The Spotlight: Honey Chamber

by Jack Diablo
This month’s artist spotlight falls on local band, Honey Chamber.
Honey Chamber has been together in some form or another ever since the guys were in high school about seven years ago. Influenced by the likes of Built To Spill, Guided By Voices, Billy Bragg and Sebadoh, they season their sometimes laid-back, sometimes driving indie rock with a taste of the South. Honey Chamber is made up of the Elliott brothers, Jeff and Zach, Thomas Tooke and Ryan Ferrell. Every member is a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.
Recently, Honey Chamber released their first album, Bridge To Homesick, with the help of local record label Infintesmal Records. Although the songs have been a part of the band’s repertoire for a while now, they are ecstatic to have something to show for all their hard work.
“We finished recording this album four months ago,” Jeff says. “We’re just trying to get the music out there as much as possible.” Exposure is the name of the game for Honey Chamber. They play several shows a month at venues like Weird Wax, Shantytown and Eclipse and have sent their music to college radio stations around the region. “I’ve given away plenty of CD’s just because I want people to hear it,” explains Zach of the band’s philosophy.
Many, if not all of the tracks on Bridge To Homesick are heartbreaking songs that singer Jeff Elliott refers to as “anti-love songs.” “All those songs came from a certain period,” says Tooke, the band’s drummer. “A crazy period,” Zach adds. “And I’m glad it’s captured.” But this band isn’t limited to singing about failed romance, painfully awkward moments and misery. “We got the heartache out of our system,” Ferrell says in reference to the songs on the album and Jeff is quick to point out that, “A lot of the newer stuff is less anti-romantic.” They also would like to expand their sound to incorporate some of their unique influences such as nineties shoegaze, 60s R&B and psychedelic rock.
With their new album still hot off the press, the band is already making plans to record an EP in Gainesville. They will be working with Rob McGregor who recorded Against Me!’s first album. Having already recruited a significant following, the band is looking to purchase a van to enable more out-of-town shows. “We just need to get out of the city somehow,” says Zach. A possible Southeast tour is on the horizon with a stop in Savannah for the Pyro Independent Music Festival on July 4th, where Honey Chamber will perform outside of Florida for the first time. Ferrell sums up the band’s future – “It can go anywhere from here.”
Bridge To Homesick is available at Weird Wax as well as any Honey Chamber or Infintesmal show.