When I first received today's guest debut album – Transcendence – late last year I wasn't expecting much. I heard from my friends in the know that I should really check them out. The PR Sheet that came with the album didn't speak volumes to me either. So I relented and pressed play on my MP3 Player.
About two hours later I was about to start my 3rd listen. Holy crap, Honeymoon Disease infected me with their high octane riffs blended with Hard Rock, Heavy Metal and Blues based Stoner vibes. The band have just came back from a well received European Tour. The album has also been acclaimed by fans and critics alike. You can read our review here.
I was asked to interview the band and I wanted to find out more about them especially why they chose their crazy name. I'm happy to say Jimi (Drums) from Honeymoon Disease is here to save the day....
It’s
great thanks! A lot is going on in the Honeymoon headquarters.
Booking shows for 2016 and we have also started writing some new
killer material.
Haha,
no it isn’t. For us Honeymoon Disease is like a crazy ass honeymoon
that never ends. It’s starting out as pretty beautiful, fun and
romantic, but after a while it just turns into a painful and itchy
horror story. But you can’t stop diggin’ it. Just like our music.
The guitarist Jenna got the name from some weird soap opera show a
long way back.
How did the band get together. Did you all know each other before forming the band.
Not
really. The two guitarists Jenna and Acid played together before in a
band called Thrill Worriers. They started Honeymoon Disease with our
former bassist Admiral in 2014. Together they recorded the first
single “Fast Love”. At that point they didn’t have a steady
member on drums and just before the release of the 7” vinyl I
(Jimi) moved to Gothenburg and met the girls at a concert.
They
asked me to join and after one jam I stepped in as the drummer and we
started to play live. Admiral then decided to leave the band last
summer, after the recordings of our debut album, and shortly after
Nick joined as the new bassist.
Some
say we’re the rock’n’roll Abba, haha. It’s groovy hard rock
with well-trimmed guitar riffs and a lot of 70’s feeling. We have
no problems of calling it retro but I believe we also have a modern
touch into it as well.
Thank
you man! Like I said we want to find a good mix of old and new, a
retro feeling with a modern sound. The album has everything from
speedy tunes that kicks you in the balls to more mellow and groovy
ones. You get in the mood, but not just one mood. It’s a journey of
feelings and it can be dangerous to listen to it while in traffic,
haha.
The
pre-production was a really stressful period for us. We were such a
new band and really wanted to play live as much as possible but we
also needed to record the album. So we worked with the songs together
with our producers Ola Erfjord and Nicke Andersson (Imperial State
Electric, The Hellacopters) in the same time that we were a lot on
the road. It was an interesting process and even though it was
stressful we got the opportunity to try the material for an audience.
Two of the tracks on the record are actually mostly written in the
studio, risky but really fun. The result became exactly as we wanted
it.
The album is being released via Napalm Records Music. How did you hook up with Napalm. Did you have any other label offers to release the album.
We
had some offers but Napalm Records showed and gave us a lot of
support directly from the beginning. Even though we just had one
single out, they believed in us and saw the potential. We feel really
fortunate to have the chance to work with them.
I
worked with Napalm before with my previous band Mamont. So it was
pretty natural I guess, that they had an eye on my next project.
I
think it has always been hard to be a band on this planet. Today it’s
of course easier to reach out to a wider audience which is great. But
it’s harder to provide yourself on the music I guess. That’s the
most difficult part, to make it work without money, haha. You come to
a point when you put in so much time and hard work but in the same
time you need to have a boring job as well. It’s hard to find the
balance and it takes a lot of energy. But if you’re creative you’ll
manage which is pretty fun in the same time.
Jenna
and Acid often starts writing a riff from a feeling they have,
sometimes a whole idea of a song. Then we jam it out and build up the
arrangements altogether. All of us have the same musical roots but in
the same time we have a lot of different references. For example I
come from the stoner scene and Acid more from the thrash world. It’s
always fun to mix this stuff during the writing process.
We
had a blast! It was so much fun! We released the debut album under
the tour so we were a little bit unsure if people would know who we
were. But the response was amazing!
We
toured with Swedish Avatarium and The Vintage Caravan from Iceland.
It couldn't have been a better tour package! Super nice people and a
great mix of speedy rock'n'roll, blues and heavy rock.
Hell
yes! Right now we're planning a lot of stuff. Scandinavian dates of
course and also some summer festivals and hopefully we'll play Spain
and Portugal later this spring. An bigger European tour is also in
the making.
Watch
Out! Because the disease is coming for you! Haha, we can't wait to
drive out on the roads and meet you people. If you like the record
and haven't seen us live, then you should really come out and hang
out with us! Looking forward to rise our beer bottles together soon!
Cheers!
Words by Steve Howe and Jimi
Thanks to Andy at
Napalm PR for arranging the interview. Thanks to Jimi for taking the
time out to talking to me. Transcendence is available to buy on
CD/DD/Vinyl from Napalm Records now.
Links
