That Band Honey Performs And Shares Music Industry Stories in Class Visit
California rock group That Band Honey visited with Performance Studies students Friday afternoon as part of a new collaboration between the Texas A&M University School of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts and Grand Stafford Theater in Downtown Bryan.
The band played a free show later in the day at the venue for the monthly First Friday event, which was co-presented by the school. The series will continue with First Friday shows and campus visits from Americana singer Josh Langston in October, soul artist Simone Gundy in November and DJ/live band Ultraviolet in December.
The four That Band Honey members — Nils Allen “Booboo” Stewart Jr. (vocals), Ryan Cook (drums), Nico Aranda (bass) and Davin Baltazar (guitar) — spoke at Andrea Imhoff’s Music and the Human Experience class. They discussed how the group formed — they’ve been friends since their early teenage years — their songwriting process, the Internet’s impact on music and navigating the music industry. They also performed two songs, including a cover of The Cure’s 1979 classic “Boys Don’t Cry.”
“This will be on the final,” Cook joked, sparking laughs from the students.
Dr. Kim Kattari, program director for Performance Studies, said she is excited about the Grand Stafford partnership, and that the band was able to meet with the students.
“They were able to share a lot about their career, songwriting and the music industry that I think can inspire anyone interested in creative arts,” she said.
The band members polled the students on who played instruments and who wrote music. “If you guys play an instrument, you should definitely write songs,” Baltazar said. “Do both.”
Being open to a variety of music is also key, Baltazar said, noting his affection for both death metal and Britney Spears. Added Stewart: “A good song can be played as a country song, as a hip-hop song, as a techno song. A good song is a good song.”
Stewart, who has also had a successful movie career (“Twilight” series, “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” “Descendants”), described his varied artistic interests, including music, drawing and acting.
“Making a movie is incredible because it’s such a collaborative experience,” he said. “Being able to step into somebody else’s shoes is incredible. You are giving life to a character. Then, music is — I would say — the most freeing of the art forms.”
Students lined up as class ended to get photos with the band.
Imhoff called the event “extraordinary.”
“You can see how invigorated and enlivened the class is, and it’s that kind of awareness and immersion into the experience of music — that’s what the human experience is all about. And that’s what this class is, no matter what the genre is,” she said. “This does wonders for the life and the energy of the living art. It’s just terrific, and hopefully these are now all audience members.”
Dr. Matthew Campbell, assistant program director for Performance Studies, was also impressed, saying that the event “went exceptionally well.”
“They managed to connect across generations in a way that I wasn’t quite expecting,” he said. “They’re playing songs from my childhood, but making them work for 18-year-olds. I really appreciated how they all have about a decade and a half of experience to two decades of experience, yet they’re all humble and playing with their best friends, which was just really endearing and lovely.”
