Black Joe Lewis--International Man of Mystery: An Interview

Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears\’ Facebook

Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears are pretty hard to miss when it comes to combing through your local Austin bands. Rather than sport the hipster, low-fi trend that seems to be infiltrating the scene these days, these guys went in a completely different direction. Reigniting an old school genre, BJL and the Honeybears capture live audiences with their eccentric frontman and a dance ‘til your drop energy. Fusing together both rock ‘n roll and funk/blues styles, these gentlemen are quite the spectacle, making them a must-see band at this year’s Fun Fun Fun fest. Here at the Austinist, Joe Lewis was kind enough to share some of his thoughts and experiences about the formation of the band, their live performances, and some good times in France.

I saw that you guys performed for the TV show Austin City Limits back in June. How’d you guys like that?

Yeah, it was cool man, an Austin experience. It’s been around for a long time. You know, The Relatives brought in there with us, that was cool. Yeah, it was a good time.

So you liked having The Relatives there? Was that an experience?

Yeah yeah, they’re awesome.

And you guys have played Austin City Limits before, right? Or was that just you’re first time playing the TV show?

We played the festival one time, and that was the first time on the TV show.

Ah, cool, cool. That must’ve been fun. Ok so in your debut album, Tell ‘Em What your Name Is!, y’all worked with the drummer of Spoon as a producer. Is that right?

Yeah, he produced it.

You guys seem to have totally different genres, but obviously you have to feel like there’s some intersectionality there, though. How do y’all feel like your two bands intersect?

Uh…I don’t know. We just like met the band. We went on tour with them a long time ago, it was like our first tour as a band. We got to be friends with the guys, and I guess it just worked into a friendship. But I’ve never really thought about--the bands aren’t completely different, you know?

That’s cool. How’d you guys end up meeting up?

We went on tour with them. I think the singer, Britt saw us play, and I guess they liked us enough to go on tour with them.

It’s definitely different. It’s getting bigger, but it’s definitely not as…

Low-key?

Yeah I guess It’s more commercial a little bit.

Yeah I mean I’ve heard you guys talk about SXSW and stuff and how it’s like a pain in the ass because there are so many people in and out. Are you guys planning on doing that again this year?

We probably will, I think we’ve done it every year and I have no idea--they just kind of tell you where to go and I go play it.

You just do what you’re told?

Yeah, you know?

Too much going on, I’d rather have someone plan it for me also. So you’re your writing and recording process--how has that worked so far for you guys. Who writes the lyrics and stuff? How is that all delegated?

I’ve written most of the lyrics for all of them I guess, we just kind of--whenever we rehearse we just kind of mess around and if something cool-sounding comes out of it, we’ll just kind of focus on that and work on it for a song, and it’s kind of random.

It just comes together with a bunch of people throwing their ideas out there?

Yeah, you know?

Yeah, I get that. I’ve heard that you guys opened for some bands in the past who attract totally different crowds than you do, like Passion Pit--

Oh, yeah.

What’s one of the most awkward instances you’ve had with a weird or awkward crowd, or reactions or things like that?

With the Passion Pit shows it got awkward. There was like a lot of really young college kids, it was like I had no fucking idea what we were doing. You gotta make it fun, you know? Gotta scare them or something like that.

Scare them with what? What was your plan?

I can’t tell me secrets!

So you guys are sort of coming out as a blues or a funk band in the way you guys are. It seems like it would be difficult in this era or music atmosphere because it’s so competitive. How do you think you guys have managed to break out of the scene and become recognized?

I don’t know, I don’t know why anybody listens to us (laughs), I have no idea. You know, I think you just have to do something that’s unique, I guess, because there are so many other people trying to do the same thing. I guess you’ve just got to figure out what it is and do it, you know?

Do you think you’re live shows have played a part in that?

Yeah yeah. I think our live shows are way better than our records.

Yeah so you guys have been playing live shows for the past five years or so, is that right?

Yeah, pretty much.

Do you ever get tired of live shows, or are they always super fun?

Well it can be bad, you know, with like a really long tour, everybody’s ready to go home, it can definitely feel more like jobs than having fun. For the most part, I enjoy it, once you’re up there playing. You know, like all the time, it’s driving, you wait, you play for an hour, then you just do the same thing every day.

Yeah so how much touring have you guys been doing lately? Are you tired of touring yet?

We just got back from Europe like last week. We did a bunch of shows in France, and we’re going out to the west coast in two more weeks.

Cool, how did you like France?

It was cool man. They feed you really well. Some of the shows are better than others, you know? People have a hard time understanding it, so you can kind of say funny stuff.

And no one will get offended? That’s awesome. So I guess you’re coming home for Fun Fun Fun fest, you looking forward to that?

Oh yeah they said there’s a bunch of—I wanna see The Damned, I’m a big fan of them. They’re one of my favorite bands!