Honeycut

By Veronica Young
Photo by Piper Ferguson

Catchy and experimental, atmospheric and energetic, San Francisco trio Honeycut is breaking ground in the Bay Area and turning heads across the country. With five stops along the summer festival circuit just this month, Honeycut is well positioned to spread their smooth blend of future soul music. What’s amazing is that this band came to pass as the beautiful result of a happy accident.

Honeycut fuses together new and old; borrowing sounds from R&B legends and Motown, but tweaking them to make them darker and edgier, more abstract. Their tracks play with textures and sonic grooves, intelligent lyrics and catchy hooks. “I’d say our music is a mix of old school and new school — we definitely bow to the masters, but the way we make our music and play it on stage is really a nod to the future,” keyboard aficionado RV Salters says.

In addition to Salters, the band consists of two other primary members — vocalist Bart Davenport and drum and beat wizard Tony Sevener, who are each accomplished musicians in their own right. What started as an impromptu jam session in Salters’ garage evolved into a sophisticated and ingenious electronic music project, infusing new funk flavor with old school sensibilities.

The trio’s approach to making music is one of the main things that sets it apart from other acts. “We’re kinda like rocket science — we push the musical envelope in a technical way,” says Davenport. Honeycut’s sound is the result of a successful struggle and collaboration, with each member bringing their own influences and preferences to the drawing board. Salters prefers to work with vintage keyboards, favoring such instruments as the Clavinet, whose staccato sound is frequently found in funk songs. He modernizes the sound by passing it through modern effects pedals, altering the sound quality.

A drummer by trade, Sevener opts to play an MPC drum machine both in the studio and live on stage. “Using a drum machine allows me to play different drums for each song,” says Sevener, “If one song calls for quiet, lush drums and the next requires a hard-hitting sound, it can all be possible.” When Honeycut plays a live show, Sevener taps the pads of his MPC to provide the rhythm, while triggering samples on the fly. Nothing is ever sequenced or pre-programmed.

Even the approach adopted by Davenport for writing lyrics is unconventional. “For most of the tracks, Tony and RV wrote the chord progressions, riffs, and arrangements in the studio and produce fully realized tunes,” says Davenport, “Then I come in and write what the singer will do. It’s not the normal process for a singer/songwriter. It truly is a work of collaboration.”

With their novel approach to music and infectious sound, it’s no wonder that Honeycut caught the attention of Chief Xcel of Blackalicious, as well as a member of Quannum Projects. The top notch Bay Area hip-hop collective and independent record label became intrigued after hearing a couple tracks from what was then still simply a fun side project for Sevener, Davenport and Salters. Honeycut signed on without enough material for a full album, but quickly headed into the studio to complete The Day I Turned To Glass, releasing the album last September.

Seeing Honeycut live is a unique experience. Don’t expect to see guys lugging gear around — there are no guitars to be sound checked or drum kits to be set up. They’re also not the type of band to stand around and stare at their shoes. “Live, we are anything but traditional. Bart is the consummate showman and RV is an explosion of energy. Our instrumentation affords a more produced sound,” says Sevener. “We deliver something more direct and true to the album, but with an urgency and immediacy of a band with gear. We are not one of those bands that press play and then just dance around.” Bay Area singer/songwriter Etienne de Rocher contributes on bass to Honeycut’s live act, allowing Salters to have his hands available to both play keys and trigger samples.

Honeycut plans to continue to tour in support of The Day I Turned To Glass. “Today, it takes longer for artists to get heard, and we’ve worked so long and hard enough on this album that we want to get it in front of more people,” says Salters. With Honeycuts slew of festival dates and plans to storm Europe, this shouldn’t be a problem.

www.honeycutmusic.com

Catch Honeycut on the West Coast September 1 at Seattle’s Bumbershoot Festival, on September 15 at San Francisco’s Treasure Island Music Festival, or on September 22 at San Diego’s Street Scene Festival.