Dirty Honey’s Marc LaBelle + Wolfgang Van Halen Explain Scarcity of New Rock ‘n’ Roll Bands
One of the more anticipated tour pairings of 2022 has rising rock 'n' roll acts Dirty Honey and Mammoth WVH hitting the road together. It feels like a perfect fit, but both acts revealed it's not exactly been easy finding other new straight up rock 'n' roll bands to tour with.
Dirty Honey singer Marc LaBelle told radio host Carlota for the Audacy Check In, "It's been a little difficult to find bands to go out with just because rock bands have just become so scarce."
He then recalled going to see Mammoth WVH ahead of them agreeing to tour together and knowing that they had a kindred style. "When we saw [Mammoth WVH] play in Philadelphia, it was pretty obvious that this was going to be a really cool thing to do and to take on the road and to take across the nation," said LaBelle. "The biggest thing was really seeing him and his band and they kicked ass and it really showed some optimism for the future of rock 'n' roll."
When asked by the host why there weren't more straight ahead rock 'n' roll bands out there today, LaBelle offered, "I just think it's a byproduct of society today, how it's so easy to fix things on your computer and you can fake being good at an instrument with some simple editing and ProTools and stuff. It actually takes time to be really good at something and I think people aren't as motivated to put in the time."
Wolfgang then tacked on, "And coupling that with the fact that it's not the belle of the ball when it comes to most popular genres available right now. You blend that together and it's kind of a losing game for people who aren't very passionate about it."
After having to do some juggling to start the run, Mammoth WVH and Dirty Honey will kick off their "Young Guns" 2022 co-headline tour Feb. 20 in Denver, with dates currently booked into mid-April. Check Mammoth WVH and Dirty Honey's websites for ticketing info.