9 Questions to Newport with Honeysuckle

The three bands who will be performing as part of the Converse Rubber Tracks stage on Friday have just been announced. I have previously heard and played with 1 of the 3, and the other 2 were new to my ears. Of the two, Honeysuckle struck a chord deep with me upon the first listen. They encompass the best part of roots music in the simplicity and beauty in playing, harmonizing and I caught up with Holly McGarry, Benjamin Burns, and Chris Bloniarz to talk about their music, the last minute addition to the folk fest, and what’s coming for the band. Check it out and lend these folks an ear on Friday in the Museum at Newport…this is going to be one of those special moments that I value so much about this festival…

RLR: For the fine folks who may not be as familiar with your work, how would you sum up your sound in a short phrase?

Holly McGarry : Honeysuckle is a progressive folk trio, which blends older influences and traditional instrumentation with modern effects and inspiration. We strive for honest lyrics and intricate interplay in the instrumentation.

Chris Bloniarz: To me, we sound like folky songwriting combined with more complex arrangements.

Benjamin Burns: Synchronized swimming for acoustic instruments.

RLR: What projects are you currently working on or have you recently released?

HM: We recently released our first EP as a trio called, “Arrows.” We also recorded three songs which may be the start of a new full album and are going into the studio with Converse Rubber Tracks at the end of the month to do some recording as well.

CB: Honeysuckle just released our debut EP, Arrows, and next week we’ll be in the studio with Converse Rubber Tracks working on two new songs. My other band Grey Season is putting the finishing touched on a free cover album. I’m also in the process of recording several instruments for the new Mother Moses record

BB: Always working on new songs. Recently released Arrows, the first Honeysuckle EP; I also drum in Grey Season, who released their debut Time Will Tell You Well last year.

RLR: Newport Folk is celebrated for its collaborations, community and bringing folks together for a weekend where they may not see each other otherwise. How do you feel about that preservation of unity and family sentiment in the folk music community? How does it play into your own music and where you come from? Is there a “scene” or community that you feel especially attached to?

HM: The ‘folk music community’ has shaped my entire life in a major way. I come from a small town in northern Idaho called Sandpoint where there are a lot of artists and musicians. Growing up in the small artist town I had mentors all around me who helped to inspire and teach me. Friends from that community helped teach me to play music, let me play my first gigs with them and took me on my first tour. I owe everything to my community and it’s beautiful how the farther you go the more you see that community spread out across the US and the world. What I appreciate the most is how supportive the folk community is, people always seem willing and excited to share their songs and to collaborate with anyone who is willing and shares a love of the music.

CB: I love the idea of different musicians collaborating/jamming together. I have played on several of my friends’ records here in Boston (Box Of Birds, Mother Moses, Ashyln Willson) and I love getting to contribute creatively with other musicians.

BB: I’ve always looked for family sentiments in music, as the process of creating it is inherently an emotional process (for me). It’s sort of crucial to have at least one person, musician or not, to collaborate with/be witness to one’s catharsis. Otherwise you’re left to prove your work’s worth to yourself, which can be difficult. Some objectivity from an exterior party certainly helps too. Also inspiration comes from strange places, and often those places are other people.

I’d say between the two bands there’s a community to be had – we certainly know a lot of musicians in Boston too, going to shows and stuff – though I’m still sort of searching for a tighter knit community (once I dispel my social anxiety).

RLR: Do you have a favorite moment on stage from your career? Something that just stands out as special and has given you the urge to keep on going.

HM: Sometimes people share stories from their lives with you if a song has touched them personally. I remember I used to play a song called, “My Will” for a classmate who passed away in high school. One night after playing the song at a local bar a woman came up to me and shared that she had lost her son and the lyrics in the song had touched her. If something I write can help someone in any way then I feel like I’ve really done my job. It’s nights like that that make you feel like to have to keep going.
RLR: If you could collaborate with anyone (dead or alive) musically, who would it be?

CB: The first gig we played as the 3 of us in NY was at Rockwood Music Hall. In many ways, it was our first real show as a band and we couldn’t have played for a more receptive and appreciative audience. It’s shows like that that keep me wanting to play music.

BB: One moment that comes to mind is a busking memory – we played in Harvard Sq a few years ago and had a sharply dressed couple ballroom dance in front of us, which sort of strips a lot of distracting things away from music and leaves it’s definition a bit more palpable.

RLR: If you could collaborate with anyone (dead or alive) musically, who would it be?

HM: There’s no question for me that I would want to collaborate with Gillian Welch. She is my favorite songwriter of all time and has the most incredible voice I’ve ever heard. There something about the quality of her voice and the stories she tells that resonates with me more than any other artist I’ve ever heard.

BB: Most certainly Gillian Welch (and David Rawlings).

CB: I’d be super nervous but I’d love to collaborate, or even take a mandolin lesson, from Chris Thile.

RLR: 1 record that shaped you when you first started playing and 1 ‘lesser known’/independent record or artist that you are now/are listening to now that you think folks really need to hear about?

HM: It might be funny to say but I think “Tommy” by The Who shaped me a lot early on because when I realized that Pete Townshend had written a rock opera I just thought, wow! You can do anything and you can shape your stories however you want as a writer. The first song I ever wrote (and it’s not very good) was a 9 minute long instrumental ‘mini rock opera.’

There are a few lesser know artists that I think people really need to hear. Shook Twins, Josh Hedlund and Grey Season I think are all incredibly talented musicians who in their own ways are very unique and all have songwriters who pen deeply honest and powerful songs.

CB: I really love Break It Yourself by Andrew Bird. And as for a band that I wish more people knew about, I’m having a lot of fun working with Mother Moses on their newest record and I think they are incredibly talented. Damn Tall Buildings is also a band I really respect.

BB: I picked up banjo/guitar a bit later than drums, so as far as early records for that sort of thing I’d say Will The Circle Be Unbroken (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band) is sort of a cumulative experience of everything my father would blast over the stereo on Sundays when he cleaned the house (with bleach). My mother played a lot of Joni Mitchell too. As for new folks, I’m on the tail end of a Porches phase – they’re a band from Brooklyn, really good songwriting. That always hits me first.

RLR: So, why is creating music important to you? Why do you hit the stage night after night, pull out the old song notebook every day, or whatever else you do to let loose your creativity?

HM: I think like most people when you’re bitten by this bug and you’re given some sort of gift you just have to. It moves people and most of all it moves the people who make it and I really feel that once you’re in it, you’re in it for life.

CB: When you write a great song or play a great show, it’s just the greatest feeling I’ve ever had, and I’m always trying to search for those rewarding moments.

BB: I’m not sure where the impulse comes from and I’m becoming okay with that, though it makes it harder to control. Sometimes I have a muse, sometimes (most of the time) I dig and come up empty. Chasing the mystery, I guess. Balancing something visceral with it’s real world manifestation (i.e. making it pay).

RLR: Aside from music, do you have any other pastimes? What would you want people to know about you aside from your musical endeavors?

HM: I enjoy camping, hiking, swimming and I used to be very into horseback riding. Really just being in the outdoors is something important to me outside of music. It’s very therapeutic.

CB: I really love video games, especially Super Smash Bros. for the N64. That’s my jam!

BB: I love to fly fish. I also write a lot of poetry. It seems to come a lot easier than songwriting does. They occupy separate parts of my brain, for better or worse.

RLR: Anything else you want to plug?

HM: We’re playing several gig in the Boston area this summer and fall and will be making announcements for releasing the new material we’ve been recording. If anyone would like to keep  informed about what the band is up to you can find us at www.honeysuckleband.com or on Facebook.

CB: Honeysuckle and my other band, Grey Season, will be working on more new recorded material this fall.

BB: New stuff in the works for both Honeysuckle and Grey Season in the fall.