Artist of the Day | THE HONEYRUNNERS
ARTIST OF THE DAY
13.12.2021
THE HONEYRUNNERS
LOCATION
Toronto, ON, Canada
GENRE
Rock/Pop/Americana
CURRENT MEMBERS
Dan Dwoskin
Guillermo Subauste
Lewis Spring
Conor Gains
With the current pandemic, the state of the music and touring industry has dramatically changed. Where were you when everything was brought to a halt?
Fresh from a trip to Folk Alliance International in New Orleans in January 2020, the band was gearing up for the release of their debut LP "Everything Is On Fire" LP (how ironic) on March 27th, with North American tours in tow. We all know what happened next.
How has that affected your plans for the coming year? Did you have a tour planned, upcoming album release?
As things took a turn for the worst, the band decided to delay the release, cancel tour dates, hone our digital streaming chops, and work on building our online presence. We crafted live studio videos, hosted watch parties online, filmed music videos for the new singles, and gave our fans some behind-the-scenes peeks at band life during a pandemic. We wanted to emerge from this moment stronger than where we began.
To our credit, I think we did come out of this with a fresh perspective on what we want as artists. With the new record released worldwide (10/22/2021) to great acclaim, the band is gearing up for a big year in 2022. With a pandemic still looming, our main concern is keeping everyone safe in unprecedented times.
What have you been doing to fill/make the most of your new-found free time at home? How are you supporting your mental health through all of this?
We all grew our families! Most of the band members had new babies at the time, so we were already busy at home. It was a blessing in a way, because we gained valuable family time. We baked sourdough, we wrote songs, we built couch forts, and we planned ahead as best we could. Since our hustles and side hustles, and side side-hustles disappeared, we challenged ourselves to find new means of income while music was on pause.
Mental health support was a big focus in the past two years. There were definitely moments where it slipped, but we helped each other stay sane, checking in often and working on solutions for what seemed like an insurmountable challenge.
This new album speaks to those feelings, which was odd since we wrote it pre-pandemic; clearly a lot of similar coping mechanisms there. Many of the songs deal with anxiety, cabin fever, depression, and chasing answers to the big life questions that new parents are faced with. The Honeyrunners' new music video for the single "Ghosts" focuses on purging the inner-anxiety that we have harboured. Watch "Ghosts" here.
As things are reopening & restrictions are lifting have you booked any new gigs? Tours? Etc? If your region is still under restriction, how are dealing with the Covid third wave?
We have been slowly getting back to playing shows, with about 15 in Canada at the tail end of 2021. We're working on tour bookings for Canada, US, UK, and Europe for 2022, with one eye on the rise and fall of Covid in the areas we want to visit. It's tough as we're independent, but we can't sit here and do nothing.
Favourite Starlite Room Moment?
We loved seeing our Toronto friend Colleen Brown and her band Major Love play the Starlite Breakout Session. Colleen is an incredible artist, and an overall wonderful human. So many great artist friends on your stage (and digital stage!), we can't wait to join the ranks. Other favourites: Omega Mighty and Chet Faker.
Do you have a message for everyone at home reading this?
Be gentle with each other, we're all going through something unique right now. Keep supporting artists and live music venues any way you can (we need ya!) and take good care of your own mental and physical health. Enjoy the new album "Everything Is On Fire", it truly is a snapshot of this moment in time.
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