HoneyTrash consists of Ric Miller – guitar, Scott Hill – bass, and Sierra Ramirez on vocals. The three musicians found a common interest in simple rock and roll and blues music. Rarely, as a musician and music enthusiast am I awed by an album in modern times. After listening to Suit & Tie, I was awed. The musicality showcased by HoneyTrash is immaculate. Combining numerous musical styles – rock, blues, and a touch of psychedelia, Suit & Tie is nothing short of a crossover masterwork. Well produced, well written songs, and brilliantly moody vocals, this is an Ep that you should not sleep on.
The effort starts with the title song “Suit & Tie,” which opens with descending guitar and bass line accompaniment. A snapping snare drum enters as Ramirez sings her lines in a subdued fashion before big guitars enter, bulwarking and setting the tone for the towering proportion of this cut – and Ep.
Track after track, Ramirez’ vocals are washed, in a well-conceived array of dark vocal tones and a massive wall of sound, underlies, served by simple bass, guitar and drums. Everything working in tandem with each other, “Hooray” possesses an almost hypnotic sound. “Wicked Woman” and “Hey You” are just as good, if not better. The overall timbre is a throwback rock feel, recalling 60’s – 70s acid or psychedelic rock with a heavy blues feel.
The guitarist and rhythm section are perfectly matched with the vocals–everything here is inventive, tasteful, and evolves throughout like forces of nature passionately at play. The Recording Engineer Scott Hill and Producer Ric Miller have mixed the parts together and dialed in just the right amount of reverb to capture an almost live ambience perfectly. Everyone involved has done their jobs very, very well on this Ep, including Drummer, Bill Small.
If you’re a fan of blues-rock music from the 60’ and 70’s era, “Suit & Tie” is a recording to add to your collection. Few new groups delve successfully into this awe-inspiring era, without sounding stale or dated. It’s consistently brilliant and utterly irresistible, a delicious swirl of rock bohemianism and blues sensibility.
Whether all of this nostalgic sound mixed with modern rock, was overtly intended by the band, or just a figment of my hallucinating imagination, I know not for sure. But when the Rock n’ Roll Time Capsule is unearthed, somewhere and sometime after man has finally succeeded in destroying this planet , HoneyTrash’s “Suit & Tie” will be proudly displayed as a relic of our time.
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