DIRTY HONEY/AUSTIN MEADE – HOUSE OF BLUES CLEVELAND
By Eric Rauert
Dirty Honey and Austin Meade play the House of Blues in Cleveland.
Austin Meade took the stage with his support band and admittedly one of the best mullets I’ve ever seen. But that’s where the fun stopped for me; it was hard to tell if this act is meant to be a parody of rock or honestly written music. Meade’s vocal delivery was flat and while he shouted a few times “Are you ready to hear some rock and roll?!”, I left his set still waiting to hear some.
Solos would be passed off to his technically competent support musicians to achieve a very hollow and contrived spotlight; it’s hard to blame the backing band when it’s only your name on the bill. There isn’t much new here in the instrumentals and seems to combine the worst part of country’s pandering lyrics with the “seen it” aspects of nostalgic rock. Lyrics like “I wish that you would fuck me like you give a damn” in “Cave In” and “Talk of my Hometown… Then I go straight back to black out.” in “Blackout” provided an odd juxtaposition to the rockabilly slanted, soulful tunes that really should have let loose and taken off into rock.
Cliché tropes and lyrics like this make it hard to know what’s coming from the heart (or perhaps if Blackout’s lyrics are to be believed, a place of thoughtful reflection on addiction) but I try not to pick on lyrics just for that. Still, when you try so hard to cultivate a bad boy image, both in dress and performance, you can’t slowly be sipping a High Noon hard seltzer that you’re so clearly hiding mid stage.
It’s also not a great sign to me if your music gets drowned out by a chattering crowd but I have to blame this more on being a hard rock show downtown on a Saturday night then the act itself. More on that later.
Long time readers will know I’m a fan of punctual acts and Dirty Honey appear to be the good boys of rock-and-roll at least in punctuality. Coming to stage right on time, “Can’t Find the Brakes” was the opening pick and it was pedal to metal immediately. “California Dreamin’” and “Tied Up” were two more solid and vicious rock anthems, led by charismatic frontman Marc LaBelle (vocals). If you told me Axl Rose had time traveled from the 80’s only to be dropped off in Cleveland for a show in 2023, I would
have believed you.
From the black cowboy hat and leather pants to the leopard print jacket, this is a pure shot of hard rock nostalgia from LaBelle and the rest of the band. It was a pleasure to be on Justin Smolian’s (Bass/Acoustic Guitar) side stage left, laying down the bass complete with stank face and crocodile skin pants. This man is all smiles, energetic, and has great crowd play, glad to hear his notes ringing loud in the mix all night.
After “Tied Up”, it was time for a quick acoustic break with “Coming Home (Ballad of the Shire)” and the crowd certainly noticed. I alluded to it before but never have I had a crowd take me out of a show like this before. At times, the chatter drowned out some of the softer acoustic parts and hey, I get it. You’re here for a rock show, not some acoustic “garbage”. Its fun for me to hear about Tiffany at the office and watch you take your shirt off and swing it around. But can we avoid doing both those things until after the acoustic bit?
John Notto (Guitar) and Justin Smolian show an excellent lighter side of the band with their pair of acoustic guitars and second song. As they finished their acoustic cover of Rolling Stones “Honky Tonk Woman”, Notto was handed a solo that suddenly made everyone listen up. Notto can certainly pick it like Willie, bringing a heavy bluegrass feel to this classic rock song while getting absolutely lost in the moment.
The acoustic guitars were set aside to once again emulate every 80’s rock band all at once for the second half of the show. “Don’t Put Out the Fire” will feel familiar to any fan of AC/DC. “Another Last Time” belongs on a Poison album and I swear “Rolling 7’s” is sung by Steven Tyler. This is nowhere near a bad thing, as to me it doesn’t seem they linger on a specific sound for too long.
LaBelle’s voice has formidable range and being able to emulate nearly every vocal style of the hard rock genre is a feat in and of itself. Couple that with a backing band clearly pious in the temple of rock and you have a great nostalgia fueled flashback to the hey day of the genre. In fact, the best sign of this is LaBelle abandoning half of his shirt half way through “Let’s Go Crazy”, having a Janet Jackson moment while absolutely controlling the stage and the audience.
Dirty Honey has the annals of the past captured tightly but I don’t see eyes set to the future. We’ve been hearing this sound since well before I was born (’94 if you want to date yourself) and we’ll continue to hear it until guitar based rock has its spot in the cultural limelight once again. This shouldn’t turn everyone off, the band is THE quintessential hard rock experience.
These days, if you’re looking to relive a rowdy rock past but your back hurts or you’re looking to experience true rock and roll for the first time, see Dirty Honey early and often. Even pretentious reviewers like myself might find something to enjoy in a night heavy with energy, heart, and classic hard rock worship.
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