Saturday nights at the Cliffside Neighbourhood Pub are going to start getting a bit louder. Local band Easy Honey will host the "Live at the Cliffside" series starting Saturday, May 7, joined by Vancouver's Grass City for a high-volume show to kick things off.
"We want it to be a regular thing," said Mike McDonald, guitarist with Easy Honey. "Basically putting the spotlight on talent from the Sea to Sky Corridor and having a regular place for good bands to play.
"Definitely it's of the rock genre," he said of the series. "But there will be nights where you get your dance, hard rock bands or your bluegrass or maybe a little surf reggae."
"You'll know what genre that you're going to get."
Formed in 2010, Easy Honey is a Squamish-based rock and blues band that plays mostly original songs with a couple covers - which have been slightly worked over - thrown in for good measure.
Born and raised in Squamish, original band members Dustin Boyes (of Noisy Boyes Music), Dave Hardy and Jeremy Marotte played together as Dusty Lee and The Noisy Boys before the addition of McDonald and Lee Wagner, another Squamish local, last year.
"They're all from town, they've known each other for a long time, it's a local musicians' collective that goes way back," said McDonald.
Originally from Nova Scotia, McDonald moved to Whistler in 2006 where he made a name for himself in the local music scene, winning the Sea to Sky Battle of the Bands two years in a row. He placed first in the solo category in 2007, then won again with the band Telltales in 2008.
When he moved to Squamish the following year, he met future bandmate Marotte and Easy Honey was born. The band has now done half a dozen shows, including the closing night of the Ocean Port Hotel.
"The one good thing about us is we have that real blues edge to us," McDonald said. "We're definitely a rock band but we've got that blues edge, and blues just fuels so many people in so many ways - it's such an old type of music.
"Grass City has been around for a while - they're pretty rockin' and pretty heavy so [May 7] is going to be a good show."
For more information on the bands, visit www.myspace.com/grasscity and the Easy Honey page on Facebook.
