The Honeyrunners - Dan Dwoskin / by E

See what Dan Dwoskin of The Honeyrunners had to say about the band's music and get your copy of their Ep 2 from iTunes now.

What first got you interested in music?

Dan Dwoskin: Music mainly came from my parents, I'm sure it's probably the exact thing you've heard from all the other guys but every time I would drive to school in the morning, my dad would play classical music or, like, Neil Young and - I hated Neil Young when I was younger; I came around on it, because I guess I just never really understood it - and the big influence was them. I mean, I would listen to the radio in the '90's and you would hear some stuff that was good but you'd also hear stuff that was just terrible and you'd sit there and you'd think, like, I could definitely write better music than this and then you say that and then you gotta follow it up. So, for the last ten years I've been following it up; trying to get on the radio.

Which musicians are you most inspired by when working on new songs?

Mostly, we take a big page out of the soul book. We're actually really big fans of - and it's funny because you don't really hear of good soul work - but we take a big page out of James Brown and, like, a lot of The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Black Crowes: just guys who are kind of real heavy players who've been doing this for a long time and we look up to them. I mean, I'm a huge fan of Ray Charles, with how he played keys and put everything together.

What type of tracks have you got playing on your iPod now?

You wanna know right now? I'll try to be as honest as I can be.. Bob Marley with Mc Lyte "Jammin'" Remix - that's pretty good. And then there's, I guess, Raphael Saadiq "Radio" and Ed Sheeran "Sing", so not a bad mix.

What would you say the theme of the album is?

Escape. Escape, loneliness, death... The front of the album is a maze and it's a maze because a lot of the songs on the album have to do with either being in a big city or escaping a big city. So, we thought the maze is a good representation of looking at a big city like Toronto from above with its mazes and its back allies and all its little stories. A lot of the songs on it kind of are like.. for example, "Bones" is kind of your ideal 'get out of the bar and walk home super drunk and then having all these stories happen to you' and we don't really lay it out there one hundred percent, we want to leave a little bit to the imagination, but for the most part, that's kind of the [album's] story.

Is there a track that you're most satisfied with on this album?

I gotta say "Muse", the last track on the album, came out far better than I had expected it to. Like, I loved it, but I wasn't finding it to be the strongest track and in the studio we totally flipped it on its head and it's such a hard packed rock song right now so, I'm super happy with the album.

What makes for a great live show?

You've gotta have a whole lotta energy and you have to connect with your band, no matter what city you're in or how many people are actually in the room, you've gotta give her the same way every night.

Have you had any memorable fan interactions?

We had two girls come down from North Bay.. We went up to North Bay to play a university up there and at our CD release party two girls came, like, four/five hour drive to just come see our show and I was like 'well, we've never had that before' where someone has travelled that far to come see [us]. You know, it's happening more and more often now so it actually feels really good because it feels like you're actually building a fan base.

You've already released two EPs; have you got any plans for a full length album?

Yeah. The other guys would probably say no but I've been, you know, for the next thing we do, I would love to do a full ten/eleven song album.

Why would they say no?

We like the EP idea. You know, we came up with it because we realize that, right now, it's very much a singles market for music; people tend to buy one song off iTunes or Bandcamp or whatever instead of a full length album and we're very much, like, we're album guys, so we figure an EP is a good way to go. People get five, basically, singles for four or five dollars and I find that the songs on an EP, they all tend to go together, because you're not trying to cram it. You're not trying to fill the base, you're actually putting on songs that you feel are good and are very complimentary for each other.

How would you describe your music to someone who had never heard it?

We like to call it soul drenched rock and roll. It's very much inspired by bands like Alabama Shakes or Vintage Trouble and it just tends to be like the stage show is very wild and sweaty and people tend to lose their shit and dance and have fun and kind of just escape their everyday lives and the band actually has a lot of fun up stage too so I would say it's pretty good branding for us.

What do you most want people to take away from your music or the band's performances?

I want them to relate to it. I want them to be able to listen to the story telling we're doing and then, beyond that, to just feel the soul of the music, like the underlying rhythm section and the every part of it. You know, I remember when I first heard songs like "Rolling In The Deep" or, ah god, there's so many songs.. You hear that song on the radio and you just go crazy and you play it and play it and play it. I remember there was one by Jet called "Cold Hard Bitch" and I listened to that for, like, probably a year until I had to take it off because I was so sick of it, but that's what I really want. I want people to become obsessed with it because it just feels good, you know?

Is there anything you want to add or say to your fans?

The first single from the album is "Under Control" and we're going to put out a music video end of September and, right now, we're working on an American tour so that should be happening the first two and a half weeks of November and, beyond that, just enjoy the new album and thanks for everything.  

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