The Submarines

“You, Me & the Bourgeoisie“
from the album Honeysuckle Weeks
2008
iTunes

When Blake Hazard and John Dragonetti moved from Boston to Los Angeles a few years ago, they were a functioning couple who played music together. When they ended their romantic relationship, they began to take their band more seriously. They called themselves The Submarines, and wrote and recorded a bittersweet album submerged in break-up imagery, with 2006’s Declare a New State.

Then they got married. Their recently released Honeysuckle Weeks reflects their declaration of this even newer state, wedded bliss.

“We’re both musically really excited about playing this record,” says Hazard, her speaking voice as zealous as the sweet singing voice that glides over the bouncy major chords on Honeysuckle.

“It feels more like an affirmation than anything, and it feels good to play the songs,” she continues. “We still feel like we’re somewhat in the same place where we were when we made the record, whereas with the last record, it was like we really had come out of this dark period. So it was really hard to revisit them over and over again together. So, this time around … it’s a much more comfortable experience.”

Speaking of comfortable experiences, is it weird to present the lyrics to the person you’re working on the song with, when he is also the subject of the song? “That’s a really really good question,” says Hazard. “I think now in retrospect it was brave to share the songs that way that we did with each other.”

Although the first hook on the record is Hazard singing that “love finds you even when you’ve given it up,” the glee within Honeysuckle is not naive. “There is ultimately a happiness to it all, but it’s certainly grounded in the realities of a relationship,” says Hazard. “I don’t feel like we got married and then sort of rode off into the sunset.”

Instead, they rode off into the sunset, broke up, made some great music, got married, and then made even more great music.