Blasting out of the fertile Cornish counterculture like angry hornets with wasps in their mouths, come Honey – a three-headed behemoth who are currently putting the requisite muscle back into the power trio dynamic. Get too close and they’ll sear your flesh, then salve it with a saccharine balm. Keeping a careful distance, trakMARX caught up with queen bee Sarah Tyrrell for a closer look into the heart of the soundhive.

Why don’t we start at the beginning? How did Honey come together?

Honey formed in my mind when I was 18 – it was my go-to day dream! I desperately wanted this band to be real. But I was extremely shy and nervous about singing in front of anyone. I gradually started doing things like busking, open mic nights, playing with friends. Then in February last year, I just wanted to balls-out do it after years of frustration. So I called up a drummer friend Dave I used to work with (imagine Shaggy from Scooby Doo as a real person – laid back happy lovely stoner!) So I gave him a CD of a couple of my songs and we bashed them out in a rehearsal space. That immediately became a weekly thing.

In about May my friend Key who plays bass (a pop-punker determined to bring back the genre) said he would play with us for a month or so to get Honey off the ground – this meant I could gig and record. So we played a few support slots over summer with Mouth and Hanterhir at Gaslights (Redruth) and the Studio Bar (Penzance)

Then my boyfriend Sam (super enthusiastic even though he hadn’t heard me/us) recorded three of our tunes; ‘Celestial Burial’ ‘I Wish I Was A Gibson Girl’ and ‘Feral’. I was extremely happy with the result – I give the demo out free to anyone and everyone.

Anyway, it was time for Key to leave as this noisy raw nasty music was not his cup of tea. Enter Craig – loveable bass player. Perfect fit. He did however wait until he had a solid footing in the band to reveal he is an avid Bon Jovi fan…! He’s a couple years younger than me and did the same music course I did at college.

What kind of pictures did you have dancing in your head when you started the group? Who would you cite as your main influences and what determined Honey’s sound?

Starting the band I imagined an ugly duckling scenario –not for me/us to become something beautiful, but just for an extreme transformation to occur. People know me to be kind of reserved, happily let others lead a conversation which is true – but I have a lot of excitement, energy, emotion which I need and love to belt out. So my songs/our sound was – to my deep pleasure – a shock to everyone.

There’s no point in not mentioning certain bands as influences! I was a 90’s child. I love that scene/sound. Although as a kid I loathed Nirvana – far too loud! ‘Put Elvis on’, but Nirvana influenced my guitar playing massively – therefore I’m not intricate, I rarely ever get more complicated than bashing out power chords. Also, of course the first two Hole albums have had a fair few plays. I never heard a girl sing like that before and that inspired to me to try and get that gritty “boy” tone. Melodically I want to be catchy as hell and I’m not there yet. Nowhere near. Lyrically, I’ve always loved writing. None of the songs are about any one thing. My attention span is far too short for that! I’ll write a line or two about something and then change the theme. Which makes for some schizophrenic reading. Inspired by Love, people, the body/nature, family (I wanted a nuclear family, but I got Hiroshima), and just general weird/nasty/pretty imagery.

As for Honey’s sound – We’re still tweaking. I’m a single coils/Fender girl through and through, put that through a Boss DS1 and a valve amp and I’m in heaven. I want quite an ‘ugly’ sound from the vocals, guitar and bass, with big brutish drums, and some sugary vocals, plus lots of harmonies to sweeten the mix. Balance out the ugliness with something pleasant.

So, did Nirvana/Hole act as entry points in your exploration of rock’n’roll and inspire you to dig backwards? If so, what did you discover?

Oh for sure. Those bands lead on to discovering the rest of the 90s American North West scene which I love. Then the influences of those bands. So Fleetwood Mac, Lydia Lynch, Iggy and The Stooges, plus a few other major favourites – Howlin’ Wolf, QOTSA, Tom Waits, Spinnerette, PJ Harvey. I’m still hungry for more music. You’re never done.

How about your experiences of playing live? Do you have any favourite gigs/venues? What have you liked/disliked about gigging so far?

We don’t have that many under our belts yet. I prefer music venues over pubs every time. And I prefer a night with three or four bands rather than a night of The Honey Show.

Highlights so far… Opening for The Eyelids at The Royal Inn Par in Nov last year – stacked to the rafters, no one could move or breathe!!! And as an added bonus I played guitar for The Lids’ set too. Kernow shook that night :D. The first gig of 2012 was a beaut too. The Fleece Bristol. Felt amazing to play on the stage that one of my favourite bands QOTSA stood on 10 years before.

We also love the Clipper and Studio Bar, Penzance. Looking forward to playing everywhere – gonna rinse Cornwall this year and venture over the Tamar more often too. It is so addictive – having a bunch of people moving to your songs you wrote. I love it. Intoxicating.

The only thing I dislike about gigging so far… Fucking lifting gear around and setting up! My amp is heavy! But that’s all.

You’ve described Honey’s sound as “alternative noisy punk rock” – As someone born a decade-and-a-bit after the initial Year Zero, what is your personal perspective on punk rock? What meaning do you perceive and how would you say it operates within the contemporary culture?

I have to be careful saying we’re ‘punk rock’ because we’re so far from what it initially was and those bands aren’t direct influences on me. What I perceive as punk rock now is not the exact sound the band is making – but the ethos (although you still have to be a bit distorted and gutsy). I think being punk is being DIY. Not writing what you think will sound good on the radio, but writing tunes you like. And these days it’s easier than ever to be DIY. Everyone has Cubase/logic on their computer to record. Everyone can make a Facebook/Soundcloud/YouTube –Make their own video. Book gigs, promote. (That’s the only other side of the band I dislike – been up to my ass in emails since nine this morning!). So yeah, you can do a lot on your own. That does also mean that there’s a lot of shit online because everyone and their mate has their ‘album’ out.

I’d say within popular culture it’s a bit lost. Every genre and band gets a little diluted because every sound we can imagine is at our finger tips. I’d like to see guitar based music make a strong come back. Written by real bands who worked from the ground up. No pretentious, posing twats. Ugly people with guitars writing good songs on your TVs and radios. I’d think that was very cool and ‘punk’!

Honey's vocalist, guitar titan and songwriter, Sarah

As a young band do you feel completely disengaged from any social or political issues?

I think (and I’m generalising massively) groups today that make political statements in their music seem to be doing it to create an image for themselves more than they actually caring about the issue.

It may not be a relevant example, but Green Day’s American Idiot which every young person bought, is an album full of very, very VAGUE political lyrics but achieves nothing. There’s been some amazing protest songs and the message always comes best from people who are in the thick of it – ‘Fuck Tha Police’ – NWA, ‘Strange Fruit’ – Billie Holiday.

I also don’t want to see any more feminist bands – because women are equal in Western Society. Take the outdated, attention-seeking rants to Eastern countries/ countries under Sharia law where women really do have it shit

Issues which mean a lot to me are anti-rasicm, anti-homophobia, anti-bullying. Anti-domestic violence. Generally anti-people-being-dicks! It’s great for a band to write about a cause – but you can tell the people who have genuine angst, passion and anger and understanding of what they’re singing about, and you can tell the fakers. That’s why I’m not about to write a fuck-the-government tune because I don’t understand enough about it all to comment.

I think most singers/songwriters write about themselves – we’re self absorbed bastards! And that’s just fine :) As long as we don’t pretend to be something we’re not.

What did you make of the summer ‘riots’?

Seeing the footage was surreal. It made me feel shocked and sad. I leave the analysis to out of touch MPs, although there is truth in what everyone has said really.

People are pissed off in this country – No jobs, big fat bank bosses getting big fat bonuses, Uni fees tripled, etc , but that in no way makes looting, arson and violence productive, revolutionary or noble. People were injured and people died. Small businesses destroyed along with homes and other property. By a bunch of thugs. Once something like that is happening you get that ‘group think’ going on. No one individual is committing the crimes, the whole of London is. A group of three wouldn’t do that for days on end.

Anyway, this is probably only a small part of the big picture, but my view is that we live in the Jeremy Kyle society. Too many people give no thought to creating life, parenting, (I am generalising like crazy again!) So you’ve got these kids who don’t know who their dad is, no discipline at home, no discipline at school (oh no, that’s not allowed anymore!) there’s no heavy sentences given out for any crimes. Living in a country without any consequences. Without respect. Without morals. Anyway, I hope I don’t sound like an asshole because there’s exceptions to everything I say. But children need discipline as much as they need love growing up and I think that’s a big part of our country’s ‘problem’.

Talking of the media, what are your thoughts on the contemporary music press (both print and digital)?

With contemporary music press, I only really know about the mainstream stuff – Kerrang! NME, Q, Mojo. It seems to me that Kerrang! covers the faux angry polished music marketed at teens and little else so I grew out of that at age 15/16.

I do enjoy NME and use their website a lot. But they seem to ‘define’ what’s cool and I don’t always think they get it right. Honestly, I usually only buy a mag if there’s a feature on a band/person I already know. I don’t know where to go to find new music.

As for online, it is a deep ocean of blogs, fanzines and music enthusiasts which you can get lost in easily. Some people are really on it. Some people are idiots with no knowledge of music. One of the drawbacks of the internet is too much choice. Maybe. Just a bit over saturated. So, I guess I’m a bit lost. I would love a magazine or something to follow and know it will deliver stories/music/gigs/reviews of interest. I mainly rely on the people I meet to recommend stuff to me.

On a smaller scale, I’d love to see something covering Cornwall and generating a buzz, working together with venues, bands etc. But again, there are probably quite a few people doing that right now, all detracting focus from each other but all trying to do a brilliant thing at the same time. But music media remains and always will be integral to bands. It’s the link between musicians and fans. Everyone wants to read the interview and tear out the poster to put on their wall.

What do you think of the scene in Cornwall – It seems to me that there’s a fair few good bands, but no real cohesive epicentre?

I agree, there are so many great bands in Cornwall, it’s really exciting and I’ve been lucky to play with and see most of them in the last 12 months. (Kernuyck, Hold The Sun, The Eyelids, Petite Debauche, Giant Johnson, Drexyl, Mouth, The Sum Of equals a tiny handful). But there’s nothing to tie it all together.

We need a venue which puts on ‘big’ rock/alt/garage/punk bands, with only local support. A venue which has music almost every night (a lot of them only have one music night a week and they’re always booked up 12 months ahead!) More local showcases. Eden Project could do a lot more and Truro Hall for Cornwall. Festivals like Boardmasters (Newquay) should have a local talent stage. Why isn’t there an O2 Academy around here?

It feels like, there’s good bands. There’s people who want to see bands. There’s nowhere for us all to go!

Bass behemoth, Craig

So what’s in the pipeline for Honey? Have you thought about recording a full length set yet?

I don’t have a really focused ‘plan’ but the aim is: Gig loads all over Cornwall. Gig further afield as much as possible. Make a video, get photos done, print t-shirts. And definitely record all our tunes. We’re recording with our old college lecturer Matt Arundell. Multi-talented brainy chap. Who also is the guitarist in the local jump-jive band Company B –see them live if you can! :)

And of course. I want to get better at what I do. So I’m going to take some singing lessons, and I’m going to write way better songs. Also I must drink more and heckle the hecklers!

Talking of singing, you don’t half crank up to some lungpower – where does that come from? When did you first realise that you’d that kind of vocal oomph? Is maximum throatage something that you build up to during sets?

I always wanted to sing with a bit o’ rasp. And it just comes from pushing it and having no inhibitions. I started to sing two years ago… And having never had lessons, all I did was belt out my favourite albums over and over. Now I want to get more into harmonies and work on my pitching to have the full vocal package!

I don’t ‘build up’ to full throttle vocals in the set, but I do save the gutsier tunes ‘till last in case it blows my voice out!

I love visceral, raw vocals. More feeling that thought. That’s why I love listening to Howlin’ Wolf, there’s so much power and emotion in that voice!

Where, realistically, would you like to Honey to be a year from now?

I’m all about goals! My goal coming into 2012 was to headline a night – but we already did that! So I might aim a little higher. I want in a year’s time to have attracted a little following through writing and playing well. That’s it really. To earn my place amongst my peers.

Also, to laugh a lot, drink ale and write a good guitar solo.

Honey on Facebook