Halogens Makes a Splash
May 2022
Kelly Brennan
George bangs on coolers with pool noodles while wearing bright orange floaties on his arms while his bandmates Charlie, Zach, and Kyle play their song on blow up guitars, play with a beach ball and lay on a rubber-duck-float. They’re joined by a plastic skeleton who stays with them for cornhole, a bonfire, and smores. This is Halogens: a band that plays “sad music you can shake your booty to,” according to Kyle Donovan.
Made of George Saives, Kyle Donovan, Charlie Throckmorton, and Zach Henry, Halogens is a New Jersey local band who is making waves in the New Jersey scene. They were featured on NJ.com as an artist “you need to hear in 2022.” I got to know the four men of the band over a Zoom interview on a rainy day a week after they played their album release show at Asbury Park’s House of Independents.
Formed in 2011, the band has been playing steadily for 11 years with three of the four being original members. The men all have different reasons for getting into music. Saives says with a laugh that he got into drums when the game Donkey Konga came out. He adds that part of his inspiration comes from other musicians saying, “Travis Barker was a major influence on wanting to get into the drums. Just seeing how crazy he was even though he wasn’t in a crazy sounding band.” Donovan, similar to Saives, says that the game Guitar Hero “inspired the action.” Throckmorton however, began music as a child with the accordion. He says that, “I filtered out all of the instruments except for the guitar.” Henry started his musical career by chance; he casually listened to music growing up but in high school dropped his Spanish 4 elective for beginner guitar and took off from there.
Saives is a social worker full time and says with furrowed brows that it’s hard for the band to balance work that pays the bills, music, and life. “We would be touring a lot more if we weren’t all working 9-5,” says Saives. Throckmorton laughed and added “We’d all be living in a house together if we didn’t have jobs.” Donovan agrees and says that he would have done a lot better in school if music wasn’t involved, but says with a big smile on his face, “This is way more fun though.”
The members of Halogens collectively agree that they can describe their music as something that, “Sounds a little more fun than what the subject matter actually is.” They explain that the interpretation of the music is Halogens: everyone experiences something different when listening to the music. You can put things together in your own head and they still work. Even the members of the band say that they all connect differently with the songs they produce.
Halogens has an interesting creative process: “It’s changing the more we write. It’s essentially me bringing a partial song or an idea for a song to the band and then writing it collaboratively. Figuring it all out together. And then I’ll put lyrics on it,” says Henry. Saives adds that their most recent album, “You're Being Weird” was much more collaborative from top to bottom. Currently, they don’t have any new material written. They want to get into a room and start from scratch to see where it takes them, Saives tells me. He says, “We all feel very comfortable with each other’s contributions to the writing process.”
What’s their best song though? They each have a different choice, but there seems to be a common thread. Saives says the song “Talkin Shit” is a “good, straightforward, catchy rock song.” Adding that the song “Windmill” is “fun and upbeat, builds up to a big outro. Everytime we play that song at practice, we’re like “that song is sick” “we’re really proud of that.”” Henry agrees with Saive that “Talkin Shit” is simple, fun, straightforward, and catchy. Throckmorton says that “Ayudume” has to be the band’s best saying, “the audience still craves that song, they always go hard when we play it. It’s lived through this entire time that we’ve been playing.” Donovan, being the quietest out of the group, finally said something: “The cool guy's answer is that it hasn’t been written yet.”
Being a part of the New Jersey scene, Halogens has performed at many classic Jersey venues. Asbury Park Brewery, although they’re not doing shows anymore, is a favorite for the band. House of Independents in Asbury Park is another favorite because there’s a “very professional experience playing there.” However, they love local dives too like The Meat Locker or house venues like “The Barn” that really give off a punk feeling.
The industry isn’t always fun though. It takes hard work, dedication, and a lot of time. Saives explains that the worst part about the music industry is “the need for constant touring to prove yourself as a meaningful band.” He’s been trying to figure out how to quit his job and do music full time since he graduated from college over five years ago and says that it’s just not feasible.
The question that the band had an immediate answer to was “If you had one message to give to your fans, what would it be?” Saives immediately responded with “be nicer to yourself.” Throckmorton chimed in with a smirk, “Smoke em if you got em” which caused the whole band to laugh out loud. But what they ultimately concluded on was “be nicer to everyone, including yourself.”
What’s next for Halogens is getting back into live music and promoting their new album “You’re Being Weird.” They will be back in the studio soon writing and working on new music as well.
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