With just 2 days until Stina Tweeddale fires up the HONEYBLOOD tour bus to take ehr show on the road, performing 5 dates in the UK to celebrate the 10th anniversary of her self titled debut record.
After a few technical issues, we got to chat to Stina about her journey to date and sowed some seeds in her mind about how her anniversary shows should be performed.
Read on to see how we got on….
Stina, firstly, thanks for sparing time to chat to me, how are you coping with the fact that your debut record is 10 years old?
Terribly! I’m not coping at all! where did the time go? Everyone I speak to since I’ve announced the tour and the re-issue of the debut record has said the same thing. When you look back, It’s been pretty jam packed, so I guess it does and it doesn’t feel like ten years, it’s hard to explain!
Have you enjoyed the last ten years?
Ten years ago, I wouldn’t have thought that I’d be here now still doing Honeyblood! I’ve been in the rehearsal studios for the last couple of weeks, rehearsing the songs from the debut album and my initial thoughts were, “what the hell was I thinking?” I wrote the songs and put the album out and I’m still very proud of it and it still stands up ten years later but I’m a completely different person now! Ten years is a big jump. It feels like it isn’t me, but it is. It allows me to look at the record now as a listener, which is nice.
You say you’ve changed as a person, in what way? For better or for the worse?
Well, apart from the odd wrinkle here and there….. I released the debut record when I was just 12 years old! (laughter). But seriously, I was 22 years old when the debut record was released and it was the first time that I had ever done it, so everything was new. I remember having half of the songs already written by the time I was 21 and then you fast forward to now and you have a 32 year old woman rehearsing the songs to play on a 5 date tour so obviously things have changed.
The band has certainly changed over the years, I guess I’d say that I have gone through what any artist/musician has gone through, you learn so much, you’re more experienced in the fact that you’re no longer someone who goes out and sings songs, you become more of an ‘artist’, you’re a more established songwriter and you’re someone who values your art a lot more than you would have done when you first started out. I certainly would never have thought about these things in my early 20’s, I was just really happy that anyone took the time to listen to my songs!
I guess ten years later, I have more self assurance in what I did and am glad that I’m still here today talking about it! I feel that I’ve earned my place now.
I know that you formed as a duo in 2012 and there have been a few changes along the way, can I ask you to sum up the history of Honeyblood for me?
Yep, 2012 was the initial formation, we started playing gigs and writing songs, we’d only done a couple of gigs and were offered a slot on a showcase event in Edinburgh and a guy called Alex Knight from the FatCat label was there that night and being the young, pig-headed type of person that I was at the time, I approached Alex and gave him a tape with two (badly) recorded songs on it. I remember him laughing and asking if this was me handing him a demo cassette. After that we did a deal with FatCat so my advice to any young artist is be the pig-headed, ballsy type to get your demo tape out there!
I then made a second record, had a lineup change, a drummer called Kat Myers joined and we made the second record ‘Babes Never die’ which is a more punky record, still on the FatCat label and did a lot of touring. I then hopped to another label called Marathon and released what I considered my first solo record. I had to break the duo curse and Anna joined myself and Debbie, making the trio. It’s been a journey and I had to learn how I would develop as an artist, I’m currently in the process of making my fourth record now (which has been in the works for the past couple of years) and am actually tracking it right now, it’s been amazing as after a while, you learn that you need to kiss a couple of frogs to get to where you want to be and I think that now, I have the best band that I could ever wish for.
Will you be releasing singles leading up to the record’s release?
It’s been a real discovery for me and talking about the changes in the industry, there is a push to release songs all the time, keep the tracks flowing and I guess that is the classic ‘old school’ approach in me but I have to release a record, I cannot be doing the constant releases all the time so I’m going to keep it under wraps until I feel the time is ready to release it and then you get it all at the same time.
I guess it’s harder these days owing to the fact that there are so many bands out there doing exactly that, was ten years ago long enough to make a difference in the volumes of bands chasing the rainbow?
Oh yes, I run a record label myself now and the whole landscape has changed, it makes me feel like I’m playing catchup with young artists now! It’s as if every year, something changes which makes you take stock and adapt to the changes and this is how it should be in my opinion.
You’ve got a busy year ahead of you, you’re hitting the road in May performing 5 shows
22 May - Cluny 2, Newcastle
23 May - Oslo, London
24 May - Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff
25 May - Bodega, Nottingham
30 May - Stereo, Glasgow
Apart from the Glasgow date which I guess is a homecoming gig?
It is, and its taking place opposite where the first gig that Honeyblood ever played at a place called ‘The Old Hairdressers’, I remember that we promoted ourselves and we never charged anything on the door but we had a donation bucket instead! So that’s why I chose the Stereo venue, it’s as if it’s come full circle.
You’ll be playing the debut album in its entirety at all shows, will you be playing it in the correct order?
Laughter, why do you ask?
Well, I went to see U2 on their Joshua Tree 75th anniversary tour in London a few years back and they kicked off the show with the first track from the record, then went off piste and started playing songs from other records. I was in the zone, ready to hear the album in its entirety, in the correct order, it pissed me off a bit to be honest! Listening to the tape when I was a spotty 15 year old in 1987, I remember each track in the order that they appeared, it wasn’t so easy to skip tracks with a cassette, so you just ended up leaving it to play out, flipped it over at the halfway point and then played ‘Side B’ until it came to an end. I feel that if you’re playing a record in its entirety, you NEED to play each track in the order they appeared on the original record.
That’s a really interesting perspective, almost that you cannot skip a track so you have to listen to it in the order it was presented in the first place. I certainly have an input into that decision and think about it when I create the record in the first place. The problem is that I am planning on throwing on a couple of B-Sides throughout the set so where will they sit on the setlist?
If you’re asking my opinion, I think you should go onstage, play the album in its entirety, take a short break then come back and play the B-Sides as well as tracks from other records, like a Greatest Hits set in Act 2, that’ll please the fans no end!
You’re making me rethink the entire set now…. (Laughter)
I also wanted to ask about was the ‘special surprises’ that you mentioned on your press release, will these be in the form of special guests or maybe special tracks that you’ll be playing on the tour (or do we need to attend to find out for ourselves?)
Ooh, well, I might be playing some new songs as well as the debut record so people can get a feel for what the new record will sound like…
Tell me about the support acts for the tour? Will it be the same act/artist on all dates?
We have a couple of supports arranged, No Windows are the first, if you haven’t heard them, you should definitely check them out, they’re from Edinburgh, they just signed to the Fat Possum record label and they’re great and they’re a duo. This is something I was keen for when selecting the support acts as I felt it would be nice to have that connection. When I started out as a duo, there weren’t that many and as time went by, there were more and we found that we became great pals with them and almost formed our own community of duos which meant so much to me back then. So many bands these days are made up of four people so having our little community felt like a really nice place to be and there was always so much support out there for each other.
No Windows have a drummer when they play live bit deep down, they are a duo and Love them, their music is great, their visuals are fab and I’m keen to watch them grow. They’ll be joining us in Newcastle and Glasgow.
We also have a good friend of mine opening the Glasgow show, he goes under the name Vampire Voltage but before this, the band was called Posable Action Figures who happen to be another duo who have supported us before, I think that he’s in the process of getting new music out there. We also have a band called Lazy Days supporting at London, Cardiff and Nottingham who are great, I love her songs and her sound is a similar vibe to the debut record so that will be a great match for the dates.
On 17th June you’re playing at a rather special show in Hampden Park in Glasgow, tell me more...
Oh you know, we’re just supporting Foo Fighters….
Oh, not that Dave Grohl guy, I bet he’s been on the phone for weeks, begging you to open for them….tell me how this came about
So, Honeyblood supported Foo Fighters in Edinburgh in 2015 and we were meant to do the same in Valencia in 2020, the gig never took place owing to lockdown, the show was re-scheduled for 2022 and that never happened either. Fourth time lucky I guess!
Not only is it a dream show, but what a band! They are incredibly generous people and everything that you hear about the Foo’s is true, they really are amazing people! You cannot fault anything about what they do, their shows are amazing!
When we played with them in 2015, I was pinching myself all day long and to be asked to support them again is great, it’s sort of a ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity so to be asked to do it all over again is a real blast! I’m a very lucky person!
I hear that Courtney Barnett is also playing?
She is, we toured back in the day, before her debut record was released, it’s been 5 years since we last met, its going to be an emotional one!
Just watch the prosecco and gin, I know what you ladies are like, just pace yourself and you should be fine!
Maybe I’ll leave the drinks until AFTER the show?
You mentioned that the 10-year anniversary has afforded you the chance as a person to reflect on the bizarre yet wonderful journey Honeyblood has been on, is there anything that you would have changed along the way given the chance to do so?
Goodness, there are LOADS of things and with hindsight, I look back and ask myself WHY I did the things I did, but everything I did has landed me where I am now, so had I NOT done those things, I might not be here now, looking back over the last 10 years so I’m going to say that I wouldn’t have changed anything at all. I guess that’s just my mentality! You learn from things that you did in the past so that you don’t repeat them again in the future!
You mentioned your fourth album is nearly there, will you be embarking on a tour to promote the new record?
Yes, we’re planning on touring it when it’s released, its been a lot of work and I feel it’s the best thing I’ve ever made. If you like the debut record, you’ll love the new one. I feel like I’ve been on an explorative journey, each of my records differ greatly from the previous one which is great for me as an artist but not so much for the fans as they just want you to release another record that sounds exactly the same as your previous one, it’s as if they never want you to grow or move on.
Especially if you’ve had success in the past, the desire to replicate the record is very high (especially from the label!)
Indeed! So I haven’t done that in the past but the new record sort of takes elements of the three records and brings it together in a more coherent fashion which I’m really proud about! I can’t tell you anymore about it so don’t ask!
Have you used Debbie and Anna on the recording of the new record?
Yes, its been wonderful to make an album as a trio, it’s also great that Debbie will have appeared on two of the four records!
Any plans for festivals over the Summer (2024)?
No, not this year, I think we’ll wait until the record is out and then hit the festivals to spread the word.
Finally, why should people buy tickets to see you at the 5 dates in May.
Buy a ticket, come along, it’ll be fun, maybe by the time I play the dates, I will have remembered the special surprises that were in the press release!
We’d like to thank Stina for sparing her time to chat to us, whilst we can’t make any of the dates owing to attending Bearded Theory festival, we wish her every success and look forward to catching her next year when she is on the road promoting album #4.
Tickets for HONEYBLOOD’s 10th anniversary tour can be purchased HERE
Keep up to date with Honeyblood’s sonic antics at their website
