[Photo via Honcho Poncho’s Facebook]
Honcho Poncho is a local alternative rock band with a knack for quirky music videos and groovy dance moves. Their latest music video, a live performance of their song “32 & 33,” showcases both their sense of humor and musical talent. It begins with two sausages frying in a pan and ends with an incredible guitar solo by Owen Proto (the dream, truly).
Their debut album, Late Night, was just released in November of last year, but they seem to be constantly writing and performing new songs.
“I’d say a good maybe half of our set at this point is unreleased music,” drummer Charlie Meyer said. “There isn’t any real plan for the next album quite yet, but we’re definitely writing a lot and excited to get some new stuff out there, whenever that does happen.”
Like many young local artists, Honcho Poncho got their start in the Museum of Pop Culture’s under-21 battle of the band competition, Sound Off!, in 2015. They competed alongside bands like Naked Giants and fellow QSTOCK28 performer, Emma Lee Toyoda.
“It’s just been cool, post Sound Off!, to see what people are up to…[who’s] really stuck with it a few years down the road,” Meyer said.
Honcho Poncho has been traveling outside of Washington state, playing more shows in Oregon, Canada, and California (though, they admitted that local house shows are still their favorite). They also leaked that they’ve also been working on a unique project: a theme song for a children’s show. They finished the song in three days, and admitted that the secret to a smooth creative process is a collective passion.
“You can tell when we get together, if we’re going to get work done or not,” lead singer and lyricist Sam Gelband said. “If everyone, all five of us, have our hooks into something that we want to finish and get done that night, it’ll get done. We’ll be very proud of it most of the time. But if we have to haul ourselves into the room to do anything, we never really get our best work done.”
The band says they’re excited to play Seattle University’s 28th annual music festival, and hopes to play more all-ages shows in the future.
“Here’s the selling point for Honcho Poncho: we’ll come play your Quadstock thing, if you invite us over to your house afterwards so we can play a second set. We’ll probably take you up on that.”
Hint, hint.
HALEY WITT | KXSU DJ + Guest Writer