Camp Out For Hunger 2021 - Marc LaBelle of Dirty Honey
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00:00We have another great guest that is joining us today on the heels of the Camp, or not the Camp I'm Hunger, from the MMRBQ that we had this summer.
00:09And that was a return as well, getting back into the swing of things. Man, they were so great.
00:13They were great!
00:14We got to, you know, being on the staff, we get the privilege of being in the backstage area and the side stage when the performances are going on.
00:22So we popped up to see these guys perform on the side of the stage, and it was one of the rare bands where you can actually hear the band when you're on the side of the stage.
00:32Because usually people have these in-ear monitors, you can't hear. These guys had old school what we called side fills.
00:37So it sounded like we were in the front row as we were sitting on the side watching this band play.
00:42They're awesome. They had played two gigs within just a couple of days this summer.
00:46They were out with the Black Crows. They're coming back to town again at the Fillmore in January.
00:52Ladies and gentlemen, from the band Dirty Honey, please give some love to Mark LaBelle.
00:58What's up?
00:59What's up, Mark? How you doing?
01:02I'm doing great. I'm actually sitting in a very, very Pico La Piazza in Orte, Italy right now.
01:09You're in Italy right now?
01:10I just enjoyed it. I'm in Italy right now.
01:12So all the Philly Italians can be jealous at the moment.
01:17Plenty of them.
01:18I mean, he's sitting outside of a cafe in the middle of this little town.
01:22It looks gorgeous.
01:23It's so great.
01:24Yeah, obviously we see you on the Zoom. He's got these gold-mirrored sunglasses.
01:28His hair is flowing in the Italian air.
01:31You look like Fabio.
01:32God, you're living the life, dude.
01:35Yeah, it's not bad. It's not bad.
01:37It's a very small town, so finding Wi-Fi was tricky, but we got it done.
01:41Nice.
01:42Hey, well, listen, coming back to Philly again, obviously this city is digging what you guys are doing.
01:48You're building this really cool relationship with this town.
01:52Tell us a little bit about your impression of the Philadelphia area from the times that you've been here.
01:57Well, I mean, so it'll be the second time playing the Fillmore, but honestly, doing the MMRBQ this year,
02:05that was one of the highlights of my summer, right up there with Red Rocks and playing a hometown show at the L.A. Forum.
02:11So it's a special place.
02:13And I think I had two days off in Philly the last time around and loved walking around Rittenhouse.
02:20And it's just a really special town.
02:22I have family there.
02:23So it's an important place to go.
02:25And MMRBQ is one of the few stations that I would say is playing rock and roll, not just hard rock music.
02:34So it's a classic, one-of-a-kind rock and roll station that, you know, you really only hear them in, like, Philly, Detroit, maybe L.A. anymore.
02:43So we very much appreciate you guys.
02:46Well, I thought that, well, we appreciate you.
02:47We're just happy with the music you're putting out and also your connection to the town and our station.
02:52And there was a special moment that happened at the MMRBQ.
02:55Your bass player, Justin, got up and sang with cheap tricks, saying, Surrender.
03:00He seemed giddy about that, man.
03:04He was admittedly very confused after that because he didn't know that whole end-of-the-song routine that they do, the we're-all-alright thing.
03:12Yeah, yeah.
03:13And so we're watching him on the big screen just kind of confused as to what to say.
03:19And he never sings anyway.
03:20That was a totally spur-of-the-moment thing with Jackie Bam Bam.
03:23So we got a good laugh out of that.
03:26Mark, this is Nick.
03:27I love following you guys on Instagram.
03:29I don't know who runs the account for the band, but Dirty Honey's Instagram account is a terrific follow.
03:34And you guys travel a lot and post really cool photos from wherever you're going.
03:39Last year when you guys shot the video for California Dreamin', I think you did it in the Alabama Hills in the shadow of Mount Whitney in California.
03:45Is that right?
03:46Yeah.
03:46Good call, man.
03:47Exactly.
03:48That was one of the many locations.
03:51Yeah, it's a cool spot.
03:52And so I think the band values the fact that you guys are on the road as much as you are.
03:57You've done it in Sequoia, Forest, and now you're in Italy.
04:00And it just seems like you guys, the road obviously can be a grind, but it seems like you guys kind of enjoy being out there as much as you are.
04:08Yeah.
04:09I mean, you know, you wait so long as a band to get the opportunity to tour.
04:13And obviously once that happens, you want to take advantage of it.
04:16But, you know, I always travel on my own anyway, in addition to touring.
04:20And now that countries are open to travel and tourism, again, it's nice to get out of the states, you know, that we've been holed up in for two years.
04:30But I was getting out quite a bit during COVID anyway as well.
04:33Hey, I wanted to mention this about something I saw at the MMRBQ, Mark, was, you know, while you guys are playing these bigger venues, these theater halls, and now, you know, some of the sheds like you did for the MMRBQ,
04:47I think your drummer, Corey, still thinks that you guys are a bar gig band because I saw him breaking down his own drum kit after you guys were done.
04:57You went off and you're doing lead singer stuff, and he's over there breaking down his cymbal stands, putting his stool away, packing up his snare drum.
05:05I felt so bad for him.
05:07I walked over and I told him what a great drummer he was.
05:11He wasn't unkind, but he was like, thanks, man.
05:16I got to put my crap away now.
05:18That's kind of the attitude I got from him.
05:21Why was he breaking down his own drums?
05:23I heard that anecdote on the show the next morning.
05:27I heard you talking about that and played it for him.
05:29And, yeah, I mean, we're still an indie band, so, you know, we try and keep the crew minimal.
05:35We like it that way.
05:37But, you know, he obviously really appreciates and loves his kit and takes very good care of it.
05:43But, yeah, we, for the most part, are on our own.
05:46But after that show, that was the first show that we were really on our own again after the Black Crows tour had ended.
05:53So, you know, we got used to having a really official and great crew with the Crows taking care of our stuff.
06:01And that was the first gig that, you know, we were going out on our own again with.
06:04So, he was the king of his land again.
06:09Nice.
06:09Mike, I wanted to ask you.
06:10We did just play California Dream.
06:12It's such a great song.
06:12And Nick had mentioned here a second ago.
06:14But I have to say, when I first saw, before hearing the song, the title, I'm like, that's already taken.
06:20I know that song.
06:21That's the Mamas and Papas.
06:23Did that ever cross your mind when you guys were writing that song and going with that title?
06:27Of course.
06:28And I struggled with it for a while, titling it that, because obviously that's the obvious comparison.
06:34Yeah, it's an iconic tune.
06:36But, I mean, did that, you don't run into any trouble like that.
06:40I mean, you can have a title of something that's the same as another song, right?
06:45Yeah, you can't copyright a title, as far as I know.
06:48Okay, as far as we know, you're good to go.
06:52I could be in serious legal trouble and not know it, as far as I know.
06:56Ignorance is bliss, right?
06:58I was wondering if it might have been a tactic.
07:00You know, somebody might try to download California Dream from the Mamas and Papas and end up with this one.
07:05Because I was going to write a song called Imagine and see if that would get some downloads.
07:11So, Mark, I wanted to ask you about...
07:12I wish I was that smart.
07:13No, I wanted to ask you about your next single coming out called Stairway to Heaven, right?
07:18Right, that's the one.
07:20Yeah.
07:21No, can I ask about...
07:23So, you're touring with Mammoth, Wolfgang Van Halen.
07:25Yeah.
07:26Did you meet them at the MMRBQ, or how did that come about?
07:33We know some of the guys in the band already from touring with Slash's band.
07:36But we didn't actually get to meet and talk to Wolfgang until we played a show together down in Oklahoma City.
07:44They were really locked down with COVID protocol being on the Guns N' Roses tour.
07:50I think we had two completely different experiences this summer.
07:53I was waking up to Chris Robinson telling me, like, he was going to strip clubs in Atlanta, you know.
08:00And Axl Rose, you know, is completely locked down and scared of COVID.
08:05So, yeah, we had a little bit of a different summer.
08:09But, yeah, we finally met in Oklahoma City.
08:11He's super nice, obviously incredibly talented.
08:14And, like I said, we already knew some of the other guys in the band.
08:16So, it's a pretty seamless working environment for the winter.
08:21Hey, what did you guys pick up, speaking of Black Crows?
08:23Because, you know, you mentioned Chris Robinson, who's just got that soulful, bluesy, outstanding voice,
08:30similar to the type of voice that you deliver vocally.
08:33Maybe not specifically him, but what did you pick up gigging with those guys for a while as far as, you know,
08:41not stealing things, but, listen, bands learn from other bands, front men learn from other front men,
08:45maybe just how to work a crowd and so on.
08:47Did you pick up some things off that experience?
08:50I mean, it'd be hard not to watching that guy every night and Rich as well.
08:56The one thing that I definitely came away with was that the brothers are getting along great and it's not a fake thing at all.
09:05So, that was really inspiring to see after all these years.
09:09They've definitely made amends and it's genuine.
09:12But, yeah, watching Chris every night as a front man, he was very open about it with me.
09:17He would just be like, do whatever you have to do to win people over.
09:20I've been in your shoes before.
09:23I was really bummed out, actually, after our first show in Nashville because, you know,
09:27we went from a headlining tour where everybody loves you and sings along to every word of every song
09:32to a bunch of people sitting down and you really have to prove yourself.
09:37And, fortunately, he came in and just said, listen, I opened for Metallica when we were huge and nobody cared.
09:44And I had shoes and bottles thrown at me and, you know, I don't think you had it that bad last night.
09:49So, go out there, have a great time.
09:51You sing great.
09:52You look great.
09:53The band is great.
09:54Just, you know, don't, he said some expletives on the radio.
10:00But he just wanted me to make sure I was doing everything I could to win the crowd over.
10:06Nice.
10:07He completely changed my mindset about the whole tour.
10:10So, when you're out touring and you're with me, like, because you've seen some of the closest friends
10:15and, you know, brothers, like, you know, war and fight with each other.
10:18And one of the things that I think, you know, these bands will learn over time is that you definitely need your space.
10:26And, you know, so you might not have the budget to have your own tour buses or anything like that.
10:29But you don't always have to be in the same room at the same time all the time.
10:34You know what I mean?
10:35Sometimes you go to Italy, right?
10:36Yeah.
10:36Sometimes you just need to sit outside a cafe by yourself.
10:40I mean, that's usually what I'm doing every morning, every day on tour, sitting outside of a cafe by myself.
10:46I'm going to go to Italy now.
10:48Yeah.
10:48But that's a good point.
10:51How do you...
10:52The early riser of the group.
10:54Yeah.
10:54How do you keep...
10:55I mean, you see these examples around you of bands that have been getting on each other's nerves.
11:01You know, are you guys aware of that?
11:04Is that...
11:04And are you...
11:05Do you actively do it?
11:06Or is it just such simpatico that you guys are not in peril of that?
11:10There was definitely some growing pains because I'm kind of a loner by choice and by nature.
11:17So when we would show up in any city, I would already have the restaurant I'm going to picked out, the coffee shop, the bar, whatever.
11:23And I like to go out on my own and do things.
11:27I'm very comfortable, clearly, being on my own in foreign places.
11:31And, you know, the guys would kind of look at me when we would get somewhere and be like, what are we doing?
11:35And I'm gone.
11:37I'm already gone.
11:37I'm out of here.
11:38You know, I definitely need that time on my own.
11:40And I think everybody does, too.
11:42And we've sort of...
11:43We're at the point now where we have everybody's rhythm figured out.
11:47So at the beginning of all this, we had you in the studio and you tore it up.
11:51It was fantastic.
11:51And then you had this earth-challenging event occur that put everything into a stasis.
11:58And all during that time, obviously, you were doing stuff.
12:01But, you know, there had to be.
12:03Every time we played any of your music, we'd be like, God, these guys were poised right there.
12:09And was there a sense of being deflated?
12:14Or did you just look at it as more of a challenge?
12:16Because on the other side, you're coming out strong.
12:19But you can't know that in the middle of what we just went through.
12:23How emotional a ride was that for you?
12:27It was definitely an emotional roller coaster.
12:30But I think everybody...
12:31I'd be lying if I was saying we weren't deflated on some level.
12:34We had so many exciting things going on.
12:36Going to Europe and Japan and Australia for the first times.
12:39And, you know, once you dive down into the music again and start writing and recording with, you know, some frequency.
12:49And you start seeing that your work is creating a special record.
12:57You start to get optimistic again and excited.
12:59And I think that's what we focused on.
13:03And then, obviously, once you start releasing music and you have tours planned and stuff,
13:06you're starting to come out of the other side of the tunnel.
13:09And it feels good.
13:09And it gets exciting again.
13:11But, yeah, I mean, we had some momentum that just hit a wall when all this went down.
13:15Well, now things are getting back up to speed and you guys returning to Philadelphia once again, a January show.
13:22It's going to be on the 30th.
13:23This will be at the Fillmore.
13:24Tickets on sale tomorrow, by the way.
13:27There's pre-sale today, though, at 10 o'clock.
13:28Okay.
13:29And you go to WMMW.com for the details on all that.
13:32And it's going to be both Dirty Honey and Mammoth, Wolfgang Van Halen.
13:37They're calling it the Young Guns Tour.
13:39And they're hitting a lot of towns.
13:40And, of course, they're making it through here, which is going to be really, really cool.
13:43So, Mark, we appreciate the time, man.
13:46Thanks for coming on this morning while we're doing the Camp Out for Hunger.
13:49We're glad you're having a good time in Italy.
13:51And we will see you in January when you get back here.
13:54All right, man?
13:55Yeah, man.
13:56We very much appreciate MMR.
13:58Say hi to Scotty Hartnell for me, too.
14:00I was always a big fan of his.
14:01That's right.
14:02You're a big hockey fan.
14:03Even though I was a Penguins fan.
14:04So, yeah.
14:05But I'm actually doing a charity event up in West Orange, New Jersey, with a couple of former Flyers, like Scotty Upshaw and Joffrey Lupul and, you know, a bunch of others.
14:16Henrik Lundqvist.
14:17So it's a charity event for ALS.
14:19So I'll be back.
14:21I'll be heading back to the other side of the river as soon as I'm done here in Italy.
14:26Scotty Upshaw is also going to be part of the Flyers alumni game, which is November 15th.
14:30So that is Scotty Hartnell, Brad Marsh, and Danny Breer are coming here today to promote that.
14:36But it's really cool when the alumni continue to play games.
14:39Hold on.
14:39Hold on.
14:40Hang on.
14:40Mark, Scott Hartnell just sat down next to me here.
14:43What's up, Phillip?
14:44Nice.
14:45What's up, man?
14:46How are you?
14:46Good, good.
14:47Looking good from far away.
14:49Yeah, you know, I'm trying to recreate your flow, you know, from a few years ago.
14:53It's tough to do.
14:54Keep it going, though.
14:55Keep it going.
14:57I'm trying, man.
14:58You know how it is.
14:59But, yeah, I always was a big fan of you, man.
15:01I loved watching you, geez, instigate fights against the Penguins for many years.
15:06Oh, I love it.
15:07That's the only thing I miss about hockey is the scrums after the whistle.
15:11And score a goal.
15:14And Scotty Hartnell single-handedly created the greatest face-off in NHL history with the pre-game wager that happened before.
15:21I forget what game it was.
15:22It was a few years ago, though.
15:23That was when I retired, Nashville did a, I guess, remembering Scott Hartnell or whatever.
15:29And I told both the guys that were taking the face-off, excuse me, let's not make this a foo-foo face-off drop.
15:36Let's get after it.
15:37I got $100 for the winner.
15:39So I dropped the puck.
15:40And then Claude Giroux and Roman Yossi did it as well in the flyers.
15:44That's excellent.
15:45You know, the foo-foo where they just let the home team win it.
15:47And I said, hey, let's go, guys.
15:49$100 on the line.
15:52$100?
15:52The most intense ceremonial puck drop of all time.
15:55Oh, that's the best.
15:57I love it.
15:57All right, Mark, thanks a lot, man.
15:59We appreciate it.
15:59We'll talk to you soon.
16:00Okay, Mark LaBelle, guys, from Dirty Honey.
16:02All right, guys, thank you.