California Honeydrops bring brass band chops, bursts of energy to party

Credit: Photo courtesy of Deborah Wilson

Credit: Photo courtesy of Deborah Wilson

From Wierzynski busking at Bay Area subway stations in 2007 with founding percussionist Benjamin Malament to the band becoming festival and fan favorites, the current core has been together nearly a dozen years. It also features Yanos “Johnny Bones” Lustig on saxophone, Lorenzo Loera on keys and guitar, Beaumont Beaullieu on drums, Miles Blackwell on bass, Oliver Tuttle on trombone, Leon Cotter on saxophone and clarinet, and Miles Lyons on trombone and sousaphone.

Playing for tips at Bay Area Rapid Transit stops provided Wierzynski, who moved to the Bay Area after studying ethnomusicology at Oberlin College in Ohio, and the burgeoning Honeydrops a real-world performing arts education in what works and what doesn’t. Because, at the end of the day, they were paying their rent with what they earned from busking. They saw what people responded to and leaned in to it.

Wierzynski recently dug through a bunch of old stuff in his house, unearthing, among handwritten signs and old posters from forgotten gigs, the original tip jar.

“Just a regular old jar, it had a bunch of hardware in it to fix the tub bass because the tub bass would always break,” he said, listing utilitarian necessities such as a screwdriver and nuts and bolts they carried with them. Earning dollars, quarters and dimes was “sustenance” for the first two years.

“We busked a lot actually, because, you know, I wasn’t trying to get a real job,” Wierzynski said, “and I was trying to play music as much as possible.”

Wierzynski got his start playing trumpet with older Oakland blues cats, “where I really learned (and) where I saw and got to play with my first real entertainers and singers.” Some had been doing it for 30 years, so it “was a huge educational and influential experience for me,” he said, because the musicians he had watched on TV growing up were “grunge and gangster rap.” He began to base his style more on the Godfather of Soul than MTV.

This flair has been on display on stages with New Orleans legends including Dr. John, Allen Toussaint and Rebirth Brass Band, as well as alongside blues giants B.B. King and Buddy Guy. Notable admirers include bluegrass forefather Del McCoury, who has covered a pair of Honeydrops’ tunes, and Bonnie Raitt, who appeared on the title track of 2018’s double album “Call It Home” and later reinterpreted Wierzynski’s “Here Comes Love.”

The impact of old New Orleans music — such as jazz and brass bands — on the Honeydrops’ sound can’t be overstated, and many of the band members have links to the music or the geographic area. These are sounds they’ve studied, learning the language and idioms of their inspiration.

There’s also a sense they’ve learned the rules so they can break them, bringing their West Coast amalgamation to the mix. “Being an outsider is always kind of good in a way,” Wierzynski said. “You get to see things from a different perspective.”

Although some of the Honeydrops’ catalog — now a dozen-plus albums, including live releases — is suited for dusky lounges, the large group shines in sweaty clubs and on open-air stages where the musicians’ contagious spirit can spread. The multifarious act brings a joie de vivre, never taking itself too seriously and always offering a bit of silliness.

“The band is a little bit wired toward novelty,” Wierzynski said, “and nobody takes that much pride in being perfect.” It’s all about authenticity and “actually enjoying it.”

Back to that concept of taking cues from the audience, the band lives and dies by having no set list at shows.

“Some days it’s just flowing and you know what you wanna play,” Wierzynski explained. “Some days … you ask the crowd what they want to hear, and that’s part of the fun, part of what makes it more of a together experience.

“And then some days, you’re just lost in the wilderness,” he said with a laugh. “Some nights, you have higher highs because it’s spontaneous. You’re opening up to the spontaneous nature of life and music and creativity.”

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The California Honeydrops