Friday, December 16, 2011

REVIEW: The Honey Pies - Carpe Carp


The Honey Pies are a group that believes popular music should be fun. And they deliver. The Adelaide, Australia foursome were featured in one of my Midnight World Pop Scout features earlier in the year. They attracted my attention with energetic, well-crafted britpop and their humorous riff on the actor Gary Busey. Today, December 16, The Honey Pies released their second LP of 2011, Carpe Carp. As indicated by the album title and the cover photograph in which the band is decked out in power ranger costumes, their sense of humor hasn't vanished. As for the music, the album is an exuberant collection of Britpop, bar room romps and other slightly twisted versions of recognizable styles, all with harmonies and fun lyrics. Listen to the first four tracks, "Vespa", "Romeo", "Girl", and "My O My O Me O My" at the Bandcamp link below and I think you'll understand why I'm encouraging you to give The Honey Pies a try.

But before streaming the album on Bandcamp, here is the video for track three, "Girl" --


The remainder of the album delivers additional songs in the vein of the first four (e.g. "Guy Fawkes Day", another favorite), alt rock ("Henny Penny"), a touch of vamping glam ("I Heart NY" )even a bit of country (e.g. "Houndstooth"). And try "Rubix Cube" for a slice of the lads' semi-sensitive side.


The Honey Pies are comprised of Jon Marco (rhythm guitar), Tony Marshall (lead guitar), Tom McCarthy-Jones (bass guitar), and Marcus Warnecke (drums). They enlisted the help of additional players, including horns and a choir, to flesh out their inspirations for the Carpe Carp. By the way, the album is dedicated in loving memory of Australian comedian Shaun Patrick Micallef. My brief research shows that Mr. Micallef is not deceased, so we're not clear on how he feels about this honor.

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