The Honeydrops started slowly, but once they got it going they drew the crowd on the dance floor with their accessible sound, a funky blend of blues, R & B, and most notably Second Line New Orleans jazz. The five piece group is led by vocalist/guitarist/trumpateer Lech Wierzyski. Wierzyski is a versatile talent, with a great singing voice and advanced skills on the trumpet. The apex of the band's performance was when all five members left the stage and hit the floor Second Line style, with drummer Ben Malament shining on the cowbell. Malament also plays a mean washboard.
The band have great potential as a live act, but need to figure out a way to consistently boost their sound a bit, particularly with the great variety of instruments that they play. If they plan on headlining medium venues like this, they need to play closer attention to this factor. Their sound was much crisper when they recently opened for ALO at the Fillmore and also at Harlow's. Look for them to have a breakout summer though, after their new album "Like you mean it" hits the streets. From there, they go on to play big festivals like the High Sierra Music Festival, where their "hit the floor" approach will go over big .
The Assembly is the size of a small school cafeteria. There is a spacious floor, a very large stage and a small section of two-tiered lounge seating in the balcony. High utilization is the key word here. The space doubles as a stage for the B Street Theater, which does 7pm improv shows on Friday and Saturday and clears out prior to the music starting. The venue has good sight lines and an impressive looking lighting rig mounted to the ceiling. The stage is backlit and the curtain is set far to the rear of the stage, giving bands an immense space in which to set up their equipment.
While the facility is nicely set up, it could use a few tweaks over time. Their needs to be more color added to the side walls and the area near the front of the stage to create more warmth in the room. The bar service was pretty slow, so one or two bartenders would be a welcome addition as well. There didn't seem to be much utilization of the big lighting rig on the ceiling, it would be nice to see what that can do. However, the biggest tweak needs to be figuring out how to fill the room more completely with sound. All of these things can be improved over time. And just like the aforementioned band, this venue has big potential.
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| The California Honeydrops doing their thing in Sacramento |
And for some live sounds, check out The California Honeydrops recent live performance at the Fillmore:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Os8JOx6WxJY#!
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