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For me, it's soul music. It soothes your soul. If people ask what the vibe is then I say it's darker. -RV Salters on Honeycut |
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Photo of RV Salters by Salim Madjd
Honeycut |
"At the very beginning we had some songs that were super cheerful and happy and we didn't end up keeping a lot of that because we found that our voice is really more with the darker kind of soul aesthetics," Salters offers. "We didn't just meet around the table and go, 'Alright, we're going to make a record that sounds like this style or that style.' We got all these various influences from all the people and tried to be lucent and just let there be freedom do its thing and let all of these various elements kick in and see what would stick or wouldn't stick." It all seems relevant when inquiring to the origin of the band's name. "We thought it would be sweet as honey and sharp as a knife".
Honeycut high-fives their sonic roots by way of using older model keyboards and organs such as the timeless Fender Rhodes and clavinets, which Salters fancies "tricking it out" by putting the keyboards through a Korg Kaos Pad or a whammy pedal so Honeycut can "take old sonics and bring them into the future".
Honeycut |
"As far as my part goes, I started playing the piano pretty young. So really the piano, the actual instrument, is all about that weighted feel on the keys and the very kind of physical relationship that I have with it. It kind of bites back and I kind of need that from my keyboards. The clavinet has its own way in how it's very rhythmic and funky," Salters explains about the vintage keyboard with a rubber tipped hammer that frets guitar style strings to make a staccato sound when the keys are hit. "It's just got a very strong personality. The Rhodes has that, the Hammond organ has that, [too]. I love the sounds. I love all those keyboards and the tones you get out of them, but, at the same time, my thing is to try to use them in a way that is a little different than they've been used before. Using a clavinet just straight up and the normal way has been done so well by so many people before."
RV (born Hervé Salters in Paris) knew about quality music from a young age. When he was a child in France his father frequently took business trips to Africa. Salters was blown away at the young age of ten when his pops brought home a copy of the seminal Fela Kuti record Expensive Shit. Later on in life, Salters toured with Fela's son Femi Kuti and was "slapped in the face" to the point where he decided to ditch the day jobs and devote his life to music while on a tour stop with Kuti in Brazil opening up for D'Angelo.
As for the labels thrown at Honeycut, Salters is quick to brush them off. "Music is music and words are words."
Check out Honeycut "Shadows" (tv broadcast)
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