This week’s Listening Party features the Brooklyn boys of Honey Wild. Signed to Bushwick-local Shorewave Records, the rock’n’roller band will play their first Glasslands show next Tuesday. Listening Party is a curated weekly column promoting music discovery and encouraging concert-going. Featuring someone we’ve been jamming out to and we recommend to the masses, each Listening Party artist has an upcoming show at a local NYC venue. Grab your headphones and read on.
WHO: Joe Stevens, Andy Payne, Steven Laing, Alex Rainer
THEY SAY: “60s-influenced rock n’ roll”
WE SAY: Retro surf-rock melodies that will have your happy feet dancing away the winter blues.
FROM: Brooklyn, NY
ONLINE: https://www.wearehoneywild.com/
LABELS: Shorewave Records
RECENT WORK: 2013′s double A-side, Garden/Magnifique
UPCOMING SHOW: Next Tuesday at Glasslands (with Pretty & Nice and Yellerkin)
In the wake of The Polar Vortex, nothing sounds better than a sunny retreat to the West Coast. Brooklyn band Honey Wild will take you there – with warm, delightful guitar riffs and addictive, bohemian beach vibes. Comparable to the indie dance rock of Vampire Weekend, Honey Wild follow a stellar formula: darling and quirky lead vocals (Joe Stevens), frenzied guitar chords and songs climaxing in kick drums and cymbal-smashing. Their quirky, surf sounds and 60’s rock style are in a class with the Beach Boys – who, cutely enough, Honey Wild acquired their name from (1967 Beach Boys, Wild Honey). The four-piece band developed in the former Williamsburg establishment Blackbird Parlour, where lead singer Joe Stevens used to work as a line cook. In one of their new tracks, “Garden,” Stevens demonstrates an Elvis Costello ability to mix a little bit of funky with a whole lot of upbeat. A blend of old and new friends, retro riffs and modern afro-pop, city hustle and coastal chillness – Honey Wild are like their name: a tropi-pop, feel good sound that sticks. Catch you at the beach cottage party – er, I mean Glasslands .