closely reflected their musical intentions than their previous record.  With their third album in the can (Jaffe said he had just received the mastered copy last night and had yet to hear it, but was excited to start looking for a label to put it out), honeyhoney should start to ooze onto some radars, possibly even in the U.K. and Ireland, where they are opening for Jake Bugg in the coming months.  And while their recorded material is far and away worth whatever currency unit it’s being distributed in, their on-stage showmanship and playfulness is really what keeps me going back for more.

First off, Suzanne and Ben have great rapport on stage.  No matter how far away or high up they may be, they waste no time in breaking down the barrier and inviting you into their world with unrehearsed, witty banter.  This night in particular Ben was complaining about his glasses falling down as he played and asked the crowd for suggestions that didn’t include the Kareem Abdul-Jabber basketball strap.  One front row audience member suggested some sort of hair clip that Ben could use and Suzanne immediately went over, transferred them to Ben and he, unsuccessfully, tried it on for size.

Second, the tunes just work.  No matter what instruments they’re playing, the music is relatable and emotionally stuffed with imagery and metaphor that’s so obvious after-the-fact, you almost can’t believe it hasn’t already been used.  “I sold all your clothes to get rid of your smell, I smashed all the clocks that had the right time to tell me how long it has been since we parted ways,” goes lines from “Don’t Know How” and you can’t help but be shoved right back into the first few weeks after that one failed relationship that never granted you the proper closure.

I’ve also seen the band perform a few covers over the years, Hank Williams’ “Lost Highway” comes to mind, and this night they played a folked-out rocking version of Radiohead’s “15 Step”, which (I’m probably going to get railed for this opinion) was way better than the original.

They also performed two songs yet to be released:  “Back to You” and “Yours to Bare”, before which Ben quipped that, “This next one is a new song… but then again most of you have probably never heard any of our music before, so… here’s another one of our songs.”

So, while most of the audience was there to see Jake Bugg, judging by what was on the honeyhoney merch table before and after their performance, it seems like a lot of people left as new honeyhoney fans (I even took the liberty of telling the guy next to me at the bar which was the new album of the two he purchased since apparently he had trouble locating the release dates printed on the back).  Suzanne says the next album is even more rocking than the first two, which, as they proved during their performance of “Thin Line,”  is something they are more than capable of and comfortable with.

Do yourself a favor and check out honeyhoney.  Then tell a friend.  And they’ll tell two friends, and they’ll tell two friends… And then honeyhoney can finally headline a tour, instead of making the act they’re opening for an anti-climactic end to an evening.  And this should go without saying, but if you like the tunes, grab ‘em legally.

Setlist:

Back to You
Ohio
Yours to Bare
15 Step (Radiohead cover)
Sugarcane
Thin Line
Oh Mama/Come on Home (Medley)