I was way too close to the band for comfort at Bardot on Monday night, it is a very small club and expensive band Hunny played there a set despite their narrowness of the place. I say large because they were five on stage, and they are even a sextet according to their Facebook…
They have been declared emerging band of the week by Obey Clothing Propaganda, ‘Cry For Me’, a song they have posted on Soundcloud (produced by Doug Boehm who worked with Girls, Tokyo Police Club, Christopher Owens) got more than 800,000 listenings, they got some local support from KROQ’s Locals Only Show, they had an LA residency at the Bootleg last June, and have booked a national tour with The Neighbourhood in the fall… So there’s no doubt they are a hot new band of the moment while they formed only a year ago.
Their set was full of fun, danceable, pop rock songs, with a lot of guitars, a series of explosive energetic outbursts and a very happy frontman who was sharing a cigarette with his girlfriend all set long… so yeah despite the dynamism and the confidence of the music, the atmosphere was very laid back and they looked like a band wanting to have fun before anything else.
They broke a drum during the set, didn’t seem to be too much bothered by the incident, and continued through their set of radio-ready pop rock tunes with the same playful vibe. Curiously, singer Jason Yarger’s delivery had reminiscence of The Cure’s Robert Smith and despite this fun ambiance, it was obvious that the music was drawing inspiration from the post-punk scene of the 80’s and 90’s, with touches of darkness popping up behind a joyous dance floor. ‘All the music that your dad listened to when he was cool, we are bringing it back,’ said Yarger in an interview while talking about his inspiration.
At times, they could have sounded like a more upbeat version of The Cure, but the next song was experiencing something a bit different and according to their website, their sound draws on their ‘undying love’ for Prince, … which I didn’t really hear last night. But one thing is sure, their confidence on stage as their good beats were pleasing the crowd and you may hear about Hunny very soon.
