Honeybadger: 'Our lyrics relate to whatever hurts us and wakes us up!'

Time to travel down the paths of Desert Hard Rock!

Today we welcome Honeybadger to Fuzzy Hound! What are your current feelings about the album "Pleasure Delayer"? Are you happy with this release? Did it achieve its purpose?

'Glad to be here at Fuzzy Hound and happy about it. It's been almost a year since "Pleasure Delayer" officially came out, and in the end, the choice to release our first full album during the pandemic is one we judge to have been right, despite the problems. We're very happy both with the quality of our material and with the response from the audience, and with the fact that we made it onto the map of heavy/stoner/alternative rock genres in Greece and abroad. That gives us confidence and appetite for the next steps.'

Tell us a bit about this work and what prompted it. When did you compose the tracks and by what criteria did you choose them for the album? Also, where did the title 'Pleasure Delayer' come from?

'This work was the result of the creation of material that had already slowly started being created back in 2015, when we officially came into existence as a band under the name Honeybadger up until 2019, when the pre-production of the album was finished. Tracks that had already been played live in different forms and dynamics came together and became one body, taking a specific direction with the help and support of our producer, Αλέξης Μπόλπασης.

As for the name of our album, you can look it up in the dialogue of the movie "Vanilla Sky" with Tom Cruise! It symbolizes the targeted waiting to receive a pleasure, to satisfy a desire of yours, with the aim of maximizing it. The idea came out of the blue to our drummer, Βαγγέλης Οικονόμου, and in the end it fit perfectly with the whole pandemic situation, where waiting was (and still is, to some extent) something structural in everything we do.'

"Pleasure Delayer" has a Desert Hard Rock character. What's your broader opinion on the contemporary Hard Rock scene in Greece?

'I think you nailed the musical direction, although we like to say we've also got something alternative going on within our stoner vibe. The hard and heavy rock scene in Greece went through a huge boom initially after around 2005 and even more so after 2010 up until now. We're on a good path. Still, professionalism isn't at the desired level, but I think most of us bands are moving in the right direction, always keeping an eye on how the older and more experienced ones did it.'

What are your influences in general? Which artists or bands do you "owe" the creation of "Pleasure Delayer" to?

'We each have fairly different personal influences, ranging from desert rock, alternative rock, punk, hard rock, metal, nu metal and grunge, all the way to funk, soul and blues. Regardless, as a whole, the album has been influenced by the work of Queens of the Stone Age, Clutch, Monster Magnet, Kyuss and quite a few other historic and important desert/stoner acts.

So that's largely where we owe the inspiration for our sound and compositions. But for the inspiration to get involved with this sound in the first place, we have to thank all the great Greek bands that had already been working for years in this genre and related ones, like Nightstalker, Planet of Zeus, 1000Mods, Naxatras, VIC and quite a few others. They were and will continue to be a source of inspiration.’

From a lyrical standpoint, tell us about the stories your songs describe. What inspiration drove you to write these songs?

'The lyrics are mostly existential and social in nature, with some songs also carrying a romantic element and everyday problems within them. Generally, the things that hurt us but also wake us up. Responsible for that, for six of the album's songs, is our singer, Δημήτρης Βαρδουλάκης and for the other two, Holler and Good for Nothing, our talented friend Στεφανία Στεφανίδη.’

Do you follow any specific method when composing?

'Most of the time the method is jamming during rehearsals. Someone will always bring in riffs, melodies, lines they like, rhythms they've had in their head or heard somewhere and got intrigued by. That gradually starts taking shape and becomes one unified thing with a good lyric. That's how we think it works, anyway, because it differs for every musician. For us this works, and it's one of the most beautiful and exciting moments of being in a band. That moment of the rawest, most primal composition when you see something being born!'

All music and the artists representing it have suffered, more or less, during this pandemic period. How did you handle this situation and what do you expect to happen from here on?

'With a lot of patience and quite a few plans! At first, of course, we took a slap in the face from the whole shock and uncertainty. In the first phase we focused on the final stages of our album and the endless messages we exchanged with Αλέξης, our producer, to bring it to its final form (since the recordings were already finished), and to psychologically boost each other for whatever was coming.

So we had "Pleasure Delayer" in our luggage, we brought it forward with good moves, we released it and promoted it as much as we could. In releasing, distributing it, and in that second round of psychological mutual support, we also had as an ally Made of Stone Recordings, our label, and the man Χρήστος Παπαντσίδης who's behind that name.
Later on, with the gradual reopening, things got a bit better and some live shows started happening, which helped a great deal.'

You started your live shows this summer. Do you have plans for gigs this winter and beyond in general?

'Over the summer and up until September we managed to do three very well-organized and successful shows with an audience. The crowd was seated, following the measures, but hungry for music and with a very hopeful vibe and good mood. We played at Gimme Shelter Film Festival at Τεχνόπολη, at Mammoth Fest which took place at Ακόντισμα in Νέα Καρβάλη, and at Chania Rock Festival at the Ανατολικής Τάφρου theater in Chania. Very nice experiences, alongside some very serious bigger and smaller bands from Greece — it's worth looking up their line-ups to see how well put together those festivals were.

For the winter, I think we'll be very active on the songwriting front, we're already rehearsing quite a bit. As for gigs, we're waiting to see what comes up from the venues, we don't have anything specific yet. One step at a time, that's the right way to go about it, we think.'

Are you working on anything creatively at the moment? When should we expect the follow-up album to "Pleasure Delayer"?

'That's a bit hard to answer in terms of timing given the current situation, but it's true that we want to have new material out for release soon, ideas and songs are already in the works. We have the direction in mind, we've already played a new song at our last show in Chania and the response really pleased us. Let's just say there will definitely be at least some initial material within 2022 for us to move forward with.'

Guys, thank you so much for being here, and we wish you the best of luck in whatever you do! Feel free to close out our chat however you'd like!

'Thank you for the great questions you asked us!

As Honeybadger we just want to tell your readers two things. Support the art you admire and love, and help each other out, materially and psychologically, through all the hard times.'