Dirty Honey photographed at Good Times at Davey Wayne's in Los Angeles in March.
Dan PrakopcykBack in January, Dirty Honey singer Marc Labelle was wearing a vintage-looking Aerosmith T-shirt onstage at Nashville’s Basement East while belting out the classic-rockers’ 1976 hit “Last Child.” It was a bit on the nose, but that’s the unabashed appeal of this L.A.-based band, a Seventies/Eighties rock outfit that isn’t afraid to wear its influences — quite literally — on their sleeve.
Dirty Honey came together in 2017 when Labelle, a New York native, met guitarist John Notto at the singer’s regular covers gig at a Santa Monica bar. Notto had moved to Los Angeles from Maine on a mission to match the success of his favorite band, Guns N’ Roses. Labelle was struck by his ambition. “He seemed like a true rock & roll personality and somebody I should be pursuing a dream with in an original band,” he says.
Labelle ditched the covers show and, with Notto, bassist Justin Smolian and drummer Corey Coverstone, began writing original material like the moody rocker “Fire Away” and the smoldering ballad “Down the Road.” The quartet settled on the name Dirty Honey — a Sunset Strip-ready moniker that came to Labelle after hearing Robert Plant talk about the Honeydrippers on Howard Stern — and started to fine-tune their live show in the clubs.
“There’s a respect that’s earned there, starting from zero,” Labelle says. “A lot of the problems with [singers] on American Idol or The Voice is they haven’t done the clubs. They may have this booming, unbelievable voice, but they have no presence and no connection to the songs they’re singing.”
Onstage, and on Dirty Honey’s self-titled, self-released debut EP, Labelle evokes the wails of Plant and Steven Tyler, with hints of Chris Cornell, while Notto channels his heroes Brian May and Slash, weaving in some greasy slide. Labelle admits the band made a stab at a more alternative-leaning sound with “Fire Away” before embracing their simple guitar-and-amps setup. “We were trying to push the envelope of rock & roll a little too hard and trying to break what we thought was new ground, rather than doing what came natural to us,” he says.
Following their instincts proved to be a good idea. Their breakneck, bluesy debut single, “When I’m Gone,” went to Number One on Active Rock radio in late September, according to Alpha Data; they’ve opened shows for GN’R and the Who; and they’ve racked up more than 14 million streams to date. Like flies to honey, dirty or otherwise, the band is attracting a fan base that’s been underserved: Many of the shows on their headlining winter tour sold out, and they moved about $8,000 a night at the merch table — impressive for an independent act that plays ballsy, old-school rock & roll, not the most youthful of genres.
“I heard that a million times: ‘Rock & roll doesn’t stream.’ But rock bands sell a lot of fucking tickets and merch,” says Labelle, who doesn’t think a record label has much to offer his grassroots band. “We’ve been on the road with a lot of great artists and spoken to a lot of rock stars I really admire, and none of them have ever told me that they absolutely adore their label.”
Dirty Honey photographed at Good Times at Davey Wayne’s in Los Angeles in March.
Dan Prakopcyk for Rolling Stone
Dirty Honey aren’t going it alone. They’re currently doing pre-production for their debut full-length album with producer Nick DiDia, who as Brendan O’Brien’s longtime engineer cut his teeth on LPs by Pearl Jam and Rage Against the Machine. The band flew to DiDia’s studio in Byron Bay, Australia, when they recorded their EP (“It’s really a cost thing,” Labelle says. “Studios in L.A. are really expensive”), but because of the pandemic, they’re collaborating now via Zoom.
Labelle hopes the band’s upcoming album will reignite the rock revival that looked to be catching fire three years ago with groups like Greta Van Fleet and Rival Sons. “I thought there’d be a little more true rock & roll popping up, but it’s still pretty much slim pickings,” he says. “We’re happy to plant our foot in there.”
He’s sure that if you play loud rock chords, the fans will come. Just look around, Labelle says.
“You can go out on the Sunset Strip or walk around Nashville and there are people all over town wearing Rolling Stones, the Who, and Led Zeppelin shirts,” he says. “There is a very visible thirst for rock & roll.”
ON THE RISE
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IPSWICH, Mass. — Nov. 10, 2026 – For composer, producer, and musician Chris Florio, making music has always been a process of exploration. More than four decades into his career, the Ipswich, Massachusetts-based artist continues to approach each project with the curiosity of someone discovering new possibilities. His contemporary track “Twinkle” reflects that outlook, bringing together spontaneous songwriting, distinct musical backgrounds, and a collaborative recording process that allowed the song to develop organically.
A graduate of Berklee College of Music with a degree in composition, Florio has built a diverse body of work spanning orchestral music, improvisation, and contemporary forms. His career includes more than 40 orchestral compositions, multimedia collaborations, and 12 albums released through Passion Records. While his formal education helped shape his musicianship, he credits a much wider range of experiences with informing his work.
“Every gig, every musician that you play with, you learn things from,” Florio explained. “I try and play with the best musicians I can, so basically everybody I play with is my teacher.”
That willingness to learn from others was central to the creation of “Twinkle.” The project began with five musicians entering the studio and improvising together throughout the day. During the session, vocalist Aliel and violinist Rob began developing lyrics after discussing a person they both had in mind. They brought their ideas back to the group, and the musicians built the music around the words.
The result brings together Florio's rock influences, Rob's classically trained violin playing, and the rhythmic foundation laid down by Ken and Wes. A violin solo with a rock sensibility adds another dimension to the arrangement, while the song gradually moves from a quiet, stripped-back opening into a fuller, more electric sound.
Rather than having that progression mapped out from the beginning, the musicians found it as the song took shape. As Florio put it, “We started with nothing, and then we improvised and developed it.”
For Florio, the value of working with other musicians lies in what they bring that he might not have imagined on his own. “The joy of making music is interacting with other people,” he said. “I want to hear what they bring to it.”
That philosophy extends beyond familiar musical styles. Florio recently worked with Cambodian musicians and dancers in Ipswich, adapting to different approaches to rhythm, performance, and communication. A trip to China is also in the works for the coming spring to collaborate with local musicians and participate in workshops at music schools in Beijing and Qingdao.
Even after decades of composing and performing, Florio says his appetite for discovery has only grown. “The more music I learn, the more I feel like, 'Wow, I don't know anything,' and there's so much to learn,” he said. “And it gets more exciting, not less exciting.”
Originally conceived as a one-off studio project, the group behind “Twinkle” has since performed and toured together, with hopes of continuing to make music as a band. For Florio, the experience is another reminder of what can happen when musicians bring their individual perspectives into the same room.
Listen to “Twinkle,” which received promotional support from Starlight PR.
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About Chris Florio
Chris Florio is an adventurous and imaginative composer, producer, and musician based in Ipswich, Massachusetts. With a career spanning more than four decades, he has explored orchestral composition, improvisation, and contemporary musical forms. A graduate of Berklee College of Music with a degree in composition, Florio has written more than 40 orchestral compositions, participated in multimedia collaborations, and released 12 albums through Passion Records. His work reflects an ongoing interest in bringing different musical traditions and artistic perspectives together.
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