LoveEast.51

East life
Meet Bow's hottest music duo, HONNE
Electronic music duo James Hatcher and Andy Clutterbuck began
their musical collaboration soon after meeting at university. Now
based in Bow, they both write, record and produce the magical,
laid-back sound that is HONNE. Their first-ever gig was back in 2014
at Muxima in Roman Road and their trajectory to success has been
nothing short of amazing. They’ve played festivals and gigs all over
the world, including Coachella, Latitude and Lollapalooza to name but
a few, as well as rocking up this summer in, quite literally, their own
back yard, at All Points East.
Five years is an incredibly short time to have made
such an impact; what’s the secret to your success?
Being true to ourselves - the need to be ‘very us’. We
only create music that we love and we write about
things in our lives. We don’t have people write lyrics
for us so it’s all very personal to us, about real things
in our lives. We are inspired by a lot of different
sounds - classic soul, synths, electronic music… and
we incorporate different elements, such as horns and
guitar. If it feels natural and right it all comes together,
and, so far, people seem to like what we are doing.
The key for us is to be ourselves.
What was your reaction when the Coachella moment
happened – when you found out you’d been chosen
to play?
We were like, “Are you sure?”
How did the name HONNE come about?
It’s a Japanese word that doesn’t have a direct
translation into English, but a way of describing it
is "true feelings" or “one's intimate self” which is at
the heart of our sound. Creating music is often like
wearing one’s heart on one’s sleeve in a sense, and
although songs mean different things to different
people, everything we do is based on our own life
and experiences. So it’s about being vulnerable and
honest.
You've done a lot of touring and have played some
huge festivals; what's the best bit - the most fun for
you - of the whole tour thing?
Touring and playing festivals is a lot of fun - and in
some ways, playing to a huge crowd at a festival is
a lot less stressful than playing in a small venue with
lots of your mates in the audience! We love exploring
new places when we get the time. We also really like
discovering local food – Asian food in particular.
And what’s the most challenging?
We spend a lot of time in airports! Seriously though,
touring involves a lot of sacrifice in terms of being
away from home, both for us and for our families. We
miss out on things -family events like weddings, stuff
like that. That’s hard.
Andy, tell us about singing in Japanese; that’s quite an
ambitious thing to do. I’ve listened to the track and it
really works, although, of course, I don’t understand a
word! How difficult was that to do?
Well, it was only on a recording and not live, so that
made it a bit easier. It was for a version of Warm On A
Cold Night back in 2016. I don’t think I’d ever attempt
it again though.
How does it feel to be performing essentially in your
own back yard at All Points East?
It feels great!
What's next for you?
We have a lot of tour dates over the summer – Hawaii,
Australia, Chicago, Russia… we’re all over the map this
summer, so a lot of travel!
Any advice for young musicians?
Focus on the music. Stop worrying about the
marketing and concentrate on developing your own
sound; get to be the very best you can be at it and
stay true to yourself.
FOLLOW
hellohonne.com
facebook.com/hellohonne
twitter.com/hellohonne
instagram.com/hellohonne/
LISTEN
open.spotify.com/artist/4NHgx9gO9zdHtq7BVEM2Z1
WATCH
youtube.com/results?search_query=honne
youtube.com/watch?v=ctyw0GcCA6k (Japanese version)
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