August 20, 2022 – Very few things are as exciting as finding something new you love. Much like archaeologists that dig to find hidden treasures, we here at T-Mak World really enjoy trying to find new bands that we love. Once we find such bands, we approach our favourites to request interviews for our Emerging Artist Spotlight series. Today we set our focus on a band from Los Angeles called Dirty Honey. This is not a small time bar band, their video of California Dreamin’ has almost 2 million views on YouTube and we even had their album on our Top 10 Albums of 2021 article.
Dirty Honey is: Marc LaBelle (vocals), John Notto (guitars), Justin Smolian (bass) and Corey Coverstone (drums). The band’s official biography offers us the following info:
Some musicians take a while to build an audience and connect with fans. For the Los Angeles-based quartet Dirty Honey, success came right out of the gate. Released in March 2019, the band’s debut single, “When I’m Gone,” became the first song by an unsigned artist to reach No. 1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart. Their second single, “Rolling 7s,” went into the Top 5 and was still headed up when COVID changed everything. That same year, Dirty Honey opened for The Who, Guns ’N Roses, Slash, and Alter Bridge and was the “do-not-miss-band” at major rock festivals such as Welcome to Rockville, Rocklahoma, Louder Than Life, Heavy MTL, and Epicenter. On its first U.S. headline tour in January and February 2020, the band sold out every date.
When it came time to record its self-titled full-length debut album, the band—vocalist Marc LaBelle, guitarist John Notto, bassist Justin Smolian, and drummer Corey Coverstone—wasn’t about to mess with what was already working. Teaming up with producer Nick DiDia (Rage Against the Machine, Pearl Jam), who also produced the band’s 2019 self-titled EP, Dirty Honey again captured the lightning-in-a-bottle dynamics and energy of their live sound.
We were offered the opportunity to ask a few questions to vocalist Marc LaBelle and jumped at the chance. Check it out and please catch Dirty Honey when they play your area, we guarantee you will be blown away!
T-Mak: Marc thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with us, greatly appreciated! Let me start off by saying that we are huge fans of Dirty Honey and are convinced that you (along with bands like Rival Sons, Greta Van Fleet, The Temperance Movement, Mammoth WVH, etc) are going to collectively help bring back rock to its rightful glory days. In fact your debut album showed up on our Top 10 Albums of 2021 so Dirty Honey has been on our radar for a while. How do you feel about the current state of rock music in general in the world?
LaBelle: Thank you. that’s very high praise obviously. I feel like it’s pretty strong right now. Certainly stronger than it’s been in the last decade or two, but I honestly felt like there was going to be even this bigger explosion of rock bands coming up. It hasn’t happened yet, but it’s brewing for sure.
T-Mak: You guys passed by Toronto earlier this year in March on a co-headlining tour with Wolfgang Van Halen’s band Mammoth. I unfortunately missed that show, do you remember it at all? Anything stand out about the Toronto or Canadian crowds in general?
LaBelle: Honestly, I had a great day in Toronto leading up to the show. Obviously, I’m a huge hockey fan so anytime you get to visit a great hockey town like that it’s always fun for me. I remember that crowd being WAY better and more excited than we could have ever anticipated. A famous radio DJ in Toronto who’d seen us a bunch in LA came up to me and said that was the best show of ours he’d ever seen and he’s a rather tough critic.
T-Mak: Ha! Very cool, I didn’t know there are famous radio DJ’s here in Toronto, but glad you knocked his socks off! We are pleased to see you are returning to Canada on your headlining tour (although disappointed Toronto is not one of the stops), have you had any downtime or are you guys full on tour mode to get out there as much as possible?
LaBelle: As I write this I’m currently traveling through the Italian Alps on my motorcycle so I wouldn’t really call it “Down time” but it’s as much of a vacation as I usually give myself. Personally, I love traveling, learning, and experiencing what the world has to offer so whether that means being on tour, a motorcycle, a hike, whatever I just like to be out there making memories.
T-Mak: While we really like Dirty Honey’s music we also love your music videos immensely. Are you involved in the creative direction of them? I ask because they do seem very in tune with the musical voyage your songs take us on.
LaBelle: I am, my good friend Scott Fleishman who’s directed most of our stuff is a great collaborator and when we decide to film something he’s usually my first call to bounce ideas off of. Once we feel like we hit on a concept we like I’ll give the guys in the band a call and see what they think or if they have anything to add to it.
T-Mak: I heard you on the Trunk Nation radio show with Wolf Van Halen and the one thing that really stood out for me in that interview was that the band was not signed to a record label. That is really unbelievable because the music you guys are delivering is top notch and I am sure you will be headlining arenas soon. Is the lack of a record label a good thing in any sense for you?
LaBelle: The lack of a label is a great thing honestly right now. I’ve been talking to friends in bands, pop artists, and really anyone who’s signed and they’re all having trouble getting their music out because their label’s hold the music back if it’s not a TikTok hit. I could never deal with that kind of shit. I have to give a lot of credit to my manager for not falling victim to that trap. He loves music and he always reminds us that success in this industry has always been about the music so if you focus on songwriting and making great music you’ll be just fine. I’ve never met an artist that’s told me “You have to sign with my label, they’re the best!”
T-Mak: That is absolutely eye-opening insight and a sad reflection of the reality that music is being commoditized for the new generation focused on social media and “likes” rather than real art. What is the future of the music industry? With the concept of the album and physical CD’s facing extinction, how will we be consuming music in 10 years? Are the economics even feasible for emerging artists?
LaBelle: I’m not sure. Obviously there’s more of a focus on the live show now, but artists like to create and I’m an artist so making music will also be a focus of mine as well as putting on a great show. You know with the resurgence that vinyl has had in the last little while I’m not so sure that the concept of the album is dead. I’ve acquired a nice taste for vinyl recently and I love listening to a great record all the way through so I’m not sure what’s in the future. The economics are feasible for any artist that makes great music, can really perform well live, and doesn’t sign a shitty record deal.
T-Mak: I love your answer Marc and your emphasis on art is the reason we dig your band so much! Having said that who are some of your musical influences?
LaBelle: All of the classics and some contemporaries. AC/DC, GNR, Aerosmith, The Black Crowes, Led Zeppelin, The Stones, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Gary Clark Jr, Albert King, B.B. King, The Black Keys, Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye, James Brown, Bryan Adams, the list can go on forever and get extremely random.
T-Mak: Anyone who has Zeppelin on their list is a kindred soul! Based on the above answer, how would you describe Dirty Honey to someone who has not heard of you?
LaBelle: I heard someone once say that we’re like the love child between Guns N Roses, Aerosmith, AC/DC, The Black Crowes, and Led Zeppelin. To that comment I just said simply “Thank you…”
T-Mak: That sounded familiar so I just went back to read my Top 10 Albums of 2021 and this is what I had written about you guys “Dirty Honey is a mix of Guns N Roses, AC/DC, The Black Crowes and Aerosmith. In other words killer rock that will knock your socks off.” Seems like I knew what I was talking about! ;-)
T-Mak: You guys are touring Europe this summer, how are the audiences digging your shows there? Any comparisons of fan reactions to different songs or parts of the show that might differ between North America and Europe?
LaBelle: Europe has been fucking insane. I couldn’t believe how familiar these audiences were with our songs from Sweden to Italy and everywhere in between. The UK was especially special because those shows were with Rival Sons in smaller theaters and those guys were just so supportive of our first European run in every way the second we met them and it felt like their fans were on our side too. The shows in Italy and Vienna really jump out to me with Guns that just blew my mind. These countries don’t even speak our language and they were singing along to our tunes it was surreal.
T-Mak: Fun question – if you could open up for any band at any point in their career, who would it be and why?
LaBelle: The top two on my list would be AC/DC and Aerosmith. Not only would I think it’s a great fit but I just love both those bands so much. The other big one would be The Rolling Stones obviously. But honestly, I like headlining;).
T-Mak: I am sure many young bands would love the chance to open up for you guys! Anyways, I really hope that you continue delivering the exact type of music we love (and refer to as #RealRock on the website) and keep the riffs dirty, the vocals crisp and the music sweaty. Any last words for our readers Marc?
LaBelle: In the words of Bon Scott “It’s a long way to the top if you wanna rock n roll….”
UPCOMING CANADIAN HEADLINE TOUR DATES:
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w/ Mac Saturn |
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08.29.22 @ The Park Theatre Winnipeg, MB |
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08.31.22 @ Louis’ Saskatoon, SK |
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09.02.22 @ Starlite Room Edmonton, AB |
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09.03.22 @ Commonwealth Calgary, AB |
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09.05.22 @ Rickshaw Theatre Vancouver, BC |
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09.19.22 @ Club Soda Montreal, QC |
Dirty Honey – Emerging Artist Spotlight Interview with Marc LaBelle by Terry Makedon
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