Tuning Fork is excited to welcome R&B/Soul group, The California Honeydrops, to our shores April 11th, 2019. Today, they announce local support, Auckland-based soul singer/songwriter, Sandy Mill.
Photo credit: Samuel Richards
The California
Honeydrops
The Tuning Fork
April 11th, 2019
Support: Sandy Mill
Tickets from ticketmaster.co.nz
Internationally recognised songwriter and collaborator, Sandy Mill, will open up the night with a dazzling set of soul, blues and alt/rock. Sandy will perform songs from her acclaimed debut solo EP A Piece of Me which gathered sparkling reviews and reached The NZ Top 20 charts upon its release in 2018. She was also a finalist in the 2018 Waiata Maori Music Awards for ‘Best Female Solo Artist’.
Sandy Mill frequently teams up with electro-rock band SJD, has started a live dance music project called Soul Suite with electronic music producer Dean Webb and fronts multi-national band New Telepathics alongside Nuel Nonso, Phodiso and long-time collaborator Darryn Harkness. Sandy fills her life to the brim with music projects; when she isn’t writing and recording she is selecting vinyl for her ever frequent DJ sets.
Sandy will be performing a duo set with Dianne Swann.
“Gritty. Smoky. Warm and expressive” – Grant Smithies – Stuff
“A Piece Of Me confirms Sandy Mill’s authoritative vocal prowess, and introduces Sandy The Songwriter” – Gary Steele – witchdoctor.co.nz“Songwriting gifts, and a wonderful vocal range which never sacrifices emotion in order to impress.” – Graham Reid –elsewhere.co.nz
Sandy Mill – ‘Giftbox’ official video
The California Honeydrops have been touring extensively through the US following the release of their double-album Call It Home: Vol 1 & 2 which features prolific blues singer, Bonnie Raitt. The Oakland-based band have been compared to the likes of Ray Charles, Tony Joe White and the tinged electric blues of Jimi Hendrix.
They bring their dance-party vibes to Auckland next month. Expect Southern-soul, Delta blues, a funky brass section, infectious melodies and the urge to dance all night long!
the California Honeydrops have crafted an easy listening sound that marries the bounce and strut of the Big Easy with the soul of Memphis and Muscle Shoals.”
– No Depression
“For more than 90 minutes on Sunday, the Honeydrops made Jefferson Center feel more like a Big Easy with move-inducing grooves, blasting horns, pumping Hammond organ and one whale of a frontman in singer/guitarist/trumpeter Lech Wierzynski.”
– The Roanoke Times
The California Honeydrops celebrate their 10th year together with the release of their 7th studio album and first ever double album, Call It Home: Vol. 1 & 2 and continue to perform worldwide. Led by dynamic vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Lech Wierzynski, and drawing on diverse musical influences from Bay Area R&B, funk, Southern soul, Delta blues, and New Orleans second-line, the Honeydrops bring vibrant energy and infectious dance-party vibes to their shows. In 2016 & 2017 the Honeydrops were honored to support Bonnie Raitt on her North America release tour—and in the past have been privileged to support the likes of B.B. King, Allen Toussaint, Buddy Guy, and Dr. John. Whether in those high-profile performances or in more intimate venues where the band itself can leave the stage and get down on the dance floor, the California Honeydrops’ shared vision and purpose remain: to make the audience dance and sing.
The Honeydrops have come a long way since guitarist and trumpeter Lech Wierzynkski and drummer Ben Malament started busking in an Oakland subway station, but the band has stayed true to that organic, street-level feel. Listening to Lech sing, it can be a surprise that he was born in Warsaw, Poland, and raised by Polish political refugees. He learned his vocal stylings from contraband American recordings of Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, and Louis Armstrong, and later at Oberlin College and on the club circuit in Oakland, California. With the additions of Johnny Bones on tenor sax and clarinet, Lorenzo Loera on keyboards, and Beau Bradbury on bass, they’ve built a powerful full-band sound to support Wierzynski’s vocals. More like parties than traditional concerts, their shows feature extensive off-stage jamming and crowd interaction. “The whole point is to erase the boundaries between the crowd and us,” Wierzynski says. “We don’t make setlists. We want requests. We want crowd involvement, to make people become a part of the whole thing by dancing along, singing, picking the songs and generally coming out of their shells.”
