The Honkeys

The Honkeys are St. Louis' only premier surf/instrumental rock 'n' roll sensations. With lightning-fast Fender and Mosrite guitar-picking artistry; tons of fuzz and reverb effects; heart-pumping bass; foot-stomping, big-beat percussion; mysterious, spine-tingling organ riffs; and intriguing melodies bristling with excitement and adolescent menace, these fine young men lay down the wildest, sexiest...

Indeed, the bustling river city of St. Louis, Mo., may seem like one of the least likely places for an instrumental, surf-influenced band to form, but that hasn't stopped The Honkeys, who have taken only a short period of time to attract the attention of the local music press and music fans alike, becoming one of the area's most exciting up-and-coming young bands. And, although it's an easy peg, the foursome is more than a just a traditional, retro-sounding surf band. They avoid this type of narrow-minded pigeonholing by appropriately incorporating elements of other instrumental music and mixing them all up with their own brand of reverberated artistry.

The Honkeys have managed to forge ahead despite the genre's unpopularity in modern mainstream America and have attained an unmatched level of local notoriety. With only one 7" single and a relatively new CD under their belts, the band's local popularity and success can be attributed primarily to the tremendous word of mouth ignited by their now-legendary live performances, as well as some crucial radio airplay (including a live in-studio performance) on St. Louis' weekly garage rock 'n' roll/surf showcase, The Wayback Machine on the local community radio station, 43,000-watt KDHX-FM (88.1).

For a few years there from around 1999 to '01, The Honkeys were regularly performing around the St. Louis metro area at such popular venues as The Hi-Pointe, The Side Door, the Galaxy, The Way Out Club, the Creepy Crawl, and the all-ages punk rock collective, Centro Sociale. Their gig-hustling fever led to opening slots for Dick Dale, Los Straitjackets, The Bomboras, The Hang-Ups, The Kung Fu Monkeys, The Delstars, Knuckel Drager and Thee Phantom 5ive, amongst others. The past year or so has seen the band playing out a lot less often, but they are not broken up. Jeff Positive is just away at music school in Chicago and can naturally only play with the band when he's back home in St. Louis over holidays or school breaks.