Brooklyn quartet Honduras aren’t the type of band to sit back and admire their handy work. Having dropped their debut full length record, Rituals last September, they hot-footed it back into the studio and laid down Gathering Rust, a four-track EP that sees them honing their sound with distinctive and intelligent nuances. Recorded at Thump Studio with Parquet Courts and Liturgy producer Jonathan Schenke, this latest drop – their “most collaborative music yet” – sees the quartet ripening as a well-seasoned force.

Sharing stages with local pals such as Sunflower Bean, Parquet Courts and Drowners, Honduras stand at the vanguard of a nascent scene currently reinterpreting that iconic New York sound, and these cultural regenerators come armed with a cutthroat sound cranked far beyond the manufacturer’s suggested volume. In the city that never sleeps Honduras are the ideal hazy evening/morning soundtrack. Here, frontman Pat Phillips talks Eminem impressions, Henry Miller and a handsy Dolly Parton.

Laura Page: Gathering Rust has a slightly more mature sound than the Morality Cuts EP, what were the sources of inspiration?
Patrick Phillips: This EP is probably the most collaborative music we’ve ever made together. A lot of the songs were written in our practice space directly after we wrapped up our first US tour, we were experiencing new things together, travelling together and playing shows together, it all kind of came out of us each having our own say in the songs. Musically we were listening to a lot of 70s songwriters like George Harrison’s solo stuff or John Lennon’s.

LP: Was there anything different in the production of this EP that altered the sound?
PP: We recorded a full length album called Rituals that we put out in September, in that process we ran into some trouble with the record label and we had to wait about a year to put it out. Finally after Rituals was released we were able to record these four songs [for Gathering Rust] in the space of two days, it was exciting to know that the material we were recording in December was gonna be out just a couple months later, before we started going on tour. It was a refreshing way to process the music and songs.

LP: So the Gathering Rust EP felt fresh due to your mindset at the time…
PP: Yeah and there was definitely a reaction to waiting around for a whole record to get released a year after recording it. It was good to switch it up and put this EP out on our own.

LP: I’ve watched your Hollywood music video numerous times. Where did you find the Elvis, Frank Sinatra and Dolly Parton impersonators?
PP: That was a strange one. Josh [Wehle, drums] does lots video editing and music videos, he produced the Hollywood video and shot it all himself. He was talking to lots of agents and managers for impersonators. He had a lot of crazy stories of managers requesting like five thousand dollars an hour to rent out a Peewee Herman character. It was just us in a friend’s bar that our bassist Pauly works at, we shot the video when the bar wasn’t open so it was just a couple of friends and our band hanging out with these three characters Frank Sinatra, Elvis and Dolly Parton and they were definitely characters, they were all very good at their jobs.

LP: Dolly seemed to be on a mission to steal the lime light, she was also quite handsy with you.
PP: Dolly was flicking through her hand bag for her pills for most of the shoot, there were all kinds of pills going on. She was a little touchy feely and out there but we got a good video out of it so it was a fun day [laughs].

LP: Were there any other weird or interesting stories from behind the scenes?
PP: Two days after we shot the video we were backstage at this big sold out show and Elvis actually showed up in his street clothes, he forced his way past security to hang out with us and give us a hug which was pretty unexpected. In real life he turned out to be kind of laid back. It was nice to see him in his normal attire instead of his Elvis costume and to have him come to the show after only just meeting him.

LP: In the spirit of your Hollywood video, if you had to impersonate somebody, who do you think you could get away with doing?
PP: Oh that’s good, man off the top of my head nothing comes to mind. But who could I impersonate pretty well? As a kid I was really into Eminem, I think I was Eminem for Halloween one year. I had his first record, I knew every word to The Real Slim Shady, so I could probably do a pretty decent karaoke impersonation of Eminem if the time called for it [laughs].

LP: That’s a curveball [laughs], Honduras have been compared to Parquet Courts, have they influenced you at all?
PP: They’ve definitely influenced us, we’re all very big fans of them. Right around the same time Tyson [Moore, guitar] and I lived in this old basement, first putting together Honduras, Parquet Courts were the band fresh on the Brooklyn scene. Their first record Light Up Gold was around the same time we started recording music and it definitely inspired us. Oddly enough we ended up practically stealing their rehearsal space when they started going on tour. Our record was actually produced by this guy Jonathan Schenke who also produced the Parquet Courts’ first two records. We were big fans of Jonny’s work, we knew he could help us create a sound that would blend well with us, so we were very happy to work with him.

“There’s always an aura of magic around New York, I definitely came here in some sort of musical pursuit, I didn’t know what it would be but I’m happy it’s ended up this way.”

LP: Your music has an identifiably New York vibe, is that what drove you to the city?
PP: I moved to New York when I was eighteen years old, ten years ago now. I really didn’t go through a hardcore punk phase until I lived in New York when I was in my late teens and started to go to house shows and DIY shows in Brooklyn and Bushwick. There’s always an aura of magic around New York, I definitely came here in some sort of musical pursuit, I didn’t know what it would be but I’m happy it’s ended up this way. I consider Honduras a New York band because it’s all of our homes and has been for a while, there definitely is a quality of New York sound and edge that experiencing life in the city can inspire you to create.

LP: What is your favourite bar or venue in New York?
PP: Probably a venue and bar called Alphaville it’s been around for about a year and a half, a friend of mine owns it and I bar tend there three nights a week. It’s a good set up as it allows me to make money, go on tour, and fortunately when I come back to New York I still have a job so it has that perk to it too

LP: Do you enjoy bar tending?
PP: Yes and no, it’s really nice now that we get to go on tour every couple of months so we can get away from the bar but when I am working they’re open until 4am and I’m there closing down until like 5:30. You just feel like a crack head a lot of the time, but you know it pays well and there’s lots of people in New York especially round our neighbourhood in Brooklyn that want to stay out and have a good time, so there’s always that temptation to either take part in it or I dunno, try not to be a vampire. It’s not bad you know, working at the venue I get to hear a lot of good bands come through, I get to share music with different people and meet other musicians.

LP: What do you do when you’re not making music or working?
PP: I’m kind of a home body to be totally honest, hang out with my girlfriend, read books and just kick around the apartment. Basically sitting in my backyard and reading is one of my favourite things to do when I’m not working or have any other obligation.

LP:What are you reading at the moment?
PP: Right now I’m reading a book called Sexus by Henry Miller and I just finished this book by Tom Robbins called Even Cowgirls Get the Blues that I really liked. It was a very strange early seventies post hippy american travel story, about this beautiful girl who loves to hitch hike, she was born with humungous thumbs that allow her to be the world’s greatest hitch hiker. [laughs] It took me a while to get through because I left the book in Tyson’s van on our previous tour in September, it was still there for the last tour that we wrapped up in March, so I picked it back up and finally got through it.

LP: That book sounds quite odd! You’re back on tour soon aren’t you?
PP: Yeah, we’re going to Canada just for three shows in early May but then we’re gonna be on tour for all of June with Big Ups and The So So Glos, they’re both New York bands. It starts in California and heads back east.

LP: Where are you looking forward to playing most?
PP: I really like going through the South, there’s a certain energy or enjoyment of music that’s expressed in a pretty unique way. I feel like there’s no pretension about enjoying music, people let loose and have lots of energy, whenever that happens it’s a lot of fun.

LP: What’s next for you and Honduras?
PP: After this tour in June we are playing a few festivals and then we’re going to take a little time off, slow things down and focus on recording our next full length record.

Honduras play at Pub Rock in Scottsdale, AZ on 5th June. Follow the band on Facebook and Instagram.