Q&A: Honey Revenge Brings Raw Energy to Riot Fest Stage
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY KIMBERLY KAPELA ☆
Photo Credit: Alina Pawl-Castanon
BACKSTAGE WITH HONEY REVENGE — On Friday, September 19, pop-punk duo Honey Revenge stormed onto the Riot Fest stage for the very first time and wasted no time proving they belonged. The LA band, made up of vocalist Devin Papadol and guitarist Donny Lloyd, turned their debut into a fiery display of high-energy riffs and mosh-pit mayhem.
Though newcomers to the festival, Honey Revenge commanded the crowd with a confidence that felt seasoned. Performing songs from their debut album Retrovision, fans who had been waiting for their chance to hear tracks like “Airhead” and “Distracted” shouted along word-for-word, while newcomers were quickly swept into the whirlpool of circle pits and cathartic jumping. The band has consistently advocated for creating safe spaces where fans can rage out freely — a message that resonated throughout their set.
After Honey Revenge lit up Riot Fest with their electrifying debut performance, Luna caught up with the duo backstage to talk about the whirlwind moment. Fresh off the stage, vocalist Devin Papadol and guitarist Donny Lloyd were still buzzing from the adrenaline of their set, which pulled in a feverish crowd ready to sing and move.
Of course, Riot Fest is only the beginning of what’s shaping up to be a massive season for the band. This fall, Honey Revenge will join Spiritbox on tour, a pairing that promises to bring their sound to an even broader — and heavier —audience.
Photo Credit: Alina Pawl-Castanon
LUNA: Thank you for sitting down and talking to Luna. Our readers would love to get to know you and your music more. For any readers who aren’t familiar yet, what inspires your artistic style and sound?
DEVIN: I write from a very personal stance, like any time I'm going through a really bad friend breakup or just a dark time, or if I'm trying to take myself less seriously, I feel like it has a lot to do with where I'm at mentally. There's usually just a concept around that specific song, but it usually has to do with some sort of fallout. I love a diss track. It's healing.
LUNA: What kind of atmosphere or emotional space do you aim to create for your listeners?
DEVIN: A safe one. I think usually it's not super specific, as much as it is I just want people to feel safe and grounded. We get a lot of people coming to our shows saying that we make them feel like they want to express themselves more, and that's all you can really ask for. I feel like, whatever your self expression may be, I think you should want to be your fullest self, and I want that for everyone as well, to feel like they can come to our shows and just express themselves and feel safe and not feel judged.
LUNA: Riot Fest has such a unique energy — both on stage and throughout the grounds. What’s the atmosphere like for you, and how does it compare to other shows and festivals you’ve played?
DONNY: I honestly think this is my favorite festival that I've been to in a really long time. My only other festival I've gone to recently was Warped Tour and this is just so much less overwhelming. This is much more my speed. They got wrestling over there. It's just so welcoming, friendly and inviting. I haven't seen anyone look at me weird, which is always going to happen at a festival.
DEVIN: I feel like it's nice. It's a little more chill than the last couple we've done, like Donny was saying, we've been at Warped twice this summer, and we've done Slam Dunk overseas, and both those festivals are amazing, but a little bit more in the capacity region. I also love playing on a Friday. I think if we were on a Saturday or Sunday, it would be way more packed. Fridays are fun. Fridays are nice. It's like the people that have work and are at school can't be here, which is a bummer, but we get to experience the festival at the very beginning, and we get to hang out the rest of the weekend where we get all of our work done early. It feels like we're overachievers.
LUNA: When it comes to performing, how do you personally prepare for a big set? Do you have any pre-show rituals, routines, or regimens that help you get centered and in the right headspace?
DEVIN: We have our chant. But other than that, it's just a lot of stretching and warming up on both our parts.
LUNA: For Riot Fest specifically, how did you prepare? From building the setlist to rehearsals to mentally getting ready, what went into making this performance feel authentically yours?
DONNY: For me personally, building the set was like, how can we get people engaged and keep them at our stage? We don't want to put all of the good songs at the very beginning or at the very end, trying to keep it balanced.
DEVIN: I feel like this year, there's a lot more heavy bands than I'm used to seeing on Riot Fest. I was really trying to engage those people. I think at first glance, people have this impression of us being and obviously we are a little more pop leaning and a little more feminine, but we grew up on metalcore and all of that jazz, so it's trying to make people realize that we may appear one way, but we don't necessarily always sound that way. I think we're a band even with only one album out, that we've tried to put an effort into making our sound more eclectic and giving it range early on, so that we can have that ability to spread our wings in the future. I think our goal with this was obviously to play the popular songs and play the sing along ones, but also have some stuff people can rage and mosh to.
LUNA: Out of all your songs, is there one that feels extra special to perform live — the one that lights you up or always gets the crowd going? What makes that track stand out for you on stage?
DONNY: “Distracted,” because that was the first song that really connected with people. I just remember while we were just on stage, looking out at everyone singing in the very beginning, and it was so many more people than I was expecting to be knowing the words. Devin does that thing, like, ‘who's never seen us before,’ and it was like 80% of the crowd, so I wasn't expecting nobody to sing along.
LUNA: Honey Revenge has been on such a strong streak lately — what’s fueling your fire right now, both creatively and personally, as you step into this new chapter of shows and music?
DEVIN: I think fear. I think the fear of flopping, the fear of fumbling, a lot of F's, but not even in a bad way. I think fear keeps us alive. We have this really big tour coming up this fall with Spiritbox, and that is one of the first bands Donny and I ever saw together. That is a band we've looked up to for years. It’s also the first time in years that we've toured with bands that we genuinely look up to like that and it's scary. You just want to make a good impression. You want to make a good impression on their fans, because they have a lot of fans and a long standing fan base for a reason, because they're a respectable band. I think second album scaries are always there, like you don't want a sophomore slump. And just trying to keep people engaged with all of these really amazing opportunities we've been lucky enough to be bestowed upon us. Just trying to keep people into it, because they're so into it now, and every day, I'm like, why? You got to figure out why. And then you keep going.
LUNA: How are you feeling in this current era of your career and what does the rest of the year look like that you would like to share with Luna?
DONNY: I'm both so stoked and so horrified, because we are living the dream, but I have this fear in the back of my mind of if we put out this next album and they don't like it, it's done. I’m not trying to put that out there, but it came so quick. We had two songs out, and we started getting tour offers. As quick as it came, I fear it could go away, and I really don't want it to go away.
DEVIN: I think because now we are so thankful, we're trying to really live in the moment. Now, I think both Donny and I have switched places constantly throughout the year of what Donny’s talking about this immobilizing fear and also this super passionate stage where we're rotating between those two. I think this year feels very much like a jumping off point, like it could go either way and we're really punching up.
