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Photo courtesy of The California Honeydrops
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Photo courtesy of The California Honeydrops
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Photo courtesy of The California Honeydrops
With an infectious dance-party vibe, the California Honeydrops’ music is funky R&B with a range of influences from traditional soul to New Orleans second line parades. The group’s sound could be considered “neo soul,” which Dimitri Ehrlich described in Vibe as a paradox: “neo” means “new” while soul is timeless—the Honeydrops are bringing new energy and inspiration to soul music’s time-tested formula. The California Honeydrops will perform at the Old Rock House on September 30 as part of a fall tour to promote upcoming new album, A River’s Invitation.
It all started in a BART station in Oakland, California. Lech Wierzynkski (vocals, guitar and trumpet) and Ben Malament (washboard, percussion, drums), would play bus stations just for fun, as a stress-reliever from other obligations. The guys soon secured a gig at a local pizza parlor every Wednesday night, consistently wowing customers with their upbeat tunes and down-to-earth vibes. The owners of the pizza place took it upon themselves to throw them a fundraiser, the money from which they used to make their first studio album. Within a year and half, the freelancing musicians had a full-time job, playing parties and weddings throughout the Bay area.
“It took off on its own, at a small and sustainable local level," Wierzynkski says. "Ben and I started picking up other people along the way—pianists, bass players—to fill out the sound.”
Wierzynkski and Malament are the only two remaining from the original group, while the other current members include Johnny Bones (tenor saxophone, clarinet), Lorenzo Loera (keys, melodica) and Beau Bradbury (bass, percussion). Over the years, the decision of which musicians to add to the group has been based more on personality than on sheer technical skill.
“We’ve picked up people who we thought would be fun to work with and to be around,” Wierzynkski explains. “We show them the music and how we like to play it, and then they join in. It’s more about the full experience we bring people than the individual sound of each instrument,” he says.
Wierzynkski himself started out as a trumpet player, playing as a back-up musician for several older soul and R&B groups in the Bay area.
“While I was playing trumpet,” Wierzynkski says, “I would watch the older guys at the front of the stage singing and working the crowd, and I started thinking, ‘that looks like fun,’ and I realized this was something I wanted to try my hand at. I started taking singing a lot more seriously.”
Although Wierzynkski started out playing classic blues music, Malament comes from a Caribbean music background with experience playing African hand drums. The band prides itself on making space for elements of all the members’ musical backgrounds and inspirations, as well as the group’s own jug band roots.
“I think we’re able to achieve a universal appeal because of the way we mix up traditional soul and blues music,” Wierzynkski says. “We’re younger than a typical soul band, and we experiment with adding in New Orleans-inspired sounds and the washboard to the classic soul sound. We’ll throw in jug band material like street busking with elements of an R&B show.”
In the end, the combined personalities of the band members are what make the music sing. During shows, they all get down off the stage midway through, using a marching set-up for the drums to move the performance through the audience.
Wierzynkski says, “It’s a very interactive experience compared to most things you might run in to. We’ll get the audience members to start singing with us and even make up songs on the spot. For anyone who is sitting, we try to get them to stand up, and for those already standing, we try to get them to dance and go crazy. It’s a party experience for sure,” he says, laughing.
This year has been huge for the Honeydrops – in addition to the upcoming new album, A River’s Invitation, scheduled for release on September 11, the band created another album to be released next year.
The California Honeydrops will perform at the Old Rock House on September 30 at 8 p.m. Tickets cost $10 in advance and $12 at the door. Click here to buy tickets online. The Old Rock House is located at 1200 S. 7th Street. Please call 314-588-0505 or visit oldrockhouse.com for more information.
