by Paul Szewczyk ‘12 

Neo-Folk band Honey Stone, which comprises of seniors Noah Booz (vocals/guitar), Stephen Daniels (bass) and Eric Armstrong (vocal/drums), won 15 hours of recording time at Cue Recording studios after the band came in first place in The Next Big Things Tour on December 12 at the 9:30 Club, the renowned music venue in Washington D.C. 

Winning The Next Big Things Tour opens up many possibilities for this young group of talented musicians. “Since we are new people don’t know about us, but once we have recordings we will be able to book shows and sell our CDs and then we’ll see what happens from there,” said Booz. 

Honey Stone’s upcoming debut album will feature all original material, including the four songs they played during their big performance (“Special Day,” “Under My Skin,” “Puzzle Piece” and “The Moon”) and also two never before heard songs. 

Booz and Armstrong are not new to music, having written and performed together since the eighth grade. The two once were involved in a cover band called the Band Formally Known as Story with the Feghali brothers, former Sherwood students Paul and Jeremy. Armstrong also has been a key figure in writing music for the local Olney band Synesthesia. 

The members of Honey Stone do not plan on spending money on new instruments or a luxurious lifestyle nor changing their style or their sound after winning The Next Big Thing Tour. 

“Stephen is using the same bass that Paul Feghali used when we all first started playing music in 7th grade. Eric is still using his garage sale drumset that he started playing music on and I’m still using my Telecaster that I started playing music on,” said Booz. 

Even though Daniels is new to playing at big shows, the gig at the 9:30 Club was a great start. “Playing The Next Big Thing Tour was amazing. I haven’t played as many shows as Eric and Noah so this was my first big show and it was so much fun,” said Daniels. 

The trio integrated their experiences and outside influences into the music that they write and perform. “What is unique about us is that we incorporate all the music that we are bombarded with everyday. Be it from the morning ride listening to a ‘Here Comes the Sun,’ fourth period Chambers Choir, lunch with A Tribe Called Quest, fifth period Jazz Band, head banging in the car to ‘Vicarious’ by Tool, or techno beats on Eric’s computer,” recounted Booz. 

Armstrong’s other musical project, Synesthesia, does not plan to release any new material. “Synesthesia has no plans to play any more shows. We are all still good friends though,” said Armstrong. With Synesthesia taking a break, Armstong will be able to concentrate more on his current music project and also will be able to focus on what comes next as the three seniors prepare to graduate. 

After high school, the band mates plan on staying close together and have thought about possibily going to the University of Maryland at College Park together where they all can study in their own majors (Booz and Daniels plan on majoring in business, while Armstrong is majoring in geography,) but also still dedicate some of their free time to writing and performing music.