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The California Honeydrops

The Tuning Fork, 42-80 Mahuhu Crescent, Auckland, CBD, Auckland

Thursday 11 April 2019 7:00pm – 11:00pm

The Tuning Fork are excited to welcome R&B/Soul group, The California Honeydrops, to our shores in April 2019 for their debut NZ visit!

"The California Honeydrops have crafted an easy listening sound that marries the bounce and strut of the Big Easy with the soul of Memphis and Muscle Shoals." - No depression

"For more than 90 minutes on Sunday, the Honeydrops made Jefferson Center feel more like a Big Easy with move-inducing grooves, blasting horns, pumping Hammond organ and one whale of a frontman in singer/guitarist/trumpeter Lech Wierzynski." - The Roanoke Times

The California Honeydrops celebrate their 10th year together with the release of their 7th studio album and first ever double album, Call It Home: Vol. 1 & 2 and continue to perform worldwide. Led by dynamic vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Lech Wierzynski, and drawing on diverse musical influences from Bay Area R&B, funk, Southern soul, Delta blues, and New Orleans second-line, the Honeydrops bring vibrant energy and infectious dance-party vibes to their shows.

In 2016 & 2017 the Honeydrops were honored to support Bonnie Raitt on her North America release tour—and in the past have been privileged to support the likes of B.B. King, Allen Toussaint, Buddy Guy, and Dr. John.

Whether in those high-profile performances or in more intimate venues where the band itself can leave the stage and get down on the dance floor, the California Honeydrops’ shared vision and purpose remain: to make the audience dance and sing.

Honeydrops have come a long way since guitarist and trumpeter Lech Wierzynkski and drummer Ben 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 Bradbury on bass, they’ve built a powerful full-band sound to support Wierzynski’s vocals.

More like parties than traditional concerts, their shows feature extensive off-stage jamming and crowd interaction. “The whole point is to erase the boundaries between the crowd and us,” Wierzynski says. “We don’t make setlists. We want requests. We want crowd involvement, to make people become a part of the whole thing by dancing along, singing, picking the songs and generally coming out of their shells.”