The duo will kick off their Australian tour this week!
Image: Rory Griffen.
UK alternative-pop act HONNE are gearing up to kick off their Australian tour! We caught up with the duo ahead of the run of shows to chat about the tour, their latest album Let’s Just Say The World Ended A Week From Now, What Would You Do? and so much more!
Kicking off at Brisbane's Fortitude Music Hall on September 20, the tour will continue on to the Enmore Theatre in Sydney and Melbourne's Forum, before wrapping up at Hindley Street Music Hall in Adelaide on September 27. Whilst the Sydney and Melbourne dates are sold out, final tickets are available for HONNE's Brisbane and Adelaide shows.
If I'm not mistaken, your upcoming tour is not your first time to Australia is it? You guys were here in 2019?
Andy Clutterbuck: Yeah. So we've played in Australia once before, as in we've done a few shows, but just in Sydney and Melbourne. So we've yet to venture to Adelaide, which we're really looking forward to as well. I'm
JH: And Brisbane.
AC: Yeah. Gosh. So many places are coming.
What are you most looking forward to doing whilst here, especially since you're heading to new cities?
JH: I've been to Australia when I was a kid. I went for like, I think it was nearly a month with my parents when I was 12 or something. But I didn't get to kind of explore it properly as an adult. It's only like four gigs over nearly two weeks. So we've got like three full days off in Melbourne and overall there's gonna be like some proper time to have a look around and enjoy it and go to some nice cafes and meet some friends and stuff like that. So I'm looking forward to that. Yeah.
AC: We know the boys from Cosmo's midnight and they talked about this place, I think it might be in Melbourne, That is like a surfing outdoor wave machine.
Oh yeah, URBNSURF.
AC: Yeah, which sounds awesome. So maybe we'll have to do that.
Obviously the tour is in support of your new album Let’s Just Say The World Ended A Week From Now, What Would You Do?. How have you gone about bringing the album into a live setting?
AC: Yeah, it's difficult, especially this time around. Now we've got four albums, it's hard to choose what songs to play. But we've managed to fit in like the greatest hits, if I can say that without making us sound like an old band. We're playing our favourites from the new album and also just our favourites, and most people's favourites, from all the previous albums before. So yeah, it's a fun show and we've played it before around America and the UK, and a few times in Asia. We're looking forward to having people hear it in Australia and in terms of how we make it work, we just get into like a rehearsal room and we kind of, it's a bit of a lengthy process, but we just kind of practice and we're quite picky when it comes to how things fit together and because obviously there's no live drums on the album and we have a live drummer when we play live. So we have to make sure those parts are all working, and a bass player as well. So yeah, it's a bit of a process, but we get there in the end. It's something we quite enjoy because when we go out and play the actual shows, it's, it's very rewarding.
Can't wait to see the show when you get here. As you said, you've been on the road this year. I'm kind of interested to know, songs from the new album that you’ve played so far where you’ve been surprised by the audience reaction, or not expecting particular tracks to get the reception they have? Because obviously when you're writing and recording, you don't really know what's going to connect with the audiences.
JH: Back On Top I feel like is maybe more of a favourite than What Would You Do?, which I found surprising because What Would You Do? is like one of the kind of main singles, but I don't know if it's because maybe like a lot of people who come to our gigs are like couples and so they gravitate towards songs which maybe they can be like, 'oh this is about us'. So Back On Top is maybe like that kind of song if you know what I mean. It is really interesting to see how, because in What Would You Do? people just kind of like stand there, kind of jamming, having a little dance beause it's less of like a sing-a-long thing I think. Yeah, it's a tricky Anything from you, Andy?
AC: It is tricky and it's kind of like representative of the kind of world we live. It's a weird one because we now are at a point where we only play the music we've released. Like back in the day, I think you'd like play your album before it was out and you'd sort of see which ones were going down and then you'd put those songs on your album. That is kind of, kind of the reverse now [laughs]. We just have to guess which single and just kind of live with it after it's happened. But yeah, we play one of the sort of less obvious songs from the album song called Heart Song. We play that live and I think it's like a bit of a moment. People quite enjoy that. Not that they're like going crazy, but I think they're kind of, again, just standing and hopefully watching and listening in awe of what they're hearing and seeing. Or incredibly, incredibly bored [laugh]s. It's a very fine balance.
And so how important is creating that in-person connection with your audiences at the live shows, especially after a few years of being unable to tour?
JH: I feel like it's for us personally, it's very important because it's it's the only time you really like, I don't know our whole careers are spent for the most part writing something that we don't know if it will ever come out or when it'll come out. And so there's often a year or so, or sometimes even more lag between the making of something and the kind of payoff. Not financially, but the enjoyment aspect of it. Although we enjoy writing as well, of course, but seeing like other people, the touring side is something that we get an immediate response from. Like we go out, we can see people's faces, we can hear people singing along and we get that instant gratification kind of thing. S yeah, that is really lovely. And to see our music meaning something to people and speaking to them after the show and them being saying, 'oh, we are engaged and our first is gonna be this song' and 'this song really helped me get through this kind of tough part of my life'. That kind of thing is kind of one of the most special parts of being in a band, I think.
Yeah, that's so lovely and so special. Now, from your entire discography, which three songs are your favourite songs to perform live?
AC: Warm On A Cold Night is pretty fun. I like doing that because there's a nice big sing along at the end. I personally quite like Location Unknown. I think that sounds good live.
JH: Day One and Shrink. That's four though.
I'm sure you'd been asked this before, but I've got to ask it. Let's just say the world ended a week from now, what would you do?
AC: If it actually was gonna happen, then we'd just spend it with our families. Just get everyone together and live it out in style. Eat lots of nice food and tell stories and all that sort of stuff. I'm making it sound like we're sitting around a campfire [laughs].
JH: [Laughs] We would be around the campfire.
GET TO KNOW HONNE
Biggest musical influences?
AC: For me, Radiohead musically. But also just I guess how they develop and just keep kind of reinventing themselves.
JH: The influence that I feel got HONNE started is probably James Blake. That would be a good one.
Dream collaboration?
JH: Oh, Radiohead and James Blake. [laughs]
An album that has had the most impact on you?
JH: It is gonna be a Radiohead album isn't it? Laughs.
AC: Probably [laughs]
JG: I would say maybe like In Rainbows by Radiohead was a massive, actually no, to be fair, this is probably a bit more what you would expect. Okay Computer by Radiohead. When I heard that, I was just like, I've never heard music like this before. Like they just do whatever they want and I don't know what is in their brains, but I love it.
AC: Kendrick Lamar To Pimp A Butterly, that album is amazing. It's the first kind of rap album, maybe I was kind of new to the game or whatever, but like where the production was equally amazing as the lyrics and everything just together was yeah. Again, like James said, it was just like, 'oh we can do this', and it was done. There was no kind of formality. It was just yeah, lots of different things going on. It was great.
If you could create the soundtrack for any existing film, which film would it be?
AC: Probably a Wes Anderson film
Best concert you've ever been to?
I went to Glastonbury many years on the trot and I'd say one of my favourite moments was Blur. Seeing Blue headline on the pyramid stage. I can't remember what year it was, but it was really good. And kind of took me back to my younger days.
Would you rather be a spice girl or a Backstreet boy?
Both: Spice Girl
What would your spice nickname be?
AC: Beardy Spice [laughs].
JH: Lanky Spice [laughs].
Most memorable show you've performed?
JH: I think the first time we played in Korea. We put three shows on sale and they all sold out in a couple of minutes, but we kind of didn't know to what degree or like what it would be like. It was like our first time feeling famous, I guess is what I would say. So yeah, it was a special one.
An artist that you think has had the most influence on the music industry?
JH: It's gotta be The Beatles.
What advice would your current self, give to your future self, for a year from now?
AC: I'd say stop worrying about stupid things that you're not going to worry about a year from now.
JH: Very good. I'll take that advice now and then thank you.
The moment you knew you wanted to be a musician?
AC: When I was in year six, which is the age of 10, maybe 11, Or maybe I was younger than that actually, probably younger. Someone brought in a load of percussion instruments to school, and they came in two weeks on the truck. On the first week they said, 'what are these instruments?', and they named all the instruments and one was a tambourine. And then the next week they came back in and says, 'does anyone remember what these are?' and he held up the tambourine and no one remembered, but I remembered it was a tambourine. And that was the moment I really, knew music was for me. Either that or I've, you know, got a good memory and I should be doing something to do with that.
JH: Yeah, you're wasted on music. For me it was when I started, I had played other instruments before, but when I started playing guitar I was maybe 13. I was just immediately, like completely in love with playing guitar and then started a band and was like the strict band leader guy who is like, 'we need to rehears every weekend and we need to be in this battle of the bands thing at school' and all that kind of stuff. So immediately I knew that was what I wanted to try and do.
Let’s Just Say The World Ended A Week From Now, What Would You Do? is out now!
HONNE AUSTRALIAN TOUR
Tuesday 20 September 2022 – Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane
Thursday 22 September 2022 – Enmore Theatre, Sydney
Friday 23 September 2022 – Forum, Melbourne
Tuesday 27 September 2022 – Secret Inner City Venue, Adelaide