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Honeytongue
and Unisex Salon
@ Arlene Grocery 10.18.02
 Honeytongue
is a working band. The statement sounds simple, until you realize
its implications. They're not a garage band content to play the
same three bars in their town, or a bunch of prima donnas with a
record deal and their own private jet. Based in Seattle, Honeytongue
spends seven months of the year on the road, touring literally all
over the country and building a devoted following, many of whom
were in attendance Friday evening at Arlene Grocery. The members
of the band have no day jobs; they live by their music. All they're
missing is a dog and some mysteries to solve, and they'd have made
a great '70s cartoon. The gypsy lifestyle shows on their new album,
Take Me Anywhere, as well: Listening to it, you can taste
the greasy coffee in the 3 AM truck stop, with Hank Williams, Sr.
playing tinnily on the jukebox.
Live,
Honeytongue's sound is straightforward, poppy rock, with songs based
around singer/keyboardist Jen Ayer's prodigious set of vocal cords,
and driven by Sam Larson's strong bass and Darnton Lewis' rhythm
section. Graham MacNeill's guitar playing is exactly what it should
be—he'll fade almost into an accent, then jump into the foreground
with a wallop like a jab from Lennox Lewis. The months and months
on the road show: This band is tight. Particular standouts are "Take
Me Anywhere" and "Runaway" off their new album, as
well as their cover of "Go Your Own Way." Jen Ayers has
her blues-diva stage persona down pat, but even through it, you
can see the band is having fun when they play. They wouldn't rather
be living any other lifestyle, and it shows in the energy they put
forth. If Honeytongue comes to your town (you can check their schedule
on their Web page), be sure to pay them a visit.
After
the Honeytongue gig, we hung around for the beginning of Unisex
Salon's act. Like any good post-punk glam band, they
basically sang demented, virtuoso do-wop while dressed like escaped
mental patients. The fact that the band is fronted by both a male
and a female vocalist (Gina Calavera and Kenyon Corazon, both former
models) gave them a not-un-B52s-like vibe. Their songs are amusing
to the point of insanity, and their sense of rhythm would be almost
Zappa-esque if it wasn't so ska (or maybe we were drunk). In any
case, check them out, especially if you're the sort of person who
likes bands like Roxy Music.
If
it goes up to 11, e-mail editor@corporatemofo.com.
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