Honeyhander

Honeyhander was a dance-noise-rock band from Providence, Rhode Island that existed briefly from 2004-2006. Although active for only a hot minute, the band's buzz level went into the red almost immediatly with it's first and last release in EP Woolly Mannerisms. Highly praised amongst the press, sweat from kids to jaded record snots, and charting in CMJ's Top 30 almost immediatly, the 5 song EP donning the notorious Dixon illustrated elephant mutant on stilts over a pink netherworld sounded like really nothing before or after it. Although largely frontman Anthony Ferreira (then fresh out of longtime membership with A Trillion Barnacle Lapse) and guitarist Mike Cardoso's studio brainchild, the band expanded into a 5 piece with Dan Burns picking up additional guitar duties, Chris Todd on drums, and Shane Broderick on bass guitar. Live sets typically were set to such extreme volumes My Bloody Valentine or early Sonic Youth were brought to mind. Despite the band's flambouyant sound and image, Honeyhander shows became notorious for outbursts of violence resulting in the band fighting the crowd, each other, or both due to the erratic personalities involved within the band. Leaving for their first and only tour in a quick East Coast bender during 2005 and stacking a melay of Providence and NYC performances, the band became a much gossiped upon live act with everyone from noise kids who thought they already saw it all to famous fucks all coming out to see what the fuss was about. The band signed to Aptos' Strictly Amateur Films imprint for a one-off EP deal, which would result in the release of previously mentioned Woolly Mannerisms. Eventually in it's only lineup change, John Refano would replace Broderick on bass and longtime cohort David "Coolshadez" Gregory on additional electronics. Honeyhander's last show was at AS220's second annual "Friendly Fest" which resulted in a riot (Ferreira cracked a heckler in the face with a mic stand subsequently causing the crowd to jump said heckler). Ferreira disbanded the group shortly afterwards during the writing process of what would have been their debut full-length Fiji Juggernaut. Tracks off Fiji including "Goldchains", "Momo Magneto", and "The History of the World in Numbers" were played during later day performances but only exist as crude live recordings circulating on the internet. Ferreira would shortly afterwards hi-jack two CMJ dates Honeyhander was slated to play with Some Girls and The Chinese Stars as new solo alias Spanish Dancer citing to audiences that the other members of Honeyhander had "died in a freak gasoline fight accident". Although largely brand new material, elements of Fiji Juggernaut were also drafted into Spanish Dancer's live set (most noticeably in song Faith Faith Faith which seems to marry elements of "Goldchains" and "Momo Magneto" into a new canvas). Christopher Todd and John Refano would later go on to form minimalist ambient act Sannhet. Mike Cardoso contiunes to play in thrash band I, Destroyer and grind dudes Suffering Bastard. Gregory continues to record under hip-hop alias Coolshadez having just released a mix tape in the summer of 2007. Dan Burns has been collaborating with a number of artists and will have new material surfacing shortly. Shane Broderick continues to play in noise punk's Twodeadslutsonegoodfuck. Ferreira will be dropping the first Spanish Dancer single "Hustler" on the Luminal imprint in the Fall of 2007 which will be followed by the debut full-length Burned Up, Bred High. BY JOEY BARBATOS
"If U2 played regularly at late, lamented underground mill spaces like Fort Thunder, they'd be lucky to sound something like Honeyhander." The Providence Phoenix
"Honeyhander is one of those acts that could take rock into a whole new direction. Every once in a while, a band comes along that mixes influences and sounds in a way that makes you think it is entirely original. You might have heard the pieces before, but you've never heard anything like Honeyhander. " Treble
"Post-industrial noise disco with gritty hooks and plenty of potential. And on this their debut EP, the band suggests they're not averse to showing some wit." Amp
"An immediately poignant burst of shredded post-punk, destroyed new wave and hyper-layered wisps of noise rock coated with flowing vocals. This will be the most exciting 16 minutes of your life." Exclaim more
"While the music is extremely catchy and dancey, it also has a pretty hard edge to it, making this come across as one of the most interesting and addicting records I've heard in a very long time. My only regret is that this is only a five song EP, hopefully a full-length is in the works as this is definitely a band I have high hopes for." Punk Planet
"Wooly Mannerisms is more of a modernized retelling, if you will that mesmerizes listeners with its ability to transcend being a glorified time capsule by meshing its influences with post punk renderings. A canvas splattered with white noise laden guitars mixed with brooding vocals and rhythmically driving percussion paints Wooly Mannerisms in vibrant stylistic colors that can not be ignored. This is easily one of the most addictive releases that I have encountered in quite some time" Under The Volcano
"It had Cure-esque qualities, but there was more of The Faint's goth-dancepunk in the mix. And the fact that it was only 5 songs long made it a nice little snack of an album, not unlike the apple banana." Anthem
"Honeyhander is noisy yet vibrant. Their music is full of weird electronic bleeping, vociferous landscapes, calculated rhythms, and non-conventional songwriting. Somehow, though, the band pulls it offWoolly Mannerisms is a meticulous voyage into erratic post-punk" - Riftrock more
"The saintly opening track Wear Out Your Muscles Mary is a tense, intelligent, surprisingly tuneful series of stabs in the disco organ, a simply effective but brilliant exploration of the hardcore dynamic" - Indie Workshop more
"5 out of 5 Stars"- Crashin In more
"Each song is a sonic rollercoaster: starting off softly and slowly intensifies up to the point before it becomes total chaos, then all the equalizer bars drop to the horizontal axis and the whole process loops"- Ioh Youth more
"Hedonistic otherworldly experimentalism. Its like they picked up the open source code known as the industrial template and added their own creative input on top. Its what Honeyhander brings to that source code thats interesting."- Spacelab more
"They bring with them a strange new sound, a creepy crawl for the 21st century, a throbbing black pulsebeat that brings to mind 80s dancegoth and like, Death From Above 1979, minus the power-grudge guitars, with a little A.R.E. Weapons-style disco-punk attack thrown in for the devil kids."- Sleazegrinder more
"The music is all really random and everything is all static and synthesized, but Honeyhander are really poppy -- much poppier than The Faint -- and I think that's the best thing this band has going for them. They can appeal to punk fans, new wave fans, and everything in between."- Laminated more
"Five heart-filled tracks fresh with jagged post-punk, noise, and listen-able chaos lasting for sixteen minutes of one of the most sonically charged EPs to date. Right from the cascading opener Wear Out Your Muscles Mary, Honeyhander entertains us with an amalgamate of sincerity and densely layered dream pop"- Adapt more
"Honeyhander lay down their own skewed vision of what new wave rock should be." Exoduster more
"In much the same why that My Bloody Valentines tracks-upon-tracks of feedback coalesced into something beautiful, Honeyhanders everything but the kitchen sink approach gives us an unclassifiable oddity that will rock your world even as it baffles the hell out of you. Electro-pop, shoegaze, noise, glitch, and unapologetic rock riffs combine to form a wind-tunnel sound that would give early Jesus and Mary Chain pause"- Advanced Alternative Media more
"Honeyhander's EP is one of those where you're raising a Spock-ian eyebrow initially, but once the warm electro pop grooves that sound like gorgeous collage of Erasure and Depeche Mode mixed with Metric, you get an extremely adventurous bit of work. "Wear Out Your Muscles Mary" is a perfect example, as Honeyhander also has a bit of Primal Scream's swagger about them."- Pop Matters more
"With great artwork, unique instrumentation, and clever lyrics there's no doubt that Honeyhander's Woolly Mannerisms is a complete package as an EP." Acclaimed Punk
"Hypnotizing guitars in the vein of rockers like U2" Impact Press more
"This is probably the most solid new, new wave band I've ever listened to. There's a red line in every song to be followed. No filler." Mashnote
Hailing from Rhode Islands wonderfully eccentric district of Providence, Honeyhander juggernauts through songs, crafting an amalgamation of sonically obliterated new wave, jagged post-punk, highly danceable industrial noise and densely-layered dream pop, to create a gorgeous and propulsive cacophony that is as mesmerizing as it is addictive. Their highly anticipated debut EP, Woolly Mannerisms, has already rendered press and audiences everywhere awestruck, thanks to an initial demo that was circulated in 2004 that spawned hype of biblical proportions, along with several singles that charted over 20 weeks on CMJs Top 30 College list. For five kids cultured on everything from New Romanticism to noise to psychedelia, its no surprise that Honeyhander has created a wholly new style that is as exciting and fresh as it is sincere.
WOOLLY MANNERISMS
EP street release date: May 16, 2006 - Label: SAF Records - Distribution:
Redeye Distribution
Woolly Mannerisms CDEP/12" Available now on SAF Records

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Publicity: Caroline Borolla Advanced Alternative Media 7 W. 22nd Street | 4th Floor New York, NY 10010 212.924.3005 [email protected] | IM: Burton9802 Web: aampromo.com
Management: Anna Jacobson-Leong Esther Creative Group 59 W. 19th Street, Suite 4B New York, NY 10011 Tel: 212-924-1266 Fax: 212-924-1535 Cell: 917-723-4678 Email: [email protected]
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Links:
Official Website
SAF Records U.S Label
Release The Bats! European Label