June 2, 2020
Tune-In Tuesdays #72: Bad Honey on “Circles” and Their Musical Duo
By: burgundy bug
Left to right: Lydia Clows and Teresa Origone of Bad Honey posing with their latest EP
Source: Bad Honey
Hailing from South East London, the fluid, soft, and introspective soul-pop duo Bad Honey allures listeners into a dream-like trance with their latest single, “Circles.”
Recently, we spoke to Lydia Clowes and Teresa Origone to learn more about the origins of Bad Honey, “Circles,” their lockdown EP, and what their plans are going forward.
How long have you been making music for? What were your experiences with music prior to starting Bad Honey?
Lydia: We together have been making music for probably about five years now, since 2015.
We started making music together by accident; we started it as something different and then we ended up just bringing what we’d been working on together and writing together, which is nice. It was an organic way of it happening.
We’d both just graduated from uni, so we hadn’t got that much experience with the industry, really.
Alongside this, we both do other projects, so that’s actually been really helpful in terms of learning things along the way with this project and in other respects, as well.
How did you meet and what inspired you to start a musical duo?
Teresa: We met at university where we were both studying music in London. We did do some gigs together at uni as part of exams, and somehow we were often put in the same groups at uni.
We didn’t start this project until we graduated. Initially, we decided to create this duo to play jazz gigs in hotels or bars – basically not to write our own music.
Gradually, we started writing music and we never got to play a real jazz gig [laughs].
How would you describe your core values, both personally and musically?
Lydia: Personally and musically, I’d say just being honest and doing what you feel is good for you – not in a selfish way.
Especially in music, you can’t really do what you think people are going to like because there are always going to be people who don’t like what you’re doing.
I think we both try and just make stuff that we love. Not only will there – hopefully – be people who will also like it, but it definitely comes across in the music if it’s honest and if we believe in it.
Teresa: I believe in a very similar thing. I find music genres not really relevant anymore. Even if it’s just the two of us in this project, I like to think if you take different elements that come from opposite directions you can make something great.
Things that are opposites can live together happily and make something amazing.
Teresa Origone
What have you learned from working with each other?
Teresa: I think we learned about the element of opposites, it’s kind of reflected in the name “Bad Honey.” You can have something that sounds sweet together with something that sounds not that sweet and make it work.
Working with another person in general is just amazing because it forces you to expand, to grow on sides you maybe wouldn’t know you needed to, or to leave space for someone else to be honest in a process.
Collaborating with someone else brings you to making something bigger than what you would do if you were a solo artist.
Lydia: I agree. We both have lots of similar things that we enjoy in terms of music and personally, but as Teresa said, each of you brings other things and that’s what’s really nice.
What is your songwriting, recording, and producing process like?
Lydia: We often actually have different processes. We tend to approach songwriting quite differently a lot of the time. I think partly on purpose because we don’t want to get into a routine of doing it the same way every time.
Because there are two of us, sometimes one of us will already have an idea and we’ll come together. It might be some lyrics or it might be a melody, maybe a drum beat. Anything, really.
So it often starts differently and a lot of our songs either come from one or the other of us. Sometimes we actually start from scratch together. It’s really varied, to be honest.
But all of them are a fully collaborative thing that we’ve both had input in.
Tell us a little about your single “Circles.” What’s the story behind the track?
Teresa: In terms of lyrics, it’s about being in a relationship where you’re trying to support each other. But that might apply to any type of relationship that you have with friends, as well.
You’re trying to find a balance between helping someone when they’re having a hard time, being there for them but not imposing yourself. Finding space in a relationship.
Musically, it was created pretty quickly. Then we went to our friend Geo who helped with producing it. We did some arrangement things together with him, but when we went to him the song was already pretty formed, we just did some tweaks.
It was weird, it was a really quick process with that one.
What was your favorite part of creating “Circles?”
Lydia: We had worked with a producer called Geo, who we had kind of recently met. That was quite fun for us because it’s always nice to collaborate with even more people. That person can add their angle on the music we’re making.
We went to his studio and spent a couple of days there changing a few lyrical things. Then we added a few elements, like some bass, some more keys, and some more guitar. We don’t often have guitars in our songs, so that was cool. I did the vocals there, as well.
I just remember those two days being really fun because he’s a really fun person. We were kind of getting to know each other, it was nice, it was different.
What was the most challenging part of creating “Circles?”
Lydia: I don’t know if there was, actually. That sounds kind of weird, but as I was saying before, this song came out quite naturally.
Maybe the lyrics. I definitely struggle mostly with lyrics and we did change them later on.
What do you hope listeners take away from the single?
Teresa: I like how it’s not an intense song. It’s a pretty fun song and it can hopefully help people see some positives in a situation some people might see as a challenge.
Or they might be in situation where they feel stuck, but that song can make you feel things maybe aren’t as heavy as you think.
It’s good to express these things as you’re going through them, as well.
Lydia: I think that’s partly what the lyrics are saying; to kind of talk about things.
What are some of your overall goals as a musical duo?
Lydia: We plan on continuing to make music. I think we would just love for this project to be a sustainable thing so we have the ability to keep making this music.
I don’t think either of us have particularly done it for the reason of becoming a massive, famous band. But obviously to make something successful you need to have a fanbase. Financially, you need to make it sustainable, as well.
We just want to keep making music that we enjoy – which we are doing.
Lydia Clowes
This year’s actually been pretty good for us, so far. We did a couple of studio sessions before the lockdown and we’ve been trying to continue it through the lockdown, as well.
Teresa: I agree. We hope we connect to the right people and that they can get something from it.
What’s next for you, Lydia and Teresa? Do you have any new music in the works, perhaps an EP or an album?
Teresa: Yes! We released a small project recently. It’s an EP, but we only released it on YouTube and BandCamp. It was all created during the lockdown, so no human contact, just internet calls and writing over FaceTime.
“Pyjama Party” EP by Bad Honey
Source: Bad Honey – Pyjama Party, an isolation EP | Bad Honey
We invited a few other artists and friends to work on it with us. It’s a collaborative project. It was really fun, actually.
It definitely helped both of us to cope with these times. Obviously because we’re both musicians and we had all of our gigs canceled for the summer, we have a lot of time on our hands. This has given us a purpose and it was great.
Other than that, we went to the studio in January and again in March. So we’re hoping to release another, more official EP before the end of this year.
After that, we’ll see what happens, whether it’ll be an album or another EP.
Do you have any additional comments or final thoughts to share?
Lydia: This new EP that came spontaneously is something that we would like to share with people. While making it, I started to appreciate creating stuff a little more in this time.
Hopefully we can bring people some enjoyment with it, too, because this is a very strange time.
Give Bad Honey’s single “Circles” a listen on Spotify and their latest EP a listen on BandCamp!
Be sure to follow Bad Honey on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to keep up with their latest work.
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burgundy bug
https://burgundyzine.com/about/#burgundybugA cynical optimist and mad scientist undercover, burgundy bug is the editor, graphic designer, webmaster, social media manager, and primary photographer for The Burgundy Zine. Entangled in a web of curiosity, burgundy bug’s work embodies a wide variety of topics including: neuroscience, psychology, ecology, biology, cannabis, reviews, fashion, entertainment, and politics. You can learn more about working with burgundy bug by visiting her portfolio website: burgundybug.com
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