Band of the Week: Redhoney

Meet the Band: Ryan Young (vocals and lead guitar), Will Gernat (drums), Dale Lenze (guitar and Rhythbiance), Josh Vance (keyed instrumentation), Sean Cifranic (bass)

Sweet 16: Drummer Will Gernat and singer-guitarist Ryan Young first started jamming together when they were only 16. "He gravitated toward the drums when he realized he wasn't as good as me at guitar," says Young. "I'm thankful for that because I'm terrible at drums." They eventually formed the blues outfit 32 Pages in 2007. When that band split up, they auditioned bassists and discovered Sean Cifranic. Cifranic, in turn, introduced them to two friends of his from Akron. "They brought a bag with mushrooms with them," Young says. "We started partying and went in the room and then played our first show as Redhoney. It was amazing. We were tripping balls on mushrooms. It was spiritual and an awesome experience."

Writing and Recording: The guys started writing songs last year and then last winter recorded the tunes for their debut Handwritten at Dale Lenze's studio. "We worked on those songs for a long time," Young says. "We had all recorded before except for Sean, who was never in a shitty band first. Seeing how he reacted was interesting, and he gave the tunes a new life when we got in there. We were just in there making the best music we could."

Why You Should Hear Them: The music on Handwritten runs a wide gamut. "Griting" is a rugged blues number that features an exuberant song-ending jam and "Quicksand" is an introspective ballad that recalls the late, great Jeff Buckley. "People ask me all the time what kind of music we play," says Young. "It's really just blues, funk and pop all mixed into one. I'm influenced by pop guys like John Mayer and Paul Simon. We don't really want to fit into a genre."

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Where You Can See Them: Redhoney performs with Redstone Souls and Moon Rocks at 8 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 8, at Wilbert's