What started as two friends exploring the world of songwriting and production together, James Hatcher and Andy Clutterbuck have since evolved into HONNE – an alt-pop duo whose smooth numbers break barriers between R and B, indie, and electronic sounds.

Words By Andy Gorel

Photos By Mike Greene

Andy (C-Heads): Growing up, was music always something you knew you wanted to pursue?

Andy: Yeah. We both started learning guitar at a young age. I was at school, and every night I’d come home and play guitar or write songs. So it’s always been something that we both wanted to do. It’s great that it’s kinda worked out.

James: Back when I was a kid I learned a bit of piano, among other things, and then when I was around twelve, I picked up guitar, and it just became a complete obsession to me. I’d play guitar for hours every night, and started playing in bands. I was always the annoying guy in the band who would be like “Guys! Why aren’t you taking this seriously enough? This is our life. (Laughs)” And they’d be like “Chill out!” So I think it’s quite unusual to find something you’re that passionate about at such a young age, and we were very lucky to find that.

Andy (C-Heads): Were there any artists or records that inspired you to try and make a career out of music?

James: For me it was always Michael Jackson. When I was growing up, I always loved his music and Quincy Jones’ production, funky guitars, the chords, and the harmonies, and just thought Michael Jackson was such an amazing performer. And then I guess… Andy’s got all sorts of favorites don’t you?

Andy: After I passed my driving test I got an awful car, which had a really bad tape player in it – so I took it out and put in a CD player, by myself. It was a real achievement. Then I just went on really long drives and listened to CDs. It was kind of different than our style, but bands like Arctic Monkeys, I would listen to them on repeat all the time. I fell in love with Alex Turner and the way he writes lyrics – kind of how conversational they are.

James: I think you can hear that in Andy’s lyrics, the way he tells a story in a song.

Andy (C-Heads): So, what does the name HONNE mean to you guys?

James: It means what the actual word means itself. It’s a Japanese word that means “true feelings.” We both discovered it when we were first writing songs for this project, and then fell in love with it. We thought it just fit perfectly with the stuff we were writing about and talking about. So it stuck.

And it’s a huge part of the Japanese culture. There’s a separate side to it as well which is “Tatemae”. Honne is what you think – your true feelings on the inside that you only share with close companions. Tatemae is what you give out. It’s your public persona. It’s quite interesting, and we think that our music is our Honne, and the label we set up, “Tatemae Recordings” is our public persona.

Andy (C-Heads): You guys met on your first day of university and immediately began working together. What drew you guys to each other creatively, and when did you realize you might have something serious on your hands?

James: We just started chatting, and we were both doing music. So when you first meet someone you ask them what they’ve done before, and it sort of becomes show-and-tell. The first thing I heard of Andy’s was an album that he had written, recorded, and performed all of the instruments on, himself. He recorded it at his house and it was genuinely really good. So I was pretty taken aback and thought “Well, I need to hold onto this guy (laughs).” Then we started writing a lot of music together. We were young and inexperienced, so it took a few years to learn our craft and get better at production and songwriting. Then a couple of years ago we wrote our first Honne song and felt that we were onto something special.

Andy (C-Heads): Every artist has a different creative process. What’s the writing process like for you guys and is there a certain factor or environment that you feel helps you produce your best work?

Andy: We quite often write separately. Normally we’ll start with an instrumental, let’s just say James will come up with an instrumental by himself, and then he’ll send it to me. I’ll then write the topline and the lyrics over that, and at the end we’ll get together and really work on the finer details and production. I think when we’re individually working on stuff, we can feel free to do whatever we want without any judgment.

James: Yeah, if someone’s like “I just want to try reversing this keyboard part, re-amp it out of the guitar amp and then time stretching it,” you feel like you’re wasting their time, but you could end up making something cool, so that time is important.

Andy: I think also for us, when we started writing for HONNE, we were writing at night time. I think the time of day has affected how the music has turned out as well. A lot of our earlier stuff felt like it was written at night, and it was. And as time went on, we’ve written more in the day, and it’s reflected in the music as well.

Andy (C-Heads): What were you studying at university, and how do you feel your time spent there helped you get to where you are today?

Andy: We were both studying music in some form or another. It was a music-centered university. People would go there to do music, and there were different topics that you could pursue. What’s it called in America? I can’t remember. Like a different emphasis.

Andy (C-Heads): Yeah, we call it a major.

James: So obviously part of it is about getting the degree, but you also have lots of time where you can sit and work on production, play an instrument, or play with other musicians. But I think the thing we got most out of it is the connections. So many of our friends have gone on to play music and get in the music industry. It’s helped us enormously, getting everything together and learning things from other people.

Andy: I studied Music Business. I always wanted to be a musician or be in a band, and I thought if I get to uni and do music business, then maybe I’ll have something to fall back on if music doesn’t work out. I spent loads of time on music. I’ve spent too much time writing songs, but it worked out for now (laughs). And the music business side of it helps you not get blown away by it, because there is a lot of business involved in it, and it’s best to not be worried about what all of it means, because you understand it.

Andy (C-Heads): You were signed to Super Recordings, and are now on your own label, Tatemae Recordings. What has it been like going from a label to being totally independent, and is it a move you’re glad you decided to make?

James: Yeah, we were with Super Recordings for our first two releases, and that was great. It was a good introduction for us, being signed to Super. Then basically what happened was, we set up Tatemae Recordings, but it’s done through Atlantic Records. So the way it works is we have free reign to do everything creatively, but we’ve got the force of Atlantic behind us. It’s nice to know that there will be people who are invested in us and believe that something bigger can happen.

Andy (C-Heads): Yeah that’s really cool. I know Charli XCX started a label recently, Vroom Vroom Recordings, and it’s the same situation. She’s operating under Atlantic as well.

James: Yeah, I think quite a few people do it, particularly Atlantic artists. Ultimately, we’d love to put out other artists on our label if it becomes a recognizable thing. Then we can say, “You should listen to this artist,” and try and give them a platform on which to get started.

Andy (C-Heads): Yeah that’s great to have creative freedom and have a major label behind you. Sounds like an ideal situation to me. Is there a certain atmosphere or situation that you feel your music goes best with?

Andy: Good question. It varies I think. The classic would be a film like Drive or something. Something with a late night feel to it.

James: Maybe a little bit of sauciness to it as well (laughs). But on the other side, some of the tracks on our album are quite summery and feel good.

Andy (C-Heads): In regards to the new album, do you feel like you’ve progressed from your previous releases?

James: There are going to be a few tracks that we’ve already released, that we feel were essential in getting us moving and integral to our sound. But the majority are new. I think there are a few different sides to Honne that will be shown on the album. It’s been nice having a chance to experiment a bit more, and branch out. With this album there’s a whole different range of songs.

Andy: Yeah, we had a lot of opportunity to experiment with this record, and hopefully, as a result it will take people on a bit of a journey. Which is what we wanted to do from the start. It’s good. We’re really proud of it.