Interview: Be Calm Honcho Shares Their Powerful New Video For “Bad Man”

Since releasing their debut album, Honcho Dreams, back in 2014, San Francisco-based band Be Calm Honcho has undergone an evolution of sorts, both physically and in their sound. Pairing down to a trio, the band has been taking tinkering with a sleeker indie-pop style as evidenced on their latest stand out single, “Bad Man.”

The track comes with a beautifully shot and choreographed music video, which you can check out below. To go along with “Bad Man,” we caught up with Be Calm Honcho to find out more on where they’ve been and what’s on the horizon.

Hi, Be Calm Honcho! Congrats on the “Bad Man” video. Your sound seems to be shifting somewhat from your debut album. How has this growth come about?

Our band line-up has changed since we released our debut album in 2014. We’re a 3 piece now which has also evolved our recording process. We’ve added two sets of keys and are doing less live tracking of the entire band, making room to explore new arrangements and instruments in a way we didn’t when we were touring as a conventional four-piece line-up.

What’s your songwriting process like?

Alex plays most of the instruments in the studio, he’s a real whiz when it comes to guitar, bass, piano and moves freely between them when he’s writing songs. I (Shannon) am pretty much always diagraming content in an emotional sense or jotting down little hooks & phrases. When I hear something he’s composed that fits a shape I’m working on, I just take off. Michael (our drummer) is super versatile and draws from a lot of different styles, sometimes he has to act as the temperate moderator between the million wild ideas bouncing around the rehearsal space.

“Bad Man” deals with some pretty heavy themes. Could you describe the inspiration behind it in your own words?

In the broad sense I was writing a conversation from women to men. That one man (you know, the bad one) we all have, who haunts or torments us but is also unshakeable. My personal message was for my brother, but in the months since the video came out I’ve realized that everyone interpreted this song in dramatically different ways and scenarios which is really why we write/listen to music…to connect.

The video features some amazing choreography. How do the movements correlate to the song’s themes/messages?

The choreographer, Kathleen Dycaico, and I outlined an initiation ritual that our protagonist Joelle would be submitted to. Kathleen drew from a lot of different movement inspiration (martial arts, ritualized dance, Valkyries, the baseball theme) but ultimately we wanted to tell a story of a woman casting off her former self and rising up in power with women who had done just the same.

Who is behind and how did you assemble the creative team for the video?

We were very fortunate to work with Pete Lee and a production company called Scandinavia. I’ve known Pete for years and always admired how he captures movement, particularly stunts and martial arts (go watch his film Rope A Dope now!). We hodge-podged a crew of incredibly talented (and generous) artists who braved two 10-hour night shoots in the rain. Corinne Loperfido styled the video, I wanted the dancers to evoke an otherworldly-ness and her imagination is as otherworldly as it gets.

If you could collaborate with any three living artists right now, who would they be?

Honestly, Kathleen Dycaico, Corrinne Loperfido & Pete Lee was a pretty good combo.
But (from Alex, our tastemaker)… Yoshiki, Olafur Eliasson & Luke Burrage. And Bjork.

You’re based out of the Bay Area. Any new bands/venues/purveyors of the arts you could turn us onto?

Moonlighting SF –variety show, I love variety shows!
Piano Fight- theatre, I love theatre!
Oasis SF- queer cabaret, gotta hold it down.
Easy Rider Live, this band I joined, we’ll be playing the whole live soundtrack to the movie and then an hour of music from the late 60’s/70’s.
Foxtails Brigade, Van Wave and our label OIM Records. Babes doing great things for the Bay.

Any upcoming shows or releases we should know about?

We’ll be releasing a new EP this summer through OIM Records!