Harsh Times, Good Vibes: Honey Blazer Made Its Debut Record During the Pandemic

Multi-instrumentalists Gann Matthews and Brad Grear of Honey Blazer came up with most of the songs on their debut album, Lookin’ Up, while hunkered down during the pandemic lockdowns.

“We were living together in a house. We had a studio and practice space in the basement,” Matthews recalls. “We were living the COVID life, lockdown. We didn’t have a third member anymore, so we were like, ‘Let’s figure out what we want to do between the two of us.’” They recruited Mark Anderson, formerly of Paper Bird, to provide drumming for the album, while Ryan Wong contributed vocals and bass.

Grab a vinyl copy of Lookin' Up when Honey Blazer plays its album-release show at Lost Lake on Friday, October 14.

Matthews says the Denver band had gone through several “chapters" — including varying lineups — before discovering its current sound, which is showcased on the nine-track debut. Today the group's roster includes Matthews, Grear, Wong on guitar, drummer Matt Vogel and keyboardist Zach Holcomb.

Some earlier work is still floating around on the internet, and Grear jokes that he needs to find it and eliminate it. “I think that’s an oversight on our part,” he says. “We have to take those videos off of YouTube and Instagram. We're actually trying to purge everything and get everything straightened up before the release.”

It's not that they dislike their old sound, but it differs in style from what's on the new record. Lookin' Up has psychedelic touches — the songs deliver quite the relaxing groove — and is influenced by a variety of sources.

“We were really into this band at the time called Cut Worms,” Matthews says. “It has a sound that reminds me of post-Beatles George Harrison."

Grear says he was listening to a lot of Everly Brothers, solo John Lennon records, folk rock — mellower sounds from the ’60s and ’70s. He also dug into music produced by convicted murderer Phil Spector.

According to Matthews, Honey Blazer found its sound when the bandmates began to be inspired less by specific artists and more by the sonic palette accompanying a certain era. They began to add more layers, including vintage sounds from a Mellotron, a Hammond B3 organ and a Rhodes electric piano.

“I wasn’t thinking about any one instrument at the time, but the way the instruments would combine,” Matthews explains. “If you soloed each track, it’s really not very complicated. But the combined influences of all the parts together — that’s what the sound was.”

He says no one showboats on the record, and they didn’t overthink every melody or rhythm, instead opting to let everything jell. “I was thinking of the way George Martin [the 'fifth Beatle'] did that, and the way Phil Spector would do that,” he says. “You're creating a group sound; the sounds are colliding.”

“It’s kind of just letting the textures speak louder than the performances,” Grear adds.

Lookin’ Up is not exactly a concept album, but the tracks possess a thematic arc, reflecting on the pandemic and the state of the world. “The song ‘Silent Spring’ is specifically about that,” Matthews notes. “‘Growing Vine' is about finding how you want to grow during a time of trouble — growing the way you want to grow despite the troubles around you.”

“Waking Up With You" is a love song, he adds. It isn't thematically connected to the others, but he felt like it fit with the vibe of fostering one-on-one relationships during a time when bigger social interactions were absent.

“Our lives got smaller,” he says. “We had to re-balance what [we were] putting our energy into.”

“Here Comes the Country Doctor” is one of the only narrative songs on the album. It tells the story of a bad doctor who presses drugs — in this case, the opiate laudanum — on people to help solve their problems, no matter what those problems might be.

“That kind of felt like an analogy for the world, in a way,” Matthews says. “Instead of fixing our problems, we're covering them up or distracting ourselves from them.”

In spite of the hard times in which these songs were written, the bandmates strove to be optimistic about the world. Matthews looks at the record as an acknowledgement of darkness, but with the knowledge that better days are coming.

“I believe that staying positive is the best way to be,” he concludes. “I’m not always positive, but I try to stay there.”

Honey Blazer, 8 p.m. Friday, October 14, Lost Lake Lounge, 3602 East Colfax Avenue. Tickets are $15. Lookin' Up is available starting October 14 on streaming platforms.