Honey Jam Sam puts music to expat life
After 20 years of living in Korea, with visits to my home country averaging maybe only once per four years, I find the land where I came from increasingly feels like a foreign place.
“You can visit all the haunts you knew, do the things you used to do, call on all the friends that you have known,” sings Rob Nichols, frontman of the Korea-based band Honey Jam Sam, “but you can never go home.”
This admission comes in “Yo Ho Ho,” the nostalgia-drenched first track of Honey Jam Sam’s newest six-song album, “Let the Bad Times Roll.”
Despite the song name which evokes images of pirates belting out lyrics about drinking rum at sea, it’s drenched in a more compassionate attitude.
“No pirate connection I’m afraid,” Nichols admitted to The Korea Times. “‘Yo Ho Ho’ began as a hook that came to me about 10 years ago. When I finally sat down to write that song, it became a song about longing to go back to something, and finding out nothing is the same as it was. I find this is true especially when you’re living away from home.”
He opted for “Yo Ho Ho” as the song title rather than the gloomier “You Can Never Go Home,” as the rest of the album contains some pretty gloomy song titles.
That goes for the title track, “Let the Bad Times Roll,” a notably less upbeat song that sounds like the last number you might hear in Grand Ole Opry before Mama Kim kicks you out at the end of the night.
But Nichols has a different take on it. “’Let the Bad Times Roll’ was a way for me to say ‘Bring it on.’ I was in a dark place when I wrote the last album,” he said. “But now I felt — let the bad times roll — I’ll take whatever is coming at me.”
The album is filled out with “Borrowed Time,” the ironically upbeat “This Disease” and probably the happiest song on the album, “She’s Getting Married Tomorrow,” which the British Nichols will probably hate me for saying it sounds like a combination of several Beatles-related influences, while still retaining its own distinct voice.
The 25-minute album ends with probably the most depressing — but also most necessary — song, “I Just Want To Go Out Tonight,” a tribute to the victims of the Itaewon disaster. An earlier cut of the song had been released in time for the first anniversary last October.
With “Let the Bad Times Roll” Honey Jam Sam demonstrates its ability to put lyrics to thoughts felt widely in its community, and doing so with compassion and consolation.
Locally, the lineup joining Nichols consists of Daejeon-based cellist Jeremy Heaven, vocalist Hayley Neal and violin virtuoso Zee. Also appearing on the recording are Jeju Island-based mandolinist Daniel Daugherty and drummer Brad Wheeler.
But despite feeling very local, particularly to the Haebangchon/ Itaewon community, the album was actually recorded “in various home studios across the globe,” according to liner notes. Most vocals and all drums were recorded locally at Union Studios between last October and this January, and mixing was done there the next month, but many other participants transmitted their contributions from around the world, including from the U.K., Malaysia and Brazil.
Banjo player and vocalist Ryan Murfield, formerly a songwriter of the band, recorded from Malaysia where he relocated, and violinist/ vocalist Zoe Yungmi Blank (Violin/Vocals) did so from Brazil. The album lineup also includes former bandmate EJ Song, as well as guitarists Chris Newiss and Alex Easton, both Nichols’ friends back home.
“If we were all in the same place, it’d be fun to play live, but I just wanted the best people I know to help me put the record together,” Nichols explained. “There is a core group of us who play live, and everyone is on the album, but I also wanted to use the best musicians I know.”
“Let the Bad Times Roll” will be officially released March 9 at 8 p.m. local time (11 a.m. U.K. time) through an online listening party, hosted by Nichols who will be on hand to answer questions.
“From the comfort of your armchair, join us as we play the album for the first time, and release it to the world,” Nichols said in an online invitation.
The album will also be played live at Phillies in Haebangchon on March 23.
Before that, Honey Jam Sam, as well as Boss Hagwon, another band involving many of the same
“When I finally sat down to write that song, it became a song about longing to go back to something, and finding out nothing is the same as it was. I find this is true especially when you’re living away from home. ”
members, will both play at the St. Patrick’s Day event held at southwestern Seoul’s Sindorim Station on March 16.
Visit fb.com/honeyjamsam for more information.