“This record is all about love and good lovin’ and other things that matter,” says The California Honeydrops’ frontman, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist Lech Wierzynski of the band’s brand new LP, Soft Spot. Released today, Soft Spot finds the band drawing deep from the soulful well of the great rhythm and blues acts that came before them—from roots rock to classic Bay Area R&B, to Southern soul, Delta blues, and New Orleans second line. “We continued the Honeydrops’ album tradition of bringing special musical guests to bless the studio with their magic,” adds drummer Ben Malament. “Sousaphones, strings, space echoes…it’s all here.”
The Honeydrops have come a long way since Wierzynkski and 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 Beauilleu on bass, they’ve built a powerful full-band sound to support Wierzynski’s vocals.
Soft Spot Tracklist:
Honey and Butter
Gonna Be Alright
Nothing at All
I Miss You Baby, Pt. 1
Tumblin’
Takin’ My Time
The Unicorn
Soft Spot
In Your Arms
Lil Bit of Love
Sneakin’ into Heaven
I Miss You Baby, Pt. 2
More About Soft Spot from Honeydrops drummer Ben Malament: “The first thing many people say to us after watching the band perform on stage is “Man, you all LOVE to play together!” That’s why Soft Spot is such an important album, because we didn’t get to play and hunker down as a full band like this for almost two years! After a few of us recorded the Covers from the Cave album, strictly from home for our quarantined fans, it was a pleasure and privilege to let loose all together in the beautiful Oakland studio, bouncing off each other with creativity, jokes, and sweat, with Thai food and donuts, day after day, night after night. The music on Soft Spot speaks that joy and diligence. Sometimes we recorded when we were hella sick or had pulled back muscles—getting older is tough! Sometimes we recorded on our birthdays and had cake next to the mics. When you get good sounds, you can’t stop! And all the sounds we were getting were good. Really good. And that’s when the recording is easy.
“We continued the Honeydrops album tradition of bringing many special musical guests to bless the studio with their magic. Sousaphones, strings, space echoes, it’s all here. Our engineer, Jacob LaCally’s, aka ‘Cubby’s,’ fine ears and maybe finer patience kept the session rolling through the hours. Leon Cotter and Scott Messersmith have become staples of the Honeydrop sound, filling the room with the full band sensation we could lean back on.
We enlisted the Kid Wonder and Oakland native, Oliver Tuttle, with his beautiful energy and ideas and the ‘Ponchatoula Powerhouse,’ Miles Lyons, dropped in from Louisiana to add a whole new low end to our music!
“This album has our unique Honeydrop take on many styles of music, all under a cohesive production style so there’s no confusion. There’s no provin’. Only groovin’. ’Soft Spot’ is a special one. We can’t tell you how happy we are to have made it and to give you these new songs.”