Last night I witnessed a crime. LA rock band Dirty Honey returned to their hometown and absolutely murdered an audience at The Belasco theater.
They did get a brief opening speech from MTV veteran and current KLOS DJ Matt Pinfield but it wasn’t an introduction… he sort of “set the stage” and the band didn’t begin playing until 10 minutes later. When they did, there were no frills, no special intro music, no lazers, confetti or dancers… just 4 musicians and their instruments playing raw ass rock n roll music.
This is a band with real soul. Throughout their set Dirty Honey exhibited a groovy and danceable vibe in every song. It’s hard not to make comparisons to bands like Aerosmith and Led Zeppelin but Dirty Honey’s interpretation of these influences doesn’t feel in any way borrowed or contrived. The band organically sounds like influential bands of the classic rock era and their live performance is proof positive that it’s as real as it gets.
Lead vocalist Marc LaBelle is a goddamn ace. That guy hit every note with polished perfection, smiling throughout the show and not even breaking a sweat. Drummer Jaydon Bean laid down a rock solid groove and expertly placed backing vocals at all the right spots. Bassist Justin Smollan kept the groove throughout even displaying his guitar prowess when the band did the acoustic portion of the set.
Then there was guitarist John Notto. This guy lays down the gritty, nasty, groove that ices the cake. I watched him changing up guitars multiple times and running simultaneously through 2 Marshall’s. Everything about Notto’s playing just feels like the kingpins of the classic guitar rock era, Joe Perry, Jimmy Page, Brian May. The riff is king in rock music and Notto brings the riff and so much more to the table.
The band played just about all their fan favorite songs and a few new ones and then the room went dark but the crowd would not leave. It wasn’t long before the stage lit up again and the band returned… but this time they brought a friend.
Labelle introduced Chris Robinson, lead vocalist of The Black Crowes by saying “He’s one of the guy’s I’ve probably copied the most from” and Robinson performed “Rock N’ Roll Damnation” by AC/DC with the band before waving goodbye and exiting the stage. The band played one final song – capping off an absolutely perfect night of rock n’ roll.
If you haven’t heard Dirty Honey yet what are you doing? Get on Spotify or Apple or Amazon or whatever right now and listen to the band’s incredible new record “Can’t Find the Brakes.” Don’t miss them live when they come to your town.
We recently spoke to John Notto (guitar) and Jaydon Bean (drums) and you can watch that conversation here:
