Ten YEARS Man! (Del Playa Edition)

Set: Unprofessional - Heart On A Platter - So Cold - One Last Hallelujah - The Shivering Sand - Mercy Rule - Windward Mark - I Fly Free - Pisces Lullabye - The Sandman - Been Around The World - My Second Shipwreck - How Far Away - Fatal Flaws - The Lightning Rod - Lover You Should Have Come Over

This was only our 10th show- the 2nd in a trio of good gigs surrounding the release of our debut "My Band Rocks" CD- but by that point we were a well-oiled machine (more than a few of this show's songs ended up on our first live CD 2 months later). Like all the 2002 shows, this one was made of a mix of Honey White songs, Mojo Wire songs, a few covers (Cracker, Buckley, Cash), and a few instrumental jams while tuning up.

This show is full of Fun Facts. Figured I should make up for the dearth of them in the other posts, so here you go:

1) As Bryn says a few times into the mic, this show set a new Honey White record for broken strings; the moisture in the ocean air snapped 3 of Brian's and 2 of Bryn's. We definitely made "Unprofessional" our theme song.

2) We actually attempted to play a fast punky version of Bryn's "Sandman" ballad.

3) Both Bryn and I shot our mouths off way too much. This recording is worth listening to just for that. It got so bad that even Bill felt compelled to join in. I think we were all finding ways of dealing with the extreme cold, but I for one was characteristically verbose, and miraculously only embarassed myself. Still, we got in shots for South Park, Back to the Future, "ass pants," and who knows what else. Oh, and there were 3 kegs. Surely that had something to do with it. As usual, Brian proved his genius by keeping quiet.

4) Which reminds me- it was balls-ass freezing, but then what did we expect for a November outside/oceanside D.P. gig? There was condensation on everything and it's amazing we weren't electrocuted.

5) I could be wrong, but I think this is when Shaun Snyder began announcing his prescence at shows with a big baritone "Honey WHITE" shout out.

6) Oh, here's me looking like an idiot again- I was so caught up in the show that I didn't notice Emily getting hit on by a random drunk guy.

7) Tyler came up all the way from UCSD and all he got was a T-shirt.

8) I was less than 1 month away from quitting my job and becoming uselessly unemployed for 18 months. No wonder I got crazy on the mic.

Alas, there is no photographic proof of any of this, but I swear to the Flying Spaghetti Monster that it's all true. Plus it's a classic Honey White show, glistening in pristine 24-bit digital audio. Or something like that. Enjoy! (mp3s via archive.org)

The History Mix 2012, Round 4

A brilliant woman called me a rock star yesterday. That's all I really need in life.

I've decided to celebrate by centering This Week in Youtube on ME. First up, my shouty vocals in the Mojo Wire's classic stomper from 2001:

Next, my bass drives one of Honey White's best 2004 studio takes, where Brian and Bryn get to freak out with effects on a song with no chorus. Billy holds it all together, and amazingly it works:

The last two this week are kind of fun. Sometime in 2005, Honey White jammed out on one of Brian's many epic guitar riffs. It didn't go anywhere, so I altered it a bit and ambient-ified it in 2008 for my book soundtrack…

…and then in 2010, with Radblaster, Bryn turned it into this:

I think next week will be the last week of this silliness. That'll be five free songs from each band on Youtube at that point. Still left to do there, however, is update Honey White's old, low-quality gig videos from 2003/4.

"The Lightning Rod" Echo-Bass Solo

So I lied—no new videos from all four bands. Instead you get me playing solo:

Put my new(ish) Fender Modern Player Jazz bass through its paces with some old riffs from the epic Honey White song. Kind of a sloppy take but I hadn't played this tune with echo in about 8 years. The guitar is sent through an old Boss DD-3 echo pedal, to a Bassman amp.

The History Mix 2012, Round 3

Chose an all-instrumental group of tunes this time for some reason:

We'll bring back all the singers next week, I guess. And I mean ALL the singers.

The History Mix 2012, Round 2

Three of this week's four tunes get flaunted a lot, but that's because they're just that good. The Low Tide one isn't too shabby either—it just has to build up to it:

I could do this every week for the rest of the year...but I won't.

The History Mix 2012, Round 1

Follow-up to last night's Mojo Wire post with some Honey White, Low Tide, and Radblaster youtubes:

I think I'll do this every weekend for a while. At least until I can finish another @$&*(%#ing song lyric.

Old-School Mojo Wire Stompilation

How about some fifteen-year-old Isla Vista blooze for a Friday night? Best track on our debut Mojo Wire CD-R demo:

We Used to Be From Santa Barbara, but Now We're From Everywhere

Today another (shorter, mellower) chapter of Honey White has come to an end: the Fabulous Feddersons will exit, stage right. Yep, Billy and his wife Marika leave for Colorado in a week. As some of you may know, Billy is Honey White's drummer, and Marika became our utility player when HW reconvened in 2010 after a three-year hiatus. Emily, Bryn and I drove up to Santa Barbara to have a nice Los Agaves picnic-dinner with Billy, Marika, and her brother Mikey.

Marika is going to grad school in Boulder to become an International CPA of Mystery, and Billy will continue his genius-mechanic gig with Audi (he of course knows Boulder well from his days at school there and more). Now that they're in a (relatively) central location, any future HW reunion-jams may have to happen a mile high instead of at sea level.



Since we all felt a bit rusty, there was no send-off jam session today like when Brian took off for D.C. and Germany a little over five years ago (which caused Honey White's first, three-year hiatus)—just a good time with good friends and good food.

We hadn't played much lately; the hiatus-snapping, casual full-band-plus-Marika rehearsals in November/December 2010 were followed up a year later, without Bryn but with Brian's fiancée Rebekah, for similar low-key noise-making. I did manage to cobble together a quickie, digital-only E.P. of the best new stuff from those 2010 dates, (erroneously and hilariously) titling it "Corcoran" and releasing it quietly in April 2011:


Things actually ended up a bit like the last few years of HW before our original hiatus; we had one gig and a handful of rehearsals in 2006, and then two final jam sessions in May 2007. Come to think of it, the last few months of the Mojo Wire in 2001 were a bit like that too. Yikes.

Like I said, we didn't make music together as much as we probably should have in recent years, but there's no reason for that other than we're all big kids now and I guess it was just harder to make things happen—but when we did all come together, it was extra special because of that.

Now no Honey Whiters will remain in Santa Barbara, the city of our formation—but now we will truly be what our bio states: "We used to be from Santa Barbara, but now we're from everywhere."

Ten YEARS Man! (First Gigs Edition)

Ten years ago today, Honey White played our first-ever show, in downtown Santa Barbara. Fame and fortune was right around the corner. Surely. I mean, how not, right? Check out Bryn's budding camouflage skills in the photo—brown leather against brown wall. Also, original gig notes post and setlist below:
Set: Unprofessional - One Last Hallelujah - Windward Mark - I Fly Free - Heart On A Platter - Wayfaring Stranger - Fatal Flaws - The Shivering Sand - Lover You Should Have Come Over - How Far Away


For Honey White's debut show Bryn, Brian, Keir, and Billy opened for the mighty Buttcheek Doofus. Our first show went down as a resounding success! Our two bands packed the house, and surrounded by semi- naked photos of Thais Albert (who also made an appearance before us) and Johanna (from BcD), we delivered a quick 10 song set- short sweet and to the point. Next time there will be girls in bikinis. Brian adopted the Clapton/Van Halen "back to the audience" style for a few songs. According to Emily, we "kicked ass".

Ten YEARS Man! (Honey White Edition)

Honey White turns 10 today! Yep, on this date in 2002 Bryn, Brian, Billy and Keir rehearsed for the first time as Honey White, at Earl Arnold's Table Salt Studio in Santa Barbara. Thanks to Bryn, Bill, and Brian for letting me be in their band & putting up with my totally inept management skills. Happy birthday to us!