That might not sound all that extraordinary on paper – homes, after all, are where most people tend to live. What you’re not taking into consideration, however, is that Honeyblood – completed by drummer Cat Myers – have dedicated nearly all of their waking hours of late, touring extensively in support of their 2016 album, Babes Never Die. What’s more, they’re far from finished. “We’ve been touring a lot,” says Tweeddale, a hint of exasperation in her tone.
“We keep doing this thing where we book a tour and telling people it’s the biggest tour that we’ve ever done. Once we’re done and we’re onto the next one, we have to be like ‘Now thisis the biggest tour we’ve ever done.’
“This most recent tour had us on the road for just over a month – and that was just UK stuff. We’d never even played in Ireland before. I think that, since we just did the US last year, our next main focus is hitting areas we’ve never played before – obviously, including Australia. It takes such dedication to be a touring band. It’s such an unusual lifestyle, you’ve really got to want to do it. For us, it’s an adventure – it’s something we really love.”
Babes Never Die is the band’s second record; which was produced by UK engineer/musician James Dring, who has worked in the past with artists like Blur, Jamie T, Gorillaz and All Saints. The album also marked a change in both style and pace. This partly had to do with Myers entering the fold, replacing original drummer Shona McVicar; but also on account of Tweeddale realising the greater potential of the studio – for better and for worse.
“It’s funny when you’re a two-piece – you think that everything you record is gonna sound killer live,” she says. “Of course, once you get in the studio, you start getting more and more ideas. ‘Let’s add some basslines. Let’s add more layers here.’ It’s all well and good for recording, but then you get to the other side and you think to yourself ‘How the hell are you gonna pull this off?’
“I remember Cat was in the studio at one point, putting some synthesizer on Love is a Disease. I remember asking her if she’d be able to play both at the same time, and she was like ‘Nope – but I can try.’ It’s all about perseverance. We spent ages in the rehearsal room, going over different pedals and octave shifters and stuff like that, trying to put it all together in a way that made sense.”
The next destination on Honeyblood’s radar is Australia, where the indie-rock twosome will make their maiden voyage at the end of this month. Playing headlining shows in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane on a whirlwind week-long visit, the band are excited to make the most of what time they have in the country. If you’re a fan of Babes Never Die in particular, then you’re definitely in luck. “We play every song off the new record,” says Tweeddale. “I feel as though we wrote Babes in a way that we could do that. They’re ten pretty up-tempo songs, so it’s pretty easy to barrel through them.”
Although confident as a live band, Tweeddale also wants to tighten the screws in a particular department: playing more and talking less. “There are some shows where I think we might be the chattiest band ever,” says Tweeddale with a laugh.
“We’ll play through a bunch of songs and then we’ll pretty much stop the show to talk and share stories. It’s especially funny when Cat does it – she’s got this northern English accent and calls her mum ‘mam’ and stuff like that. They’re known for being exceptionally chatty up there – ‘having a natter,’ she calls it.
“As fun as it is, we are going to try and cut down on it. People seem to really miss the older songs, so we’re gonna try and squeeze some more in.”
By David James Young
