Album Cover photo by Mike Savoia
Dirty Honey, by now, has become a regular band in the new wave of rock and roll. The California natives kicked started their careers with their 2018 single “Fire Away.” Since then, the band’s released one EP and two full-length records that have been praised by many. After cutting their teeth opening for some of the biggest bands in the world like Guns N’ Roses, The Who and Kiss, the quartet is slated to release their first live record, Mayhem and Revelry Live. These recordings are from their most recent North American and European tour.
The 16-song live record is filled with dirty, raw energy and contains tracks spanning their seven-year career as a band. Songs from this live record crisscross the world, with recordings in cities like Cincinnati, Ohio, and Paris, France. At this point in the band’s career, a live record was the perfect album to release. They now have enough studio recordings to make a full-length live record. Plus, they’ve sharpened their live act enough to capture their concert on a recording perfectly.
The record starts with “Won’t Take Me Alive” which appears on the band’s newest record, 2023’s Can’t Find The Breaks. From the minute that the band plugs in and begins, you can tell that these recordings are top quality and capture the essence of a Dirty Honey show. On “Won’t Take Me Alive,” the recording captures the depth of sound from the band. All four band members are perfectly balanced and you can hear the foursome perfectly. This is a great song to start the live record, it shows the hungriness of the band.
On track two, “California Dreamin’” lead singer Marc LaBelle is already catering to the audience. LaBelle calls out to the crowd and says “You better sing this one nice and loud.” To hear the recordings taken right from the shows is perfect. Calling out to the audience and keeping it in the recording does exactly what the live album should be doing, creating the live concert experience from the comfort of the listener’s headphones.
Track three contains “Heartbreaker” which appears on the band’s debut EP. What’s magical about this song is the rawness of John Notto’s guitar. It’s not too perfect on the recording. The song sounded as if someone grabbed a camera and recorded straight from his speakers. It’s refreshing that this rendition isn’t perfect or identical to the studio recording. It shows that the band slightly veers off from the original recordings and either experiments or adapts to playing live.
The groovy riff of “Dirty Mind” greets listeners as tune four. In this song, on the chorus, you can hear another member of the band chime in and help LaBelle out. During the song, once Notto begins soloing, you can hear Justin Smolian’s bass lines and see his genius as a bass player. Sometimes on live recordings of solos, the guitar overpowers the rest of the band, but not on this one. If anything, Smolian’s bass lines seem louder and more upfront creating a beautiful wall of sound. While Notto solos, Smolian and drummer Jaydon Bean find a pocket to jam and help carry the song throughout the end. There is an unmistakable chemistry between the four members.
As listeners travel down the record the ballad “Coming Home (Ballad of the Shire)” is song six. It’s a nice breakup of the hard rock meat and potatoes that is Dirty Honey’s sound. But in this song, LaBelle showcases his vocal talents in a bone-chilling way. LaBelle hits such high notes that it gives listeners goosebumps while listening. Smolian and Notto play acoustic guitars while Bean provides more of a country feeling on this track. The live version of this tune is arguably better than the studio version, it’s great.
The ballads continue with “Another Last Time” as song seven. Notto introduces the tune by noodling around on the guitar before the rest of the band follows suit. On Dirty Honey’s “Young Guns” tour with Mammoth WVH, they typically closed the show with this song. So, it’s nice to hear it placed in the middle of this recording. Toward the end of the song, LaBelle commands the Cincinnati, Ohio crowd to sing the ending chorus with him creating a true concert vibe. To include the audience as much as they are on this album is great.
On song, nine, “Can’t Find The Breaks,” LaBelle opens with “Good evening London.” With LaBelle shouting out different cities as the record progresses, listeners feel like they’re on tour with the band traveling from city to city. On this live track, the band quickly wraps the song up in just under three and a half minutes as they feed off of London’s energy.
“Satisfied,” “Roam” and “The Wire” help carry the record toward the finish line. Two more hard rock songs are belted out with the inclusion of one powerful hard rock ballad. These tracks are far from “fillers,” but they’re in the shadow of greatness that lies at the tail end of the live album.
The fourth to last song, “Don’t Put Out The Fire,” is a six-minute rendition of the opening track to their newest record, Can’t Find The Breaks. In this song, the band allows Notto to have a slightly extended solo. It’s easy to see that Notto has learned a thing or two from touring with Slash, Pete Townshend and Mark Tremonti. Each solo of his is fresh, new and exciting. The band pauses at the end of the solo before a clap-along section at the end of the song that has the Milan, Italy fans cheering as loud as ever for the quartet before the song comes to a close.
“Scars” is a 10-minute monstrous song and is Dirty Honey at their very core. The riffs are heavy and carry a sharp tone to them but at the same time invite listeners to sing along while feeling the emotions of the lyrics. The highlight of the tune is the full band jam that takes up a good chunk of the song. While listening to this portion, fans will want to get up and move. Whether it’s dancing, air drumming, air guitar playing or just getting up and moving to the music, it’s an amazing jam. The mid-song jam shows just how comfortable the band is on stage. They let the music dictate how they feel and allow the music to guide them through the monstrous jam before returning to Earth to close out the song.
At the end of “Scars,” the spotlights shine on Notto, who captivates the crowd. Notto has a spectacular solo that carries the song right into the opening riff of “When I’m Gone.” The studio recording version made history when it went to No. 1 on Billboard’s Mainstream and Hard Rock Charts. The unsigned band was the very first unsigned band to do so. This live version of the song is just as amazing as the studio version.
The live record closes with another ballad, “You Make It All Right,” which is capped off with a thunderous roar from the crowd. It’s refreshing to hear a band use a ballad as a closer. Typically, bands use one more hard rock monstrosity to leave a lasting impression on the listener. Not Dirty Honey. They opt for the unusual ballad, which equally hooks listeners and makes them wish there were more songs on the album.
What does Kiss’ Alive!, Johnny Cash’s Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison, Led Zeppelin’s How The West Was Won and Dirty Honey’s Mayhem and Revelry Live all have in common? The answer is simple, they’re all spectacular live records. Mayhem and Revelry Live is exactly what the doctor ordered. This live record contains the rock and roll essence of what a Dirty Honey concert is all about. The band blasts through 16 songs that spanned their short – yet amazing – career and leave listeners scrambling to find when the next time these rock and roll heroes are in town.
Rating: 8.5/10
Tracklist:
1. Won’t Take Me Alive
2. California Dreamin’
3. Heartbreaker
4. Dirty Mind
5. Tied Up
6. Coming Home (Ballad of the Shire)
7. Another Last Time
8. Rolling 7’s
9. Can’t Find The Breaks
10. Satisfied
11. Roam
12. The Wire
13. Don’t Put Out The Fire
14. Scars
15. When I’m Gone
16. You Make It All Right
Dirty Honey Is:
Marc LaBelle – Lead Vocals
John Notto – Guitars/Acoustic guitar
Justin Smolian – Bass/Acoustic guitar
Jaydon Bean – Drums
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My love for live music started with my first concert ever, Guns N’ Roses back in 2016. Since then, I’ve been able to capture photos of some amazing artists like Alice Cooper, Judas Priest, Ace Frehley, and Post Malone. I am based in New York/New Jersey and go to school in Connecticut majoring in Journalism and I am always looking for the next concert to attend.