Suck the Honey “All Hail Having Failed” 2017. Romanus Records. Extremely limited edition custom vinyl “Hate & Honey” filled with black sand, gold glitter and beeswax. I caught Suck the Honey yesterday up in the middle of nowhere (Beaver Dam, WI) at a small local tavern where guitarist/vocalist Lucas Frazier and drummer Jake Grove hand-delivered my copy from Cincinnati via Indianapolis (where Romanus Records is headquartered). They were sweet to indulge my record-geekiness by signing it. I also snagged a tour poster.

(photo credit to Mike Collins)

After fellow Cincinnati-ites Lemon Sky played an amazing psychedelic-swirled set (more on them later this week), Suck the Honey ripped into a fuzzed-out, brick heavy, head-banging set of songs, most from All Hail Having Failed, including Halloween appropriate “In Love With a Ghost,” “What Makes a Man a Boyfriend,” and one of my favorites from the LP “Bite Yr Tongue” which I recorded and you can view here. STH’s music is dark, grungy and vicious, earning them some comparisons to Nirvana (Jake Grove said they’re not particularly influenced by Nirvana and I pointed out that people may correlate the two because both bands aren’t energetically spitting out unicorns and sparkly rainbows). I felt strains of The Toadies (they haven’t listened to them much either) on “They Want Meat,” The Pixies (I didn’t ask) on “Right Where It Hurts” and Milwaukee’s The Frogs (I would be surprised if they knew about them, but maybe!) on the title track “All Hail Having Failed.” All of that said, Suck the Honey is a true original, composed of sheer power and a must-see live.

Lucas Frazier, not spitting out unicorns or sparkly rainbows

Suck the Honey playing the back room of the Moonlight Bar & Grill in Beaver Dam, WI. Note the pool table tipped over on its side to make room for the bands.