Gotta Slow Down Honey

The Dwarf has a chat to pop experimentalists Slow Down Honey. Frontman Alex Bennison gives us the scoop on this quirky gang from Umina, NSW...

How did Slow Down Honey come to be?

Slow Down Honey and its current line up came about through lifelong friends, new friends, old friends and friends of friends. Basically Tim (bass) and I have been playing in bands together since we were about eight or nine (now both twenty-three) we’ve grown musically with one another and have stuck by each other’s side through many a dodgy band.

Lachy (Drums) was a mutual friend who we got to know through school friends and alike – he basically knew what we were all about and came on board just over 2 years ago when we were drummer-less. We tried a few people during the time before we got Lachy and it just didn’t feel right. We needed a hard hitter– with a solid style, good voice and ‘good guy’ great attitude – basically, check!, check!, check! (except for the ‘good guy’ part). John (Guitar – who we refer to by his surname ‘Lamrock’ or ‘Lammers’) is another mutual acquaintance who actually first played with us even before Lachy came on board – but at that stage was on ‘Keys’ as we had another guitarist and were extremely lost for how to approach the band since the abrupt departure of our ex drummer.

Once our ex-guitarist left due to overwhelming Uni commitments – Lammers came on board – and has completed our current line up. He’s a very chilled guy and his personality and musical ability bring alot to the SDH table.

Slow Down Honey "believe in the three-minute pop song". Discuss.

We also believe in the three minutes-plus pop song. It’s moreso that we disagree with people who don’t think you can do something great in 3 minutes or under. We don’t feel that we would ever need a seven-and-a-half minute, eight verse, two- bridged – song on every occasion to get what we wanna say across.

I think you can say a lot in three minutes – most of the songs on Pet Sounds are under three minutes, I'm pretty certain, and I really don’t think anything that I’ve heard of does a more sophisticated job of showcasing the art of song structure, writing, melody, instrumentation, etc. That album absolutely kills me – I think of writing all those songs in such a short space of time and then having them all turn out like that – and I’m literally on the ground. That’s not to say that if a song’s over three minutes we discount it in any way- I mean – we have songs that exceed three minutes– it’s more-so a belief that in Popular music – with all that we’ve learnt from the vast catalogue of it that’s at our fingertips at any given moment – has really taught us that it’s possible to make something at a reasonable length that critics, radio listeners, buffs – could all appreciate.

I really think the aim of this band is to make music that appeals to a broad audience. We ultimately would like anything that we do to demonstrate the A-Z of POP.

What are you plugging?

Our debut EP – In the Picture that we wrapped up last December and has just hit stores.

What's your take on the Aussie music industry of late?

There’s a massive emphasis on gigging and networking.

Desert Island Discs...say, top five?

Michael Jackson – Off the Wall
Jellyfish – Spilt Milk
Matthew Sweet – Kimi Ga Suki
Fleetwood Mac – Rumours
The Beatles – Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

Where to from here?

Lots of gigs and getting better at everything we do. Better songs, better live shows and better everything – so we can make sure we’re doing this for as long as humanly possible.

Slow Down Honey are currently heading to a town near you (I'm not psychic, they're just heading to a lot of places, so I assumed...never mind). Head to http://www.myspace.com/slowdownhoneymusic for more dates and deets.

In The Picture is out now through Select Music.

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