Canadian melodic rock band, Honeymoon Suite, released their new studio album Alive, last month, internationally distributed by Frontiers Music Srl.
Alive features core band members, including Johnnie Dee (Lead Vocals), Derry Grehan (Guitars/Keyboards/Background Vocals), Dave Betts (Drums), Gary Lalonde (Bass), and Peter Nunn (Keyboards). The album is produced by notable Canadian producer Mike Krompass, whose songwriting and production credits include artists like Meghan Trainor, Steven Tyler, Theory Of A Dead Man and Smash Mouth. His expertise combined with the bands celebrated melodic rock, powerful vocals and memorable guitar riffs, is sure to make this a timeless record of unforgettable rock anthems.
Sonic Perspectives correspondent, Robert Cavuoto, spoke to Derry Grehan about their comeback with Alive, how the band is always looking for new angles on how to write love songs, working with producer Mike Krompass who gave the songs a fresh modern edge, the band's longstanding connection with Niagra Falls, and the main reason why Honeymoon Suite never broke in the United States. Watch below:
Honeymoon Suite was originally formed in 1981 by lead vocalist and guitarist Johnnie Dee from Niagara Falls, Ontario. Following the departure of the original lead guitarist, Derry Grehan, also from the Niagara Falls area, joined the band. Johnnie and Derry decided to re-build the band at that point and recruited Dave Betts on drums, Ray Coburn on keys, and Gary Lalonde on bass. They hit the road hard playing 6 six nights a week and writing songs with the hope of scoring a record deal.
In 1983, the band entered a demo of “New Girl Now” to a homegrown contest put on by Toronto rock station Q107. They won that year and this led to a multi album deal with WEA Canada after being signed by Bob Roper.
The band recorded their debut self titled album which was released in July, 1984. The album was an instant success, and with the help of massive airplay, several videos on MTV and MuchMusic, it went on to sell over 300,000 units in Canada alone.
Since their debut release, Honeymoon Suite has released a total of seven studio albums with over 1 million units sold worldwide driven by the success of a string of hit singles such as "New Girl Now", "Burning In Love", "Wave Babies", "Stay In The Light", "Feel It Again" and "What Does It Take", to name a few.
The band has won numerous awards including a Canadian Juno for group of year in 1986, triple platinum sales in Canada with the first 3 albums, and platinum sales for the greatest hits CD The Singles, released in 1989. They also received an award in June, 2015 for 100,000 + performances on Canadian radio for “Burning In Love”, “New Girl Now”, “Wave Babies” and “What Does It Take”.
They have toured extensively in the US, Canada and Europe with acts such as ZZTop, Heart, Billy Idol, Journey, Bryan Adams, Saga, Loverboy, Jethro Tull and .38 Special to name a few.
Honeymoon Suite has also enjoyed many of their songs being placed in film and TV shows such as Miami Vice and Bones, and movie's such as Lethal Weapon and One Crazy Summer.
During the 1990’s, the band went through several lineup changes, but in the early 2000’s, the original lineup of Johnnie, Derry, Gary and Dave was re-formed, along with the addition of keyboard player Peter Nunn, and is still intact to this day.
Fast forward to 2020. Derry & Johnnie, armed with a surplus of new original songs, reached out to fellow Canadian producer/songwriter MIke Krompass based in Nashville, TN. Mike, a long-time fan, was all in to co-write and produce a new Honeymoon Suite album for his new record label. They got to work and before long, they were joined by Dave, Gary and Peter cutting bed tracks for studio album number eight.
Order Alive here.
Tracklisting:
"Alive"
"Find What You’re Looking For"
"Done Doin’ Me"
"Not Afraid To Fall"
"Tell Me What You Want"
"Give It All"
"Love Comes"
"Broken"
"Livin’ Out Loud"
"Doesn’t Feel That Way"
"Love Changes Everything" (Bonus Track)
"Find What You're Looking For" video:
"Alive" video:
"Tell Me What You Want" video:
"Find What You’re Looking For" lyric video:
Honeymoon Suite are:
Johnnie Dee - lead vocals
Derry Greham - guitars / keyboards / backing vocals
Dave Betts - drums
Gary Lalonde - bass
Peter Nunn - keyboards
