Feel Good Festival: Honeyfeet

Photo: SKW Events

Feel Good Festival - Ríoghnach Connolly - Honeyfeet

Following an hour-long set on the main stage at Saturday’s Feel Good Festival, Rochdale Online sat down with delightfully-weird seven-piece band, Honeyfeet.

The Mancunian band have been around for approximately 10 years and are made up of vocalist Ríoghnach Connolly, bassist Lorien Edwards, drummer Phil Howley, from Burnley, keyboardist John Ellis, who hails from Middleton, Biff Roxby on the trombone, guitarist Ellis Davies and harmonica player, Rik Warren, who is currently on paternity leave.

They were drawn together as the ‘city is really community orientated and has ‘a really good support network.’

Ríoghnach said: “We all have community-based jobs and it’s nice to have something like this happening in Rochdale. We’re pleased and honoured to be here. It’s a privilege.

“The crowd were soggy, but enthusiastic. It started raining when we were playing our fourth song. We saw a lot of friendly faces and they stayed out despite the weather.

“Our keyboardist played two or three blinding solos to melt your face and we had a blistering guitar solo.”

The 2017 Feel Good Festival was the first Feel Good for the band, but astoundingly was their 63rd gig of the summer, having played around three or four per day. They are set to appear at Hebden Bridge later and at Boomtown on Sunday.

Honeyfeet describe their sound as ‘folk-hop and wonky pop’ and recently signed to record label Wah Wah 45s in June. They are working on material for their second album, set for release in early 2018. The group released their debut EP in 2012, which was followed by a full-length album just a year later entitled ‘It’s a Good Job I Love You’.

Some of their favourite tracks to perform live include upcoming single ‘Sinner’, which is affectionally referred to amongst bandmembers as ‘Boingysquelch’, and ‘Freedom Hands’.
Ríoghnach said: “Freedom Hands is dedicated to all the people out there with uteruses and the people that came out of them, to ‘Repeal the Eighth’.”

‘Repeal the Eighth’ is a campaign led by the Abortion Rights Campaign and pro-choice groups, who are calling for a referendum to repeal the Eighth Amendment of the Irish Constitution, a controversial law that criminalises abortion.

They cite influences from all over the place, and it shows through famous names like Frank Zappa, Dire Straits and Stevie Wonder, but also up and coming bands like Shy Finger plus artists such as Solange, Charlie Hunter, Anderson Pakk, Childish Gambino, and so many more.

“We’re a magpie band,” Phil laughed.

“I like that. We’re ‘oh, we’ll have a little bit of that, and a little bit of this’,” Ríoghnach agreed.

‘Sinner’ is set for release in autumn this year.