Wednesday, June 05, 2019

honeychain - "Go Away"

Imagine my thrill when Bernardo from Jarama 45RPM Recs. asked me to give a listen to his latest release and it turned out to be....honeychain! God, I love this band so much! And I love this label so much! Talk about a marriage made in heaven! This is already the 8th single to be released by Jarama 45RPM. And believe it or not, this is honeychain's first-ever 7" record! I am still baffled as to why this LA alt-rock/power pop trio is not totally massive and selling gazillions of records. I can't think of anybody alive who's better than Hillary Burton at writing radio-worthy pop hits about heartbreak and the devastation of love gone bad. honeychain's full-length album Crushed is one of the best power pop albums of recent memory. If you don't own it yet, I highly encourage you to rectify that immediately! Now with "Go Away", the band has delivered another song that would be all over the radio in a better world. Compared to past releases, the sound is a little less slick with a bit more edge to the guitars. It's got a Buzzcocks meets Go-Go's vibe to it, with wonderfully bitter lyrics and a perfect sing-along hook. I love the energy of this song. If you're gonna tell off the one who tore out your heart, you might as well do it with glee! On the flip is the band's cover of Material Issue's "Goin' Through Your Purse". With this being my favorite song by one of my three favorite bands of all-time, I knew there was the great possibility of disappointment. There are only a handful of bands on earth that should have even dared to touch this song. Luckily, honeychain are one of them. They manage to honor the original version while still putting their own touch on it. And Hillary Burton, to me, is a true kindred spirit to the late, great Jim Ellison. Covering this song was a win-win: I think it will cause some Material Issue fans to discover honeychain and some honeychain fans to discover Material Issue.

I was pumped to hear that "Go Away" was coming out, and I sure wasn't let down! This is punky power pop at its finest! The record officially releases tomorrow. Hit up the Jarama 45RPM Bandcamp for ordering information!



-L.R.

https://jarama45rpmrecs.bandcamp.com/album/go-away 
https://www.facebook.com/jarama45rpmrecs/ 
https://www.facebook.com/honeychainmusic/ 
https://honeychain.bandcamp.com/ 

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