Now this is going to be interesting, an attempt to review an album that is almost impossible to describe! The sound of The Honeymans is somewhat like a jigsaw puzzle, one piece is Celtic Folk, another piece is funk, another is piece of punk, a few small gypsy pieces, and yet another ska/reggae piece. Put the shite together and……it’s The Honeymans!! No questions needed! When it comes to the live shows, Joe Keithley of D.O.A. fame, explains it best, “The Honeymans are truly a unique musical act…. Perhaps most surprising is that they can play in front of punks, hippies, folkies, rockers, and thrill-seekers and they all go away happy.” It made D.O.A. so happy, they invited The Honeymans to open up for them on D.O.A.’s Canadian tour last May.

They are a good time kind of band that include tracks like “Ska Wars” An obvious skankin’ ska song about the Star Wars movies, with lyrics like “R2-D2 when do I get to meet you, no garbage pile is ever gonna eat you…” Another great is the Nomeansno cover, “The Day Everything Became Nothing” Or the one minute track, “Johnny Fire’s Ring Of Cash” complete with perfect Johnny Cash sound alike vocals! “Kneel’s Reels” will please Shite’n’Onions readers the most, with some catchy fiddling, but it doesn’t end there. Every track is a surprise of how much they can twist up different styles of music like a pretzel, eat it right in front of you, then spit out the chewed up pretzel in your face, Honeymans style!! Enough funk to make Flea get up and skank like a Mexican jumping bean on angel dust. If you are in need of some catchy funk-punk ditties with some ska/reggae/Celtic-folk overtones check out this album. Or check ’em out live. With upcoming tours planned for Canada, USA, Europe, & Australia, no one has an excuse not to miss it. (including me, Procrastinator Extraordinare)

October 2002

Review by Brian Gillespie