Some bands need a dozen or more musicians on stage to create their sound. For Honey Hounds, three is plenty. It’s kind of just no fat, drummer Tyler Watts said about his band, which opens for Sugar Ray on Thursday at the last of the free Jax River Jams shows. Everyone has to serve the song at the end of the day. That’s what I love about most of my favorite bands. When everyone s playing what they re supposed to be playing, it comes together in a nice groove.
Honey Hounds is a classic blues-rock power trio, with Watts on drums, Nathan Ranew on bass and vocals and Nick Izzard on guitar and vocals. Watts and Izzard kicked around for a few years in the Keys, busking as NW Izzard, before they met up with Ranew and relocated to Jacksonville. They ve been around since 2015 and put out two albums, 2016 s No Sleep and 2019 s The Flame, which they are hoping to rerelease later this year on vinyl. Another album is also in the works and could be released later this year