For one night Michael Pearsall, front man for band Honor By August, went rogue. Pearsall performed a rare solo acoustic performance at local venue Seven Steps Up. For Pearsall Spring Lake has become a kind of second home. That being said, whenever he or the band comes into town tickets sell out really quickly. Pearsall has been to Seven Steps Up a number of times, both solo and with the band. We talked with Michael so we could get a better understanding as to why he jumps at the opportunity to play in Spring Lake.
Q: Is it different to perform with a band as opposed to performing alone?
A: It’s very different. It’s a really exciting opportunity for me when I get to do shows like this,[solo] because I can play songs that I have written that the band hasn’t worked out yet. So it’s good for me creatively to go out and perform those songs, because as a band when we write songs, it’s not until after the record has been out for a while, before we get together and then sit down and compile songs for a different record, and then start to play them out and live.
Q: What changes when you perform a solo show?
A: When I get to do solo shows, here and there, it allows me the opportunity to perform, and also even with the songs that the band does perform, I can take more liberties with. I perform them differently. Because then it’s just me. Like just tonight I decided to play kind of a slowed-down kind of different version of a song, but with our band, the way our band works, it wouldn’t work. It just wouldn’t happen, that’s because we work very hard on making the songs sound the way it does, as a band. It’s fun for me. It gives me opportunity to stretch, and do things differently. I also get to talk more, like its ‘ok’ as a solo artist to tell stories, and interact with the crowd more. With the band, we really just want to rock more. So I really enjoy it, to share stories, because that was a thing that I really enjoyed as a fan, was getting to know the stories behind the songs.
Q: When did you know you wanted to pursue music?
A: Well, I knew from a very young age, but I don’t think that there’s a specific moment when like ‘the bug bit me’. I just loved listening to music, and singing along to music. The first concert I ever saw, I was seven years old, I saw Michael Jackson, it was the ‘Bad’ tour in ’90. So just being able to see how music could impact people, was a really cool moment, for me. But then as a performer, I was 14 in eighth grade, I did a battle of the bands. We played one original song, and one cover, it was “18 in life” by Skid Row. We weren’t very good, but the reaction, seeing people go nuts, and I’ll be honest, as a 14 year old boy when girls go nuts for you seeing you sing a song, was like, aahh, this would be really cool to do. But then the more I got serious about songwriting, being able to sing and perform, songs that I had written, for an audience that was such an adrenalin rush. ports all through school, and I always loved sports, but it’s different when your sharing such a personal part of yourself, and getting a positive reaction, from an audience. So I guess between those two moments, the Michael Jackson concert as a little kid that’s what got me really interested in music, and performing in eighth grade, when I knew that this is what I wanted to do.
Q: Before Honor By August, had you worked with any of the current band?
A: So Evan [Honor By August’s guitar, piano, and backing vocalist Evan field] and I, and our original bass player, the three of us actually recorded an acoustic album, just a couple months after we had started playing together. We went up to a studio, in New Jersey, and recorded, in two days, like 15 songs. Just pretty much like live in the studio, with just a couple of overdubs. So the three of us started out, and we knew we wanted to be a band, it just took a little bit of time to find a drummer. We had hired one for about a year, who quit right before we were about to fire him actually. And then Brian joined, [Honor By August’s drums and percussion, Brian Shanley.] and we became Honor By August. That’s been the band ever since. A couple different bass players, but once Chris [Honor By August’s current bass player, pianist, and backing vocalist Chris Rafetto], joined six years ago, we knew he was the right guy, and that’s when we had the right group.
Q: What does “Honor By August” mean?
A: So, it has nothing to do with the month August. Rather the word ‘august’ [aw-guhst], meaning to inspire awe or admiration. So the idea is you gain honor by doing something admirable or awe inspiring, something agust. This idea that you earn your honor.
Q: What is your favorite album of all time?
A: Just one? Ok, I’m going to answer it this way: remove any greatest hits, because I think that’s cheating. If there were one album, that I could listen to forever and ever, and I would recommend, I would say, “Gold” by Ryan Adams. My high school band teacher gave me that one. He was such a cool guy, and we would always talk about music, and that is one he gave me. It was the first time I had heard Ryan Adams, and he has since become my favorite artist. There’s not a bad song on that album. It’s a pretty dynamic record. It all sounds like Ryan Adam, but there’s a lot of songs on it. So it’s not like a nine song album, so that factors into it too. Like ‘Oh, there’s 15 great songs!’
