THE BEST OF HONEYMAN..

For 20 years these songs have been gathering dust in the Honeyman Vault. Now, finally they are available to everyone who would like to listen to them. These songs are a collection of what we thought were our best, taken from quick demo sessions and manic live recordings. We never got to record a real album, or work with a producer, so all these tracks are pretty raw, unproduced and arranged by us.

The studio recordings are taken from one or two day sessions we managed to get hold of back then, working on little to no budget.

The live songs are taken from tapes that we handed the sound man on the night, asking him "can you record this one chief?". In truth, its only by pure luck that we managed to record any of our live shows, they were so chaotic and intense back then

We share this album with the same love, passion and intensity with which we wrote and recorded these songs. They came from the heart, and we delivered them as raw as we possibly could manage.

As a band, we would like to take a moment to dedicate this album, with a lot of love, to the memories of Una Mccoy and Gillian Randle (Gilly Dangerous). Both these beautiful women were incredibly kind to us, and we will never forget them.

We would also like to dedicate this album to Dave Alexander and to all our fellow musicians that were part of the Birmingham music scene back in the late 90’s. They were crazy, chaotic, magical days.

With love
Honeyman ❤️

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Widely considered one of the most exciting Birmingham UK, bands of the late 90's, Honeyman's flame burned bright, albeit briefly. In just under two years the band cemented a legendary reputation in the city that survives to this day.

Formed in late 1997, already by early 1998 they had become the "Must See" band on the local live circuit. The music scene in Birmingham during the late 90's was a highly competitive and creative environment, with dozens of bands and artists competing for top spot in the city. Out of this came a flourish of exceptional musical talent including Micky Greaney, Carina Round and Liner to name but a few. Live music was a vital part of life in the city with multiple live venues for artists to perform in, and a dedicated local music press. All this created the perfect environment for a young ambitious band such as Honeyman.

The line up comprised of Aron Attwood (19) on drums. Pete Murphy (22) on guitars. Muzz Matin (27) on bass. And Jack Rubinacci (22) on vocals and guitar. They labeled their sound "Intense Groove", inspired in equal parts by Sly And The Family Stone, Reggae and early 90's Grunge. They named their band after a song by one of their biggest musical heroes Tim Buckley. They would also close their live shows with the same song, merging it together with Bob Marley's "War", creating a dramatic climax to their incredibly intense live shows.

It took just a few months after the bands formation for the local music press to take notice of the band, and when they did, they embraced them as one of the most exciting bands on the scene. "Four extremely fortunate artists to have met at the right time at the right place". John Kennedy (Brumbeat). "They arrived on the music scene just six months ago and have already caused a huge stir". (Metro News). "They have a darkness, coming across as very confident and self assured." Steve Nicholls (Evening Mail). "Live energy and power, without compromise" Andy Timms (Siren). "Any self respecting muso bitch that doesn't leave one of the shows a little damp, better stay at home and watch their Prisoner Cell Block H videos". Gilly Dangerous (Brumbeat)

After two incredibly intense and creative years, in which the band clocked up hundreds of live shows, some of which are now legendary in the city, the original line up broke up. The band never officially recorded or released any music, so this compilation is made up of only demos and live recordings. Despite this, the rawness and passion of their sound is clearly on display.