The Undiscovered: Kyle Honea

Dallas bassist Kyle Honea forwarded his three song demo CD-R for our review, consisting of a five-minute plus bass solo ("Live Solo") and two bass/drum machine compositions. Both originals are highly listenable tracks; the first ("Octant") bringing Billy Sheehan's muscular bass work to mind. Both "Octant" and "Wheeler", as well as the solo, feature Honea's trademarks - two hand tapping and ripping, large arpeggios. Honea always strives to play the coolest combinations of patterns he can devise for a particular composition. Honea would be a great addition to a band looking to feature musicianship as the cornerstone of their sound - this Texan's got the goods.

Kyle began playing bass in 1988, but it wasn't until 1990 that he began to practice scales and techniques that would mold his style. By 1992, he was featured in Mike Varney's "Spotlight" column in Guitar Player magazine. Kyle also contributed bass to the track "Mercury Bath" on the "Ominous Guitars From The Unknown" compilation CD. He later scored an endorsement from Carvin Guitars from 1992 to 1994. Kyle appeared on two tracks on the Shrapnel Records releases "Dystrophy" (Derek Taylor) and "Broke" (Scott Stine). He then disappeared from the music scene for five years, resurfacing in 1999 to set off on a mission to master the bass.

Honea's future plans are to record with shredder Rusty Cooley, and to put out a bass and drums (and possibly guitar) album. He would also like to release a bass shred album.

Kyle Honea
United States

Web site: www.geocities.com/kyle_honea