Rock and Roll is exciting again in the hands of Dirty Honey

If you like a cool swagger to your rock, then check out Dirty Honey. Their hard driving sound is infectious and familiar. They remind you of someone you’ve heard before yet roll with their own punch.

Dirty Honey is an LA based outfit comprised of Marc LaBelle on vocals, John Notto on guitar, Corey Coverstone on drums and Justin Smolian on bass who are heading to Western Canada in support of their latest and first full-length project simply called Dirty Honey. Back in 2019 they released an EP (also self titled) that won the hearts of many critics and music buffs the world over. In fact, they were the first unsigned band to hit number one on the Billboard mainstream music charts with the single “When I’m Gone.” They’ve been taking the music world by storm since then. In my mind they are one of the best newer rock bands I’ve heard in quite a while. The last time I felt this good about new music was when I first saw ‘Glorious Sons.’  Dirty Honey is the real deal.

John Notto was named one of Guitar World’s hottest new guitarists in the Sept 2022 issue. They are fresh off a European tour opening for Gun’s N Roses and KISS. You may have seen them earlier this year as they preformed a killer version of Prince’s ‘Let’s Go Crazy’ at the NHL Winter Classic in Minnesota. Now is your chance to catch them in an intimate setting. I’m sure the next time they come through Western Canada the venues will be a tad larger than the clubs they are hitting this time. Critics and scribes everywhere are raving about this fresh new(ish) band, myself included.

I recently spoke with vocalist Marc LaBelle and I touched on the fact that many bands go through several rejections before knocking on the right door and he said this wasn’t the case for them, “Our manager just said we need to release this EP and lets not worry about a label right now and see if we can drum up some opportunities from this first batch of songs. Then ‘When I’m Gone’ hit number one, how much better can we get with a record deal? Why would we sign our lives away? There are so many constraints to getting your music released these days. Being independent and not having to deal with those restrictions is a blessing.” LaBelle added, “It’s all about surrounding yourself with people who have the same passion about your music and believe in what you’re doing.” Not wanting to play along with the Tic-Tok social media game, Dirty Honey have stayed true to themselves and built their own following the old-fashioned way: Straight forward rock and roll and high energy live performances.

One of their first gigs was a set on the famed Sunset Strip in LA back in 2017 to a crowd of 100 people. Thinking the strip had seen it’s better days I asked what it was like coming up in LA. LaBelle: “We wanted to stay as far away from the strip as we could. Some of the fabled bars like the Whiskey A Go Go wanted us to pay them $1000 to play. We couldn’t afford that, so we cut our teeth in towns like Santa Monica, Venice, Ventura and Thousand Oaks playing four hour sets and created our vibe that way.”

With the recent resurgence of 70’s blues rock, it’s easy to draw comparisons to other artists these days. Critics can be quick and jump to conclusions that one band sounds like another band and so on and not give artists their due and quickly cast them aside. Dirty Honey digs in with riffs that are familiar yet resonate with their own sound and they bring to mind several other bands at once. I asked Marc if there is one comparison that bothered him and one they are proud of, “When you have people saying you remind them of this band or that band we take it as a huge compliment. It’s great to be compared to Zeppelin, Black Crowes or Guns n Roses. If you dig those guys and think we are similar, that’s cool. I’ve heard people suggest a couple of bands from the 80s that I can’t recall right now, but not being familiar with that music, I couldn’t really relate. For us it’s just dirty gritty rock and roll.” They are distinct with their own style.

Every band has an “a-ha moment.” That moment when everything you have worked for just clicks and you realize it’s been worth the journey and struggle. For Dirty Honey it’s been a few things all at once. “I can’t really say that we’ve had a distinct ‘a-ha’ moment. When you see a YouTube video where a kid picks up a guitar and starts playing one of your songs. Maybe when people start coming up to you saying they love your music and what you are doing, that one still takes getting used to. Or it’s when the people you are opening for like The Who or Slash, or KISS compliment you on the set you just played. But the best one is when people start singing back the words to your songs. And anytime you can get a kid to pick up a guitar is a good feeling too. Keep the music growing.”

If you haven’t heard their music yet, head over to your favourite streaming platform and give their latest album simply called titled Dirty Honey a listen. You’ll be hooked from the opening riffs of “California Dreaming” to the gritty bluesy “Another Last Time.” This album will take you on a ride that trips through the 70’s arena sounds, hits the blues rock shuffle era and mixes in a splash of LA hair metal all with class and substance. One of my favourite tracks on the album is ‘No Warning’ “Man, ‘No Warning’”, LaBelle adds, “has been with me for some time. I laboured over it for about a year and was trying to get the melody just right. I was pretty passionate about it. It’s like a diamond. It took pressure and time to get it shine just the way you want to and then finally one day it just came and I’m grateful that it did.” Another favourite of mine is “Another Last Time” “That song was the exact opposite of ‘No Warning’ where it came to me in 20-30 minutes. I was just working on a riff. Sometimes you just gotta open yourself up to the song writing process and let it take over. ‘Another Last Time’ was one of those songs where it just clicked.” This whole album clicks with me as does their debut EP from 2019. LaBelle, “It’s just dirty, gritty, rock and roll.” That shuffle is most evident on ‘The Morning’ and ‘Gypsy.’

Marc LaBelle is a huge hockey fan and has brought his gear with him on this trip. “I’m hoping I can get into some trouble on the ice while I’m up there.” Dirty Honey western Canadian swing kicks off in Winnipeg on August 29th at The Park Theatre. They then stop in Saskatoon August 31st, Edmonton on Sept 2nd, the 3rd they are in Calgary and they wrap the Western Canadian leg up with a show at the Rickshaw in Vancouver on the 5th. Look for them at these venues or perhaps a hockey rink near you.

For more details on tickets and more visit Dirty Honey

Mike Scott