Honor By August
Interview by Molly Bishop

When you're a young, local band, the chance to open for a nationally known band like Hanson, or like Bon Jovi, is a dream come true. But to have the chance to open for both those bands? Within a two-month period? That's the type of lightning-strikes-twice experience that Honor by August had at the end of 2005 by winning two separate competitions.

The first competition was to open for Hanson at the 9:30 Club on October 30. In the D.C. club scene, the 9:30 Club is a premiere venue, and it was one that Honor by August had only played once before, during a "battle of the bands" contest. "That was when we shared the stage with 14 other bands in one night, and got to play for 20 minutes, so that wasn't as special, nearly, as this Hanson thing," explained bassist Joe Wenger. "And so for the first real time for us to play at the 9:30 Club, it was just -- it was amazing."

While the 9:30 Club usually draws a crowd, the legendarily supportive Hanson fans took it to a new level. "We rolled up at the 9:30 Club at 4 o'clock that Sunday, and there was a line around the block and around the corner, which I'd never seen in the five years that I've lived in Washington, DC. And how many shows I've gone to at the 9:30 Club? Never seen a line like that." And, as lead singer Michael Pearsall pointed out, "they're obviously very big Hanson fans, and they've got two bands to go through before they get to who they really want to see, so in that sense it's kind of like, 'Well, you know, I hope they like it.'"

Apparently, they did. "They were the most receptive audience we've ever played for," enthused Joe. "It was almost like they'd been listening to us for a year, you know, and loved us, and it was such an amazing feeling. It was kind of like, 'Wow, this is why we do this.' It was just such a great high."

"We were finishing our last song, 'The Quiet Sky,' and there's a break down in the middle, and it gets really quiet, and it's just before this sort of big crescendo at the end of the song, and right as we were beginning to crescendo up, the crowd -- you could hear this roar in the crowd," added guitarist Evan Field. "This wave brought sort of the whole emotion up with us, and when it hit, it just sort of exploded. That was -- yeah, like Joe said, that is sort of the reason why you do this. To share that experience with that many people who are sort of along for the ride is really something special. Very cool."

But it wasn't just the performance that was different for Honor By August. "This sounds so silly," admitted Joe, "but we pulled up [before the show], and then 9:30 Club people came out and started helping us unload our van. And, you know, we're our own roadies. You know? And it's just -- we were just -- we felt like gods!" Afterwards, Honor by August continued to receive the rock star treatment. "We were outside the club after the Hanson -- after the show finished, and we were mobbed. We were signing autographs, and signing people up on our mailing list and what not. We were there for probably a good hour, almost."