Leeds (UK) based three piece, Honeycub, have just released their latest single, Can’t Deny It, and we’ve been taking several thoroughly enjoyable listens to this 90s tinged rock track today at the Send Me Your Ears studio.
Can’t Deny It starts on heavy grungey “telephone” filtered guitars that set the scene. When the full band comes in the guitars are well balanced and sit beautifully in the mix. The snare really smacks through nicely, making this a very authentic feeling 90s style grunge/rock track.
The vocals are clear and present with some fantastically performed harmonies that are just at the perfect volume to bolster the lead vocals without dominating.
The chorus of Can’t Deny It is really catchy. Just the kind of chorus you could easily be humming in your head for days afterwards. We love the differentiation in sections in this track. That “telephone” effect comes in briefly on the guitars just before the chorus and makes the chorus feel even bigger. This is a neat trick and really engaged us as listeners. Did we hear a cigarette lighter being used for percussion at this point?!! What a thoroughly creative band!
We like the switch down to toms for the second verse, and the double chorus (which would usually be the end of a song) that melds into a brief moment, hanging on the last chord with a last flourish on the drums and a kind of phaser to fade out.
The unpredictable chord sequence keeps you on your toes and with the use of strong power chords, gives a very strong Nirvana feel to parts of the song. We also felt some strong Terrorvision influences in the track (think “Middleman” for example).
From a production perspective, the mix on this track is great. The occasional use of effects and filters keeps the listener engaged and the harmonies coming in and out are quite something. To our ears, a slight dip at 200Hz would reduce a tiny resonance from the top snare mic. Also, a small but wide boost centred around 8kHz would add some extra brightness and presence to the track.
Track of the day, Honeycub’s latest single, Can’t Deny It, is a wonderfully reminiscent 90s feeling track. Honeycub were a new name to us but as huge fans of 90s rock and grunge this is a band that we will most definitely be adding to our “ones to watch” list. Fantastic!