We sat down to chat with pop-rock duo Honey Revenge for our second volume of Warped Mag. Keep reading for their origin story, insight on bringing their debut album “Retrovision” to life, and how they’ve grown from a DIY band to a touring one over the years!
What’s your favorite Warped memory or experience? If you haven’t been to Warped, what are you looking forward to for your first one?
Devin: In my senior year of high school, I got to follow all of the California and Pacific Northwest dates as my graduation present. At one point I used my friend as a human surfboard and crowd surfed standing on her back – that was really chaotic and fun. Donny, do you have something you’re excited for?
Donny: I’m excited to play with a whole bunch of bands. I like festivals, I’m excited to play outside!
You’re playing all 3 stops of the Vans Warped Tour this year–how are y’all feeling? Is there a particular city you’re excited to play in?
Devin: Yeah! We’re excited to do all three. I feel like we’re gonna see all of our friends, which is something I’m really excited for. We have tons of bands we’ve toured with and are homies with that are gonna be on the tour! Long Beach is gonna be cool because it’ll be like a homecoming from tour.
Devin, what’s your favorite lyric that you’ve written and why?
Devin: I change my answer to this depending on how I feel, but recently I've been focusing on our new song “Risk” because I feel like it's a really good representation of where I think this band is headed. There’s a lyric in “Risk” that I really like: “Seems like the glass ceiling is gonna shatter right through me, undo me.”
It's saying we’re limitless now, we’re gonna trust our gut and not let ourselves get put in a box and just be who we’re gonna be. Which I think is cool and something everyone should open up to and accept.
Donny, what’s your favorite guitar solo to play?
Donny: Shoooot. On this tour, I’d have to say “Airhead.” Which I feel is a cop out of an answer, but I do all of the solos a little bit differently live and I think that one scratches my brain the best. It’s melodic, but it’s also shreddy and hard so if someone tries to learn it, it’ll take ‘em awhile.
Who are your musical inspirations?
Devin: Mine change depending on how I’m feeling or what I’m feeling most inspired by in the moment, but for the last couple of years it’s been PVRIS. I grew up on them, they’re one of those bands that made me want to be in a band, they consistently change up the game, and keep their music fresh. It’s always inspired me ‘cause I feel like I identify with every era of them as a band.
I revisited this recently when I saw them play, but Halsey is a really big lyrical inspiration for me. I think she's one of the most brilliant lyricists and I think she is such a creative mastermind. And I’m gonna shout out The Band CAMINO because I feel like they changed the trajectory of my life with how I appreciated pop music and combining pop and rock elements.
Donny: If we’re talking songwriting, I’d say Zedd is a big one. The way Zedd writes songs is so nice for my brain, I love that shit. Also Michael Jackson, because that was my first musical love. I was like, “Woah! I can listen to ‘Invincible’ over and over and over!” I’d never heard anyone talk about that album EVER, but I had it on my CD player in elementary school and it literally changed my life. I went from that to “Thriller,” back to “Bad,” then I found “Off the Wall” and it was fucking OVER.
For instrumentalist stuff, probably Nile Rodgers, and Paul Jackson Jr. who played on a bunch of Michael’s stuff. I’m really into Silk Sonic…I think that kinda wraps it up with a bow- Oh! And LMFAO!
What was the creative process like while making your debut album, Retrovision?
Devin: It definitely had an array of creative processes. When we started the band, we didn’t have the same resources we did at the end of the album’s conception. So when we started off I would write an entire song, lyrics, and melody, and send it to Donny. I don’t play any instruments, so they would build the entire instrumentation around my melodies, which was a really cool way to do it.
As we grew and were given more opportunities, we started working with a lot of our friends who are very well experienced and knowledgeable. Specifically our friends KJ Strock, Zach Jones, and Kanner. They were the main crew for the album. We would sit in a room and I would come up with a concept–for example, “Murphey’s Law” or “Habitual”–I had the words in my phone and was like, “Oh those would be really cool overall themes for a song.”
Nowadays, we go to a studio and we cook from scratch, but back then there were a lot of building blocks. There were songs we started years and years prior to the album that we got to bring back. The album was supposed to be an EP when we started it, so it grew as time progressed and we realized we had a lot more songs.
Warped: Donny, what was it like when you’d receive melodies and lyrics from Devin? Any insight on the instrumentation side?
Donny: She would send me these voice memos where she’s smacking her fuckin’ leg and singing stuff on top of it, right? I’d play it on a loop, pick up a guitar, and play stuff underneath it. I’d try to find the key first, expand and explore it there, and then find a foundation to build upon.
Once I have a rough draft I’ll send it to Dev like, “Yo, what do you think about this?” and she’ll either be like, “This is sick as fuck,” or she’s like “Honestly, I hate it.” *Laughs.* Then I’ll take what I started and keep adding to it after I get the OK that it’s cool. Like okay, I can play now. The beginning was a lot of sending stuff back and forth like that.
When we got into the studio with Zach, KJ, and Kanner, we’d write stuff together at the same time. Kanner and Dev would focus on lyrics and vocals in one room and then Zach, KJ, and I would build out the instrumentals.
It was hard, it made me grow a lot as a musician, and I’m grateful.
TikTok's become a massive launchpad for artists–how has it played a role in your journey? Was there a moment you realized, “Whoa, this app just changed everything”?
Devin: Yeah! It’s been really wild. I feel like the algorithm is definitely different than what it was last time we were releasing music. It’s changed from us finding new fans to me finding new bands and that’s what kept it fresh for me. Even though it’s not as much of a tool for people discovering us, it’s really really cool to discover and make new friends to play with.
I’m not as locked into it as I once was, but those were the days when we weren’t touring. That was the only way for people to find us, but now we’re so very fortunate to get to play festivals and tour full time. So it's not as necessary in the aspect of being introduced to new people. I think it's a really great platform for releasing music and for artists that may not necessarily be on the road yet. For us, it’s great because it’s a way for us to show our live footage. It’s changed so much for us.
What’s a fun fact about your band that someone wouldn’t be able to guess?
Devin: Maybe that this band started with Donny DMing me on Instagram?
Warped: Do y’all know what that first DM was?
Donny: I remember I was living in Georgia, I just graduated high school, and it’s the middle of the pandemic. I’m incredibly socially anxious; I don’t talk to anybody now, I ESPECIALLY didn’t talk to anybody before. I was scrolling through Instagram, and I knew I was moving to California with my mom, so I was looking up “LA band,” “LA guitar,” and trying to find musicians out here.
I’m scrolling and I come across this video of a band playing in a skate shop. The singer does this fuckin’ frontflip while she’s singing and she don’t drop the mic or nothin’! I’m like “YOO that’s pretty cool!” Somehow, some way – I don’t know what possessed me to. I messaged the band account.
I auditioned for Dev’s old band, this easycore pop punk thing. I get in the band, I move to California, and that band breaks up…Dev and I are like “SHIT!” and kept writing songs together. That band was already gonna rebrand and it just so happened to be a duo by the time it became public.
It’s shit like that that makes me believe in the universe. Because I would never in my life message someone cold turkey like that, but for some reason I was compelled to and it changed my life.
Which bands are you excited to see at Vans Warped Tour this year?
Devin: I’m excited to see Beauty School Dropout because I’ve missed them a bunch. I’m excited to see letlive. because they’re the best band of all time. I always like watching Boys Like Girls. Honestly, Asking Alexandria is always a fun one for me.
Donny: Streetlight Manifesto’s gonna be sick. I haven’t seen Sophie Powers yet. Lowkey, Black Veil Brides. They have some of the best guitar tones I’ve ever heard in my life. I saw them on the Trinity of Terror tour and they sounded SO GOOD.
Do you have anything in store for fans to keep a lookout for?
Devin: Aside from Warped, I’d say come see us on our headlining tour! This might be your last chance to see us in some of these smaller, intimate, rooms, ‘cause we have a crazy tour booked for this Fall and after that the goal is to keep moving up! So, there’s no guarantee that this will be the last time, but I have a gut feeling that this might be the last time we’re headlining in some of these tinier rooms. So, come see us! It’s the last time we’re gonna be playing a lot of these songs I think. We’re also playing a lot of new music, and I can’t necessarily promise that it will be out soon, but that’s the goal! We’re gonna be working on a new album for the rest of the year.
Make sure to check out Honey Revenge’s debut album “Retrovision” before catching their set at Warped Orlando!
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