Juniper Honey celebrates their debut album with Los Angeles

los angeles, california - august 13, 2024

The four-piece band, Juniper Honey, continued through the second night of their The Airmotor Chicago tour in Los Angeles on August 13th, 2024. The boys excitedly released their debut album two weeks prior with lots of new material to cover their setlist for such a lengthy tour. Near their homebase of Orange County, they had many friends and fans come out to the Moroccan Lounge to celebrate and send them off in good spirits before they drive as far as New York and back through the end of October. 

Juniper Honey consists of Jake Hesse (lead vocals/guitar), Donovan Hesse (drums), Cason LeSeur (guitar), and Josh West (bass). The four boys appeared very comfortable on stage, parallel to a supportive crowd of friends and fans who sang and danced to all their songs, screamed along to their impressive guitar riffs, and laughed at their jokes. Their indie-rock sound felt very familiar and yet unique, as they smoothly breezed through their setlist without any hiccups and thoughtfully embraced being able to headline these new songs. Their Orange County roots rang true to their Californian surf-rock sound that was heavily notable in their consistent guitar shredding and relatable and yearning lyrics under simple vocals sung by Jake and Cason. I was reminded of their indie sound through larger artists like Briston Maroney and Del Water Gap! 

I was most impressed with their ability to completely escalate and deescalate the energy in their songs from meaningfully shredding their guitars as if the strings were going to come off to softly plucking through the chords. These are risks that I don’t often see in live music, let alone in a smaller band, and the multiple executions left the room in a trance. The boys’ confidence in their music and comfort playing together clearly shines through their live performance. It’s clear that Juniper Honey is self-assured in their identity as a band in the studio and on stage, and isn’t afraid to make the most of their individual talents to uplift the band to be the best that they can be. This is just the beginning of an exciting chapter for Juniper Honey, and we can’t wait to see where they go next!