When I played in this band we were called Honesty Token, but now the band name is Millicent Friendly. Of all the bands I’ve played in, this is the only one that’s still around since I’ve been gone. I have no idea if that means anything or not. The band put out their debut CD, Downtime, in 2005 and it’s freakin’ excellent. Listen to some clips on their myspace site.
I joined Honesty Token and Mastermonk within a few days of each other in June of 2003. I really thought I could handle two bands at the same time, and I really wanted to considering I thought both were excellent groups and had tremendous potential. Especially with Honesty Token, when I first heard the songs I was really knocked over by how great they were. Chris is the primary songwriter of the group and he writes some great songs. That was the first thing I noticed when I heard the demo CD. The best way to describe the music is Intelligent Pop. The songs are full of unexpected chord changes with all sorts of twists and turns that groups like XTC and Queen are known for. The band for me sounded like a mix between those two groups and The Beatles.
The band solidified the lineup and worked in new material often with the obvious hopes of gigging soon. After about 3 months with me in the band we hit a crossroad. Brek, the lead guitarist, didn’t fit in stylistically or songwriting-wise so the decision was made to get a new guitarist. I wasn’t too happy with the drumming (horrible time-keeping) and also it was really wearing on me to try to be in two bands (starting out at the same place) at the same time. Even though I loved the band, I decided it was a good stepping off place for several reasons. As much as I loved the music for Honesty Token, I honestly thought that my correct musical path was with Mastermonk. I looked at the potential of Mastermonk, and how I was able to get out more of my ideas and compositions, and I just saw us becoming a phenomenal band. I could definitely see that Honesty Token would be successful and also musically *good* (I’m being proven quite right as their CD has received a lot of great press and they’re getting some fantastic gigs). For me though, I needed to be in a band that was more on the progressive side. As weird as it sounds, I was always a bigger fan of Honesty Token/Millicent Friendly than I enjoyed playing in the group…and I really enjoyed playing in the group. It’s just that I’d rather be a fan and support them in that way. So, when I say I love their songs and their CD rocks my ass, I’m definitely not saying that because I used to play with them. I truly love their music and I know they deserve all the success they’re getting. And if you doubt me, just go give their stuff a listen or go see them live.
Honesty Token:
James Hines – bass
John – drums
Brek Lancaster – guitar/vocals
Chris Machart – vocals/guitar
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