Dirty Honey | Dirty Honey
- Henry Menigoz
- May 2, 2021
- 6 min read
The weather’s getting warmer, the days are getting longer, and it’s time to find that summer soundtrack that will blare through the rolled down windows of your highway-bound car throughout the ensuing sun-soaked months. Seemingly with that exact purpose in mind comes eight tracks of the grooviest, raunchiest, most swagger-filled rock ‘n’ roll you’ve ever heard, from a band whose meteoric rise to acclaim requires no aid from any record label.
After a tempestuous year filled with no shortage of creative obstacles, Dirty Honey has finally released their full-length album debut (aptly christened Dirty Honey) and with it firmly entrenched their position as one of the most electrifying new bands on today's rock landscape. Throughout the album, we hear a band that brings new life and energy to time-worn messages used since the beginning of rock and blues music; songs of passion and affair, of loss and disillusionment, and of the free spirited nature. With rollicking riffs and electrifying vocals, Dirty Honey is delightfully reminiscent of the rock bands we love of old, while at the same time comprised of something refreshingly new and exciting, from the first note to the last.
Placed as the album's opening track and lead single, “California Dreamin’” is the perfect embodiment of this spirit, and yet offers just a mere taste of the attitude and strut that is to come. Lyrically, singer Marc LaBelle tells the story of the darker, more nightmarish side to the Golden State than is commonly portrayed; a message quite contradictory to that of the Mama's and Papa’s song of the same name. This illumination is set to a twisting, almost paranoia-inciting melody, that weaves its way around the song's colossal, lumbering riff. It is a thesis statement that at one time celebrates the beauty and spirit inherent of the idealized land of California, while at the other brings to light the harsh realities and horrors possessed by its underworld.
The album maintains this level of high energy and appeal throughout, but the hardships endured in its creation are not without scars left on the finished product.
It was in March of last year that Dirty Honey first began preparations for the creation of this album, working again with producer Nick Didia (Pearl Jam, Rage Against the Machine) and his studios based in Byron Bay, Australia. Just the day before they were set to leave for the continent however, the pandemic lockdowns would put a halt on all of those plans and leave the band set on idle for months. Eventually, they were able to commence production on the album after deploying some creative solutions to the inhibiting restrictions, notwithstanding virtual sessions with the producer over zoom. These circumstances make the near flawless production on the album all the more impressive, though it could be noted that two of the tracks appear not to have come out altogether unscathed.
The album’s second single, “Tied Up”, features what could be guitarist John Notto’s funkiest groove to date, and as might be inferred by the title, one of LaBelle’s most provocative lyrics. The track explores several break-down sections, including an a cappella closing refrain, in what amounts to an explosion of fun, raunchy blues. A chorus of backing singers and a movin' bass line add in another layer of funk, to the point that this group is just one horn section short of acquiring their permanent residency on Bourbon Street.
However, something about this mix just seems a bit off. LaBelle’s vocals come off as over-compressed almost to the point of distortion, and his lyrics changed to far inferior re-writes when compared to previous live versions of the song. With stop-and-go groove shifts, abrasive hi-hat levels, and backing singers mixed so thin they sound like an accident, this is a song I believe Didia and Co. might like another crack at.
Some of these production quips could be echoed with the album's third single, but to a far lesser degree. In “Gypsy” we again get one of Notto’s most incensing riffs, and a free-spirited chorus that wails, “I’m on the run, just livin’ like a gypsy”. This song is your anthem of the summer, and an encapsulation of the rock and roll lifestyle. If ever you were on the fence about buying a motorcycle, one listen to this song and you’ll be on your way to Harley-Davidson with cash in hand.
From here the album only gets groovier the more you listen. In “No Warning” the band maintains that straightforward, no-smoke-and-mirrors rock ‘n’ roll that just screams out the influence The Black Crowes had on the group, before LaBelle’s crescendo at the chorus soars to new heights. “The Wire” also maintains this semblance of relative composition simplicity, and features a melody so seductive it just cuts right through the bone. With lyrics like these, there’s no doubt Dirty Honey is doing everything right on this track:
“This wasn’t part of the plan/
And I never wanted to see you again/
But I’m a fool for you/
And those things that you do/
Can’t this picture of you out of my head.”
“The Morning” is a track that could easily fly under the radar without getting the recognition it undoubtedly deserves. The way LaBelle fits his chorus lyric in between the gaps left by Notto and the crew creates this swanky, discordant clash that spills out in all the right places. Notto then takes over with his most tumultuous solo of the entire album; a piercing eruption of blues licks and notes that is as venomous as it is melodic. Not to be outdone, LaBelle attempts to steal back the limelight with a closing refrain that howls “I can’t wait ‘til the morning light, to have you next to me”. A hidden jewel perhaps, but one that could just as easily pass for a lead single.
Just when you think the band can’t possibly have anything left in the tank, and maybe you couldn’t take any more if they did, comes the album's final track, “Another Last Time”. This one opens with some savory, crunched guitar licks that at first listen will have you stopping to make sure you didn’t accidentally switch over to Hendrix’s “Little Wing”. When the rest of the band falls in a few moments later however, you’ll know this can only be Dirty Honey, and this soulful ballad is exactly the song you needed.
With its mournful, melancholy purr, Labelle uses this song’s lyric to lament a one-sided love affair in which his feelings aren’t reciprocated, interweaving the story with the sorrow-laden guitar melodies and killer tone. The return of the backing singers and new addition of the organ have this track bursting at the seams with soul, aided also by the poignant imagery in the song’s metaphors:
“She lit me like a candle/
Let me burn for the night/
They say to never let an old flame burn you twice.
And then she used me up
Like a motel room/
Drank it dry and checked out of there at noon.”
The band can’t help but to rock out a little in the song’s breakdown, before crashing into a wistful bridge that cries “Ain’t it a toxic kind of life?”. This is then followed by a key change in the closing refrain that really drives home that mournfully sweet longing. By the time this song comes to an end, you’ll be ready to restart the album from the top...‘another last time’.
There’s only one way to listen to this debut album from Dirty Honey, and if you still have your voice by the time it ends, you’re doing it all wrong. From cover to cover, Dirty Honey offers one of the most complete collections of blues rock and roll we’ve heard since the likes of Shake Your Money Maker and Toys In The Attic were rocking the airwaves, and it comes with all the swagger and moxy to match. It’s music made for max volume, and as Keith Richards famously once noted, "for the neck downwards."
With their debut album, Dirty Honey has stormed the gates of the rock industry and are taking no prisoners. While they might stand to benefit from diversifying their sound with an acoustic guitar perhaps, the four piece from Santa Monica has shown that there’s still a place for old school rock ‘n’ roll in today's market, and no window dressing is needed. If old rock stars want to feign their relevance by incessantly proclaiming that “Rock is dead”, Dirty Honey will be here to prove that rock and roll is very much alive and well, and it's here to stay.
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