September 1999 - Fallentine

Honey For Christ are a Belfast band who play, er…old school metal. Yeah, yeah, no place for it in the 1990’s, no ones listens to that stuff anymore… As nearly every band who has survived from the 1980’s has tried to shed that big hair image, it’s refreshing to listen to a group of people who have no pretensions of how they should be perceived. As reported in Issue One, they pulled out of a gig in the Venue because they where threatened by the Rosetta. I am glad to say that they have found their balls, and will be playing in the Venue directly. This interview was conducted with Paul.

How did you guys get together?

P: There where friends in a couple of Belfast bands, like 13^th Sympathy, and they just jammed in bands, so they got together. They where looking for a bass player, and I was the bum to fill it.

As a band, who are your biggest influenced, past and present?

P: We have a lot of different influences like Napalm Death, My Dying Bride, Deicide, Venom, Slayer, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest. They give us inspiration for riffs basically.

You have already put a demo out. Have you any future recording plans?

P: We have new songs together, they are really strong. We’ve been playing them live, and we plan to do another demo, hopefully in the near future.

What is the significance of the name Honey For Christ?

P: Stuart is the one to ask. I think the stole it from a web-site. I’m not sure what the fuck was on that web site, I’ll have to check it out actually!

Do you still think there is a significant audience for old school metal, both in Belfast and in wider areas?

P: Yeah. Everybody loved old school! Everybody probably has an old Iron Maiden album stashed away.

Do you believe this type of music should be kept pure, or do you agree with bands who try to bring fresh ideas and crossover different genres?

P: Yeah. I think bands actually should cross/ Anthrax where doing it. It’s just a natural step.

How do you go about writing and arranging songs?

P: Basically people come up with riffs, we jam though it and take different parts of riffs, and just take it from there.

Personally I think there are a ton of talented bands in Northern Ireland. How hard is it for bands to get exposure and noticed by record companies over here?

P: Very hard. Maybe we should start wearing make-up and dressing up like women.

Honey For Christ are known amongst local bands as being some of the nicest guys around. How have you earned this accolade?

P: ‘Cos we’re handsome, charming and we’re on the same level as the other bands.

Bearing in mind your friendly reputation, how do you deal with infighting in Honey For Christ?

P: Arm ourselves with busted bottles, baseball bats and boxing gloves, and the last one standing wins!

Cheers.

fallentine '99