Unofficial La Honda page

La Honda are a really cool band who sing the song 27 Women which featured in a tic-tac mints commercial and was released as a single on Morpheus Records.

Sarah Prentice has since been replaced by Emily Smith, who has an equally fantastic voice, and Daron Robinson of Drugstore joins in on second guitar whenever possible, giving La Honda a rockier edge. They have been gigging regularly around London and Daron has also been producing their new material, which they are hoping to release on a new label called Hotel Gorilla.

The name La Honda comes from revered psychedelic guru Ken Kesey. This Godfather of acid experimentalists boarded his magic bus from Ranch La Honda.

La Honda are:

Emily Smith	vocals
Malcolm McQuattie	guitar, vocals
Mark George Brown	bass
Dave Roberts	drums
Daron Robinson	guitar

Their superbly balanced sound was a joy to hear as they supported Drugstore on their UK spring 2001 tour. After the Nottingham gig on 25/2/2001, Robbie Langton wrote:

"La Honda were very impressive: a remarkably talented amplified acoustic guitarist, Malcolm, who I think wrote their material; a winsome female vocalist, Sarah, with excellent technique who knows, like Isabel, how to communicate with an audience; solid and effective bass guitarist, George; and kit man, Dave. The acoustic guitar lent a sort of Country feel to their material at times – it was Country meets Indie head on and the resultant sparks were beautiful to behold. Their stuff was original: unassuming but not unsophisticated – tuneful and with interesting words. They displayed their range by performing a Flaming Lips cover, Moth in the Incubator, showing they could also pump out the power when it was called for. I particularly enjoyed their light and airy Tokyo Ladyboy, a sort of oriental Lola Cola, only a lot more sympathetic. Apparently the band has recorded a track which will appear shortly in a Tic-Tac advert. This is called Twenty-Seven Women. It has a lot more vocal from Malcom than their other numbers, and it fairly romps along. Not sure whether it will sell the minties, but it certainly sold itself to me!"

After their following night at Manchester, Adam Richards wrote:

"We go upstairs and La Honda are already playing. I love this band. Sarah is a gossamer-voiced young chanteuse who can totally drench a room with atmosphere when she opens her mouth to sing. To hear such easy maturity and grace in a support band’s lead singer these days is a real surprise, and I feel they could go very far indeed. I love their rendition of Moth in the Incubator to bits – I want to own it! – and their own Tokyo Ladyboy is anything but the Finnbarr Saunders innuendo-feast you might expect from the comic title. A sweet ballad addressed to a trans-gendered individual from Japan, it’s a gentle, warm song where Sarah purrs, 'You’re my pride and joy / Tokyo Ladyboy / And I mean it from the bottom of my heart'. Aww! Their Tic-Tac advert song 27 Women is by contrast upbeat and funky in a ’60s west-coast style, sounding like the Mamas & the Papas meet Herman’s Hermits. It has to be a hit – buy it on March 26^th, or I’ll sulk, and that’s a promise...."

And I sulked too! But even the single didn't even show off La Honda's full prowess, as Sarah's vocal chords were not at its forefront. As Robbie says, she had a really beautiful voice and it was a major feature on their other numbers. Hot!

In the meantime, here are some photos of their Birmingham Flapper & Firkin performance a few days later on 23/2/2001, including the full-size version of the one above.