Biography
-
Years Active
1988 – 1994 (6 years)
-
Founded In
Corona, Riverside County, California, United States
-
Members
- Josh Lewis
Honeywell were a Hardcore band, active in the early 1990's. They were pioneers of a sound that would be called "screamo" 10 years later, alongside bands like Sleeping Body, Struggle, and Reach Out. The first Honeywell line up started in the late 1980's with Bobby Sell (vox/bass), Ryan Elliot(drums), Ryan Hilderbrand (Guitar) and Josh Lewis (Guitar)… At the root of Honeywell was a group called Subterfuge (Not to be confused with the early 1980's hardcore band) and later (briefly) Hardboiled and it included Ryan Elliott, Terry Holmes and Jimmy Lewis. The last line up was in the early 1990's with Josh Lewis (vocals), Bobby Sell (bass), Ryan Elliot (drums) and Ryan Hildebrand (guitar). During a Honeywell rehearsal, someone deviously suggested "Hey Josh, why not try screaming like a dying girl". And that was the beginning of the Honeywell sound most became familiar with.
The new line up's first release came out in 1992. A 7" on $ellout records out of San Diego, and the sound became crazy and heavier and more politically charged. The second release with this line up was released a few months later. It was a split 7" with northern California's Reach Out. In 1993, work began on their debut full length LP entitled Industry, aruguably a record that went on to inspire a lot of bands. It's influence can be heard in the music of Orchid, The Locust and Reversal Of Man.
The Industry LP was a step forward from their previous efforts, the band sounds like it's trying to break the music as they play it. Raw and loose, the songs teeter at the brink of nearly falling apart under the onslaught of Josh's vocals and Ryan Elliot's drumming, with Bobby and Ryan holding it down to be beaten over and over with slinky screeching guitar and thundering bass lines. Few had ever screamed like that before, or even after, to such great effect. The record also contains odd tape collages and strange noises throughout the program.
To Honeywell and a lot of their contemporaries, they never regarded their music as screamo and have always said "It's just heavy/crazy music to us." No less than a year later, due to internal band relations, Honeywell decided to call it quits. Their final show was at Cell 63 sometime in 1994, playing with Nuzzle (one of their first shows) and Mohinder. (one of their first Southern California appearences.) The spite in the band was unleashed in their delivery of the songs as well as the aggression of its members, which escalated and interrupted most of the set. It all came to a halt with songs that would appear a year later on their final release entitled "Electrik Kool Aid," a 6-song 7" which was released on Bobby Sell and Suzie Savoie's independent label, Monotone Supersounds. The recording of Electrik Kool Aid went on without Ryan Elliott. Jeremy Szuder also contributed backing vocals to the track "Genius".
Releases:
1989: Self-Titled Cassette (Self-Released)
1992: Self-Titled 7" ($ellout, $R #001) - 500 made, all on clear yellow
1992: "Live at K-SPC, 10/24/1992" Cassette (Monotone Supersounds, MONO #001)
1993: Honeywell/Reach Out split 7" (Anomaly, ANOM #002) - 2 pressings (500/1000 each), there's also a tour version, limited to 55
1993: "Industry" LP (Mollycoddle, MC #001) - 3 pressings, (500/1000), there are several limited editions
1994: Fig. 4 Demo Cassette (The Phantom Racer Club, Cassette No. 1)
1996: "Electric Kool Aid" 7" (Monotone Supersounds, MONO #002)
2000: "Industry" 12" (Autometric Corp, MC #001) - A reissue of the Industry LP
Compilation Songs:
1994: "Mesh-Control" - "Lacking Mindset" Compilation 7" (Spoonfed, SFED #002)
1996: "Posthemosis" - "In Memory of Jason" Compilation 2 x 12" (Monopoly, MONOPOLY #00X)
Artist descriptions on Last.fm are editable by everyone. Feel free to contribute!
All user-contributed text on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply.
