The city's summer always smells like perfume...

The Honorary Title is a band that I have been rooting for since the first time I saw them live three years ago. Then comprised of only two guys, they gave off a hipster vibe that already said they knew they were too cool to be opening for Switchfoot. (I still don’t understand how that tour happened...?) Anyway, now on tour with Cartel, they have moved up to five members and have remained awesome.

I remember the first time I saw the Honorary Title I was blown away much more by their performance than by the headlining band’s. The lead singer has a stage presence that can’t be taught; the original two members played a brand of rock and roll that I thought died twenty years ago. Seeing them again was amazing– I have followed their progress through the years, and their newest album, Scream and Light Up The Sky remains as retro-rocking as ever. Their sound is hipster, retro rock and roll that sounds like you should probably only listen to it live or on vinyl. And the best part? They know they’re going somewhere, and they don’t care whether the teenybopper pre-hipster Cartel-listening Atlanta crowd is likes them or not. The lead singer wore the same unisex sideswept haircut as me, with a Boy Scout uniform shirt I only wish I was thin enough to wear, but what made their set so amazing was his running commentary between songs– he knows the crowd he is playing to, he knows they aren’t the kind that he wants to be listening to their music, and he knows that they won’t understand the jokes he tells at all. I exempt myself from those generalizations only because I was there more to see his band than Cartel and because I had a wristband around my arm signifying that not only was I old enough to have driven myself there, but also I was holding a beer in my hand, proving my cool level.

Just enough asshole to be a real rock star, just enough sensitive to write amazing lyrics, just enough style to be a real hipster, these guys are on their way.

Song of choice: Along the Way.

~The Honorary Blair