Band Of The Week #121 - Honey Lung
This week’s Band of the Week is London shoegazers Honey Lung, who have just released the new EP ‘Post Modern Motorcade Music’ via Big Scary Monsters - home to Martha, American Football and Orchards. Having met via a Gumtree advert two years ago, Honey Lung have been mastering their craft on the live circuit supporting the likes of Jaws and Basement. The band took a moment to talk to us in more depth about the release.
So, the EP is out there - how does it feel?
It’s a mixture of incredible excitement and relief. We’ve been working on these songs for a while, and the process of developing them over time from their first demos to the finished products was incredibly satisfying. We noticed how much we had evolved musically during the whole project. It’s also the first time we had ever home-recorded any track, let alone a whole EP. While it was a steep learning curve, which required a lot of patience (and help from some wonderful friends), it gave us the time and flexibility to let the songs germinate during the production process, rather than solely in the rehearsal room, which is usually how we wrote our older songs.
It’s title is ‘Post Modern Motorcade Music’ - does that have a certain meaning or influence?
Jamie was really drawn to the word ‘motorcade’ and the imagery of everyday people driving their cars up and down vast sweeping motorways, like some sort of procession, to and from work or wherever it is that they’re going. There’s a sense of beauty in the mundanity of life and the idea that you just keep moving forward just like everybody else. Thematically, we wanted to make an EP that tackles the problems of the everyman. The things Jamie writes about are the problems that everyone faces at some point in their life.
The EP is being released by Big Scary Monsters, home to the likes of American Football, Martha and Orchards, how did that partnership come about? And how does it feel to be part of that family?
Our fantastic manager Holly initially introduced us to them. When we first looked through BSM’s roster and saw all the bands they have worked with, we kept saying things like “I love that band, and that band...”. Our first meeting was with Dave (one of the label heads) at The Lexington. We felt like we hit it off very quickly, especially after the first few pints! They’re obviously wonderful. They’re the nicest people to work with and it is very clear that they’re incredibly good at what they do and they care so much for their artists and for the music industry in general. We couldn’t be happier honestly.
You all initially met via a Gumtree advert, can you tell us a bit more about that story?
We’ve had a history of meeting our band members online. Jamie and Omri first met each other through a website called Meet and Jam back in 2015. After several lineup changes (and name changes), Honey Lung was formed, our good friend turned bassist Dave joined us, and just about two years ago almost to the day that this is being published, we met Harry through an advert we put up on Gumtree. Harry turned up for what was initially an audition and there were still a few other people that we were going to try out, but we liked him so much we basically told him on the spot that we wanted him to join.
What would you say are the key themes and influences in the EP? And what do you hope your listeners take from it?
A lot of the older songs we wrote were riff driven jams with long instrumental breaks in between the lyrics. A good example of that kind of song is Sophomore. When writing this EP we wanted to take a different direction. We took a lot of inspiration from artists like Wilco and Eliott Smith, with the intentions of writing music more lyrically centred and more “songwriter-y” if you will - with the focus on the song itself rather than on our musicianship. The main lyrical themes of this EP are isolation, insecurity, growing up and trying to read other people’s emotions. The problems that Jamie has written about are problems almost everyone faces, and we hope that people can take comfort in knowing that they’re not alone, and that the lyrics are relatable to them in some way.
Do you have a favorite lyric on the EP? If so, which one and why?
Each one of us has a different favourite lyric. Dave’s favourite is ‘Nothing is the same as when you were my friend’ from Be My Friend. It’s a good hook and it conveys a really honest feeling towards friendship. Harry’s is ‘Nothing feels like the time we had’ from Name; it just sums up that paradox that there are certain times in your life that you can't go back to, but if you could, they'd no longer be so important and make you the person you are in the present. Omri’s favourite is ‘She’s got the greatest mind, and she’s got the saddest smile’ from Big. You can draw a lot of meaning out of that one line alone. It doesn’t matter how brilliant, intelligent or successful you are, you’re just as vulnerable as everyone else to being broken inside. Jamie’s my favourite line is "I got a lot, but a good lot of nothing isn't much". He feels like this line applies in so many different situations and it made a lot of sense to him when he wrote Getting Off.
Now the EP is out there, how does it feel to release new music at a time when the industry is in a struggle? How are you keeping motivated during the Covid-19 situation?
It’s been, and excuse the overused word, strange. We’re used to seeing each other face to face on a weekly basis, and up until now that’s been the most productive way for us to keep track of everything and get stuff done. While most aspects of releasing the EP had been finished before the lockdown, things like social media campaigning, taking press photos, and all of the other parts of promoting the finished product have been affected. The music industry has been hit really hard and we have felt it first hand and we’ve had to adapt like everyone else. We’ve kept ourselves motivated by keeping ourselves busy, and we’ve been listening to lots of new music, reading, exercising, drinking beer and playing video games. We’re grateful that the band has stayed healthy and that we all have great support systems.