Having previously made appearances at buzzy London venues The Lexington and Sebright Arms, newcomer Honey Gentry is gearing up to release a new EP. ‘Dreamlover’, expected July 2019, is billed as “a reflection on dealing with a painful experience by turning it into legend.” The first single from it, 60s-indebted art pop track ‘Daydream Baby’ marks her out to be an artist worth keeping an eye on.
Hey Honey, how’s it going?
Wonderful thank you! Hope you guys at Dork are good too.
We are! When did you first realise you wanted to make music, and what did you listen to while you were growing up?
When I first heard No Doubt, I must have been about 6 or 7 years old – I wanted to be just like Gwen Stefani. From that moment, I was hooked on music and (secretly) wanted to dedicate my life to it. When I was growing up, I listened to anything I could get my hands on. As a very young teen, I loved Green Day, My Chemical Romance, Hole, Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails… as I got older my taste expanded and I came to love Kate Bush, Tori Amos, Mazzy Star, Johnny Cash. My dad introduced me to Neil Young, Led Zeppelin; we went to see Rush live. I love a lot of pop music too. I’ll still listen to anything.
What’s been the highlight of your time as a musician so far?
Releasing my first EP, ‘Moonlight’, last June. It was such a labour of love, and I was so happy it was so positively received.
Are you creative in non-musical ways too?
Maybe only in other writing disciplines. I studied filmmaking, and graduated having written a full-length feature film script. I adapted ‘Elvis and Me’ by Priscilla Presley for my final piece. I was mostly hopeless behind the camera though so I thought I should stick to writing. I do create my own videos and cover art, but that’s more out of practicality than creative yearning.
Tell us about your new single, ‘Daydream Baby’ – what’s it about?
‘Daydream Baby’ examines the vulnerable place we find ourselves during and immediately after heartbreak… when you’re still processing how someone you held so close (maybe even still love) could have betrayed you so strongly. Eventually, we pick ourselves up but we hopefully always learn from the heartbreak. It’s not something I’ve written before, so I was intrigued when I started writing that the subject had even come up.
Did you have fun recording it? What’s your usual studio set up like?
We did! Like the ‘Moonlight’ EP, this is the work of myself and Ruben Elbrond-Palmer, and we actually recorded the entire track at Ruben’s. We get together a few times a month to work on the music, so we work really hard when we meet. It’s always productive. At home I have a very basic setup which I demo from at a more leisurely pace – lately, I even work in Garageband to get an idea down. Aphrodite was a solo project created just with Garageband in my bedroom actually. A simple setup can actually be quite freeing, and still produce good results.
Do you have lots of tracks raring to go? Is your EP ‘Dreamlover’ all done and dusted?
The ‘Dreamlover’ EP is almost finished! I’m hoping to release before the end of the summer. Daydream Baby is one of four songs on the EP, and to me, they are all quite distinct from one another. I’m proud of everything we have so far and can’t wait to release it.
What do you most enjoy writing about, generally?
Dreams, the ocean, mysteries; fears, regrets, the past; Hollywood, Malibu, Ojai; California in general. I feel like those are the main ingredients to a Honey Gentry song.
Who do you think is the most exciting band or musician around right now?
I love interesting storytellers. I’m obsessed with Weyes Blood and Orville Peck. Back in April, I opened for Vera Sola at the Lexington who I’ve also fallen in love with.
What else do you have coming up over the summer?
This summer will be fun, lots of work to do; we’ll wrap soon on the EP, then I’ll start preparing for the release, which I find a lot of fun. And – I haven’t actually told anyone this yet – you can catch my first ever vinyl pressing in June’s Flying Vinyl box! So I intend to spend the summer holding my first pressing in my hands and pinching myself!
Honey Gentry’s new single ‘Daydream Baby’ is out now.
