Ghostland Observatory w/ Honeycut - Review

Ghostland Observatory w/ Honeycut at Mezzanine 03-03-2007

While I was away playing hooky on the ski slopes last week in Tahoe, I missed most of the Noise Pop shows. I did however get a chance to hit up Mezzanine and checked out Honeycut and Ghostland Observatory. MetroWize peeps had just interviewed Bart, Herve (RV) and Tony from Honeycut, so I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. It was a high energy show and the venue was packed. The sound was definitly not what I expected and all I kept thinking throughout the show was "this is indie rock?"


Honeycut wails out eclectic, funky, sounds led at least musically by the keyboardist (RV) who dances as much as he plays the keys (which he does amazingly by the way). Vocalist Bart Davenport draws the crowd in with his stage presence and smooth loungey voice and the whole thing is held together by Tony Sevener who supplies the beats on a live drum machine. My first thought after seeing their show was that these guys could do well in a lot of different scenes and appeal to a lot of different ears. The band members are all well trained musicians and together they make up a solid band. The show left me wanting to follow them down to SXSW to get another taste.

All I knew about Ghostland Observatory before seeing them was that they were blowing up right now in the scene. The group is two guys from Austin, Aaron Behrens and Thomas Turner. Behrens is the front man and occasional guitar player and Turner alternates between the drums and beat machines. At first glance, you might think you are looking at a joke band or some sort of SNL skit. Behrens prances around on stage in skin tight jeans and ponytails complete with giant 70’s sunglasses while he belts out non-sensical lyrics and yells into the microphone while Turner, dressed in a full cape, supplies the simple beats and rhythms. It’s their stage presence that carries this act. One thing is for sure about these guys, the crowd loves them. While I won’t pretend to understand, I will give them a tip of my hat on that.

Stay tuned into MW because next week we will launch a Honeycut video with live footage and a backstage interview.



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