The Witzard Interview: Ex-Turning Point Guitarist Jay Laughlin Speaks On HONEY's New Crossover/Thrash Metal Album Forever Fire
Philadelphia-based guitarist and musician Jason Laughlin, AKA "Jay," has been consistently making msuic since the late 1980's. Laughlin has spent time playing with Godspeed, Lenola, Like A Fox, Shadow Season, Turning Point, and Twelve Hundred. Jay is primarily known for making Straight Edge Hardcore/Punk with Turning Point and the like, although, his newest band, HONEY, leans more so towards Crossover/Thrash Metal. Jay Laughlin fully recorded and released HONEY's 2020 debut EP, Nightmare Come to Life, on his own... but, now, he's back with a full band for their proper debut album. Forever Fire features Laughlin providing vocals/guitar, along with drummer Miles Ziskind, lead guitarist Chris Hunter, and bassist Greg Karlowitsch. Forever Fire is now available on Trenton, New Jersey's own HellMinded Records.
I. Who are the various members of HONEY and what is each members' role within the band?
Jay Laughlin: Myself on vocals and guitar, Chris Hunter on lead guitar, Greg Karlowitsch on bass, and Miles Ziskind on drums.
II. What is the intended meaning behind the band name HONEY?
Laughlin: No real meaning for the name, but when I started writing the music that became HONEY, I was kicking band names around with my brothers and we were all coming up with kinda cool, but totally "typical" Metal-type band names. No matter how many names we came up with, I couldn't settle on any of them. The name "HONEY" just came to me randomly one night and I sent the idea to them and they both seemed to like [it,] too, so, it stuck. I liked that it's not an expected name for a "Heavy" band, too.
III. What were some of your greatest sources of inspiration and influence while creating Forever Fire?
Laughlin: I write songs all the time, but this album was mostly written in The Lockdown from COVID-19, George Floyd murder protests, and crazy-a$$ Tr*mp stupidity. It was pretty easy to find sh*t to scream and be p*ssed off about, for sure. It was almost daily that I would see something that would make me insane and I'd just go into my home studio and let it out on my guitar and see what stuck.
IV. What were the typical writing, recording, creation, etc. processes like behind-the-scenes on Forever Fire?
Laughlin: Songs usually start with a full song demo I'll make at [my] home studio and, then, send [it] to the other guys. Then, we'll bring it into practice to learn and everybody will [throw] in their ideas for their parts and any arrangement ideas they might have. Sometimes, the songs hardly change from the original demo and other times, they change a lot.
V. Who designed the album cover? Are there two separate album covers or was one just an early promotional image?
Laughlin: The album cover is a painting by Adam Burke. I saw it on his [Instagram] account (@nightjarillustration) and instantly knew it was perfect for the album cover. All his art is truly amazing!
VI. What's the meaning behind both the album title and title track, Forever Fire?
Laughlin: The basic concept behind the title is, basically, to never give up on anything you believe in or are fighting against. It can be easy to get dragged down by life and sh*tty people and just give up on things you love or you know are right; so, this song is saying to keep going forever, no matter what gets in your way.
VII. How would you say your overall sound, style, aesthetic, musical approach, etc. has changed and evolved in-between Nightmare Come to Life & Forever Fire?
Laughlin: I don't think [our] style or approach changed much at all. What did change is that Forever Fire was recorded with the full band. I recorded the Nightmare Come to Life EP by myself, before I had a band, besides a lot of the guitar leads that we're done by Chris Hunter. So, it was great to have a full band to make the LP. I'm a pretty decent drummer and can play bass, too, but these guys are way better, so that was a huge step up for the overall sound of the new record.
VIII. How did you guys initially end up linking up with HellMinded Records to release Forever Fire?
Laughlin: I'm pretty sure Joe (HellMinded main man) heard us from a NO ECHO feature they did on our first EP. He realized we had a good friend in common and he asked that friend for my number, gave me a call, and that was that. He comes from the same old school [Hardcore] scene and is, also, an old Metalhead, like myself, so it seemed like a good fit right off the bat.
IX. In addition to those within the band, who else had a hand in the creation of Forever Fire?
Laughlin: We made this record with a good friend of mine named Pete Rydberg at 1935 Studios in South Philly. He recorded the first HONEY EP and a bunch of other stuff I've been involved with over the past seven or eight years. He's a KILLER engineer and we've worked so much together, it's just really easy for me to get what I'm looking for without [too] much explaining or effort. He totally understands what we, as a band, are going for and makes it happen fast, so it’s a really cool environment to create music in. The record was mastered by another friend named Arthur Rizk, whose done work with a bunch of bands I love (POWER TRIP, RED DEATH, etc.)
X. What can you tell us about the general story/concept behind the "Forever Fire" music video?
Laughlin: That [video] was made by my younger brother, Dave, from some video footage he shot while we were recording Forever Fire. I'm always really bad at documenting band stuff, so I asked him to come in and just hang out and shoot some footage. When it came time to make a video, The Virus was getting crazy again and we were back in a pretty heavy Lockdown in Philly, so I asked Dave if he could make a video using the footage he shot as that was kinda the only real option, at the time. I've, also, always liked "behind-the-scenes" videos of bands in the studio making their records, so it worked out great.
XI. So, is there a whole Crossover/Thrash Metal scene there in Philly? If so, would you mind suggesting some like-minded local bands to our readership?
Laughlin: I wouldn't say there's a huge Crossover scene here, but there's definitely [some] cool Heavy music being made. Our drummer played in a KILLER Death/Sludge band called Witching you should definitely check out. There's a new Hardcore band called ACTION NEWS that RIPS, too.
XII. Now that Forever Fire has been released into the terribly unsuspecting world, what's planned next for HONEY?
Laughlin: Now that things are finally starting to open back up, we're just looking forward to playing some shows. We had our first show booked for about one week before The Lockdown went into [effect], so we've still yet to play a show. So, we're just excited to get out and play these songs in front of people as much as possible.
