Honey Creek - Sound In The Signals Interview
I recently had the opportunity to interview Honey Creek. We discussed their new album, filming their new video, Spotify placements, and more. Check it out below.
First, thanks for the interview.
Thank you for having us! We really appreciate it!
Your debut album ‘A Whole Year In Transit’ came out this year. Can you tell me about the writing and recording process for the album? How long did you work on it?
We began writing in late 2018/early 2019, with the initial intention of just writing a 4 song EP. Line-up changes can be quite the shakeup; we wanted to try to get something fresh and new into people’s ears to reassure them this wasn’t the end of Honey Creek. As we landed on our final lineup with the addition of Chris and Ellee, we found ourselves with fresh perspectives on the content and direction of the album that demanded a full length LP. Oddly enough, this reflects in our recording process, as we finished recording four songs in May of 2019, before coming back in September for several more, and a final session in November to finish our full vision. The process ends up perfectly embodying the last line of the album, “I spent a whole year in transit.”
I really like “The Time It Took”. Can you tell me about writing that song specifically? What was the lyrical inspiration?
“The Time It Took” was one of the first songs we wrote for the record. The title itself is a play on words from our last EP, ‘The Time It Takes,’ as a direct reflection on the year between that release and the next step for us that ended with the creation of, “A Whole Year.” It touches on both personal and external expectations in regards to who we were and what we were doing in that past year, and how that can put strain not only on us, but the people around us. The final words of the song are an acceptance of that year and a promise to ourselves to keep moving forward and pursue personal growth in this next phase of our lives despite past hardships.
One thing I really like about the album is the guitar sound. How long did you work on it for the album and what was some of the gear you used?
For demoing and writing purposes we went with our old standby, the tried and true Line 6 Pod. It gives us enough flexibility and ease of use to get a general idea of what we want the final product to sound like. At the end of the day, however, we credit a lot of the guitar and bass tones to our producer Derek Moffat. He’s a wizard when it comes to dialing in tones, so the process of finding the right sounds we wanted in-studio was quick. We used a Kemper profiling amp to record all the distorted/clean tones with Derek’s VGS Skycruiser (with Evertune).
You released a video for “D.O.G.D.”. Can you tell us a bit about filming the video?
D.O.G.D. was one of the most fun videos we got to film for the album, but definitely one the most nerve-wracking. Primarily a compilation of tour footage, we were out on a 4 day weekender with our homies from Action/Adventure (based in Chicago) about a week before the country started shutting down. For those four days we were constantly checking for updates on what we could expect to happen in the coming days and calling it quits was always a looming possibility. Despite the worry, we were able to finish out the tour as one last hurrah before an uncertain future, and as you might have seen in the video, we got to have a pretty good time with our friends on the top of a parking garage in Ohio. Shoutout to Carter Green (film and edits), for hanging with us for that wild weekend and always producing the most excellent work.
I noticed that you’ve been featured on some Spotify playlists. How important is it for your band to be featured like that?
Getting playlisted is always a humbling and inspiring experience. It’s definitely an ego boost to see your band up next to the more household names. As far as the actual importance goes, professionally, it’s a worthwhile benchmark. Personally we’re just thankful Spotify likes us lol.
It has been challenging for many bands to record, perform, and promote new music during the pandemic. How has it impacted your band?
We had a ton of plans for the release of this record, including a later release date accompanied by a 6 week tour. Although we weren't able to make everything we wanted to do for this record happen, we’re glad we released it when we did. Just like everybody else, we’re adapting to a new way of operating as a band, which is a little daunting. But we’ll keep pushing through until shows are safe again. More recently we’ve been spending a lot of time exploring the possibility of hosting in house live stream shows, which has become more enticing as the months go on. In the coming months we hope to have a setup that might be able to support not only us, but other local acts as well.
What are some things you’ve been doing to promote the band during the pandemic? What are you most looking forward to doing once it’s over?
Since we can’t play shows or tour, we’ve been trying to interact with anybody who's interested in the band in any way we can! So far we’ve been active on Twitch, releasing new merch, and playing some livestreams. We have a ton more to come before the year’s over, including a physical release of the record and an album release livestream!
Thanks for taking the time to answer the questions. Do you have anything else that you would like to add?
We had to take time off of shows, but we haven’t taken time off of music. Keep your ears to the ground and maybe, one day, you might hear a lil something new from us. Maybe. Thanks again for having us. Go vote! Peace.
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