Dirty Honey

Emerging from the Los Angeles club circuit in 2019, the hard rock quartet Dirty Honey unveiled its self-titled debut EP in the riff-heavy vein of arena stalwarts Aerosmith and Led Zeppelin, issuing its matching first album two years afterward. The group’s sophomore effort, the hard-charging long-player Can't Find the Breaks, surfaced in 2023.

Vocalist Marc Labelle, guitarist John Notto, bassist Justin Smolian, and drummer Corey Coverstone honed a classic hard rock approach steeped in the sound of those earlier titans as well as the Black Crowes. Their initial single, “Fire Away,” from 2018 gained nationwide attention, paving the way for the self-titled EP the following year, which veteran producer Nick Didia—known for work with Pearl Jam and Rage Against the Machine—oversaw. The band then toured in support of kindred acts Red Sun Rising and Goodbye June while logging multiple festival slots. Reuniting with Didia, Dirty Honey tracked its self-titled debut album, released in April 2021; the set featured the hit single “When I’m Gone,” which reached the top of the Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs chart. Subsequent road work alongside Kiss, Guns ’n’ Roses, Mammoth WVH, and The Black Crowes raised the quartet’s profile, setting the stage for the 2023 arrival of Can't Find the Breaks and its aggressive lead track “Won’t Take Me Alive.”