Riding on the crest of a tidal wave of hype, folky five-tet The Honey Month have become one of Brisbane’s fastest rising bands.
With a distinct blend of a varied and often conflicting influences, this ragtag bunch of barely post-pubescent kids deliver meticulously crafted melodies with unwavering intensity. Although still in its infancy and without even a full album release, the band has been caught up in a snowball of hype and publicity. Already they’ve scored a greatly contested spot at the renowned Splendour in the Grass festival, and also played at BIGSOUND in the last year. More recently, they were chosen as the triple J unearthed for the One Movement festival in Perth. If this wasn’t enough, they’re still undergoing intense work putting the finishing touches on their debut album and continuing to play local shows around Brisbane. Having just finished their gig at the powerhouse, Tom Kulich and Liam Eaton made time in their busy schedule to chat with us.
“Splendour would probably be our biggest gig,” Tom, multi-instrumentalist and front man told us. “It was an incredible opportunity to play with bands that we love and look up to."
"As we were a relatively small band it was a little intimidating at first", fellow musician Liam said. "But it ended up being one of our best shows yet."
It may surprise the inexperienced listener to hear that this bunch of fragile guitar-strummers came from a much less delicate musical background. The founding members of the band were originally angsty teenagers making punk music in high school, in an outfit called the Choking Cats. Eventually the band turned to experimentation as they began exploring new genres and sounds. They continued to expand their influences as they developed, adding more musicians and instruments along the way.
“The band unofficially started in high school, when Hamish, Tom and David started playing in a punk band.” Liam explained “From there they decided to develop their sound a bit and add more musicians and instruments. Jono and I joined up more than a year ago, and we’ve also added some of our influences into the band”.
The Honey Month are big in more than one way - not only in popularity, but also in sheer size. With a core group of five members, the band can get up to ten musicians on stage at once, playing anything from mandolins to saws to accordions. These unconventional instruments aren’t just for show, they play a vital role in the band’s songcraft. It’s this organised chaos that makes the band so unique. Harmonised guitars slide in and out of focus, drums beat persistently, the occasional karimba chimes sweetly. Any lesser band would quickly allow this setup dissolve into unpleasant noise, yet somehow The Honey Month weave this disorder into an impressive feat of musicianship. Their punk heritage also shines through the mix, as anyone who has seen them live will testify. The Honey Month have a ferocity rarely seen in this type of music.
“We don’t actually have a consensus on what we listen to, a few of us even like black metal,” Liam told us “we’re kind of going back to our real early influences, and bringing in a lot more influences from the punk music we used to listen to, when we played in a punk band."
"I sing about feelings mostly, as lame as that sounds," Tom told us. "I suppose they're more folky lyrics. So it’s not literal, and it often has different meanings. We sing about stories, and emotions."
Listen to 'Foliage' here:
