The Last True Believers: Wild Honey Pie Reimagines Live Music

How Wild Honey Pie Turned a Food Blog Into Music’s Most Radical Experiment

Written by Eric B. Thornton 

Photos courtesy of The Wild Honey Pie

At a time when the corporate concert industry has turned live music into a fee-extraction exercise, hidden charges, junk fees, resale markups that make a night out feel like a financial decision, it’s easy to forget that seeing a band was supposed to feel like something else entirely. Not long ago, standing inside a Rivian car dealership in Venice, I was reminded what that something else actually looks like.

Passion Pit was playing to maybe 150 people. The hoods of the Rivian EVs lining the showroom floor had been flipped open and stocked with ice, local sodas, and non-alcoholic cocktails. Prince St. Pizza sat on tables along the wall. And before the band kicked in, Wild Honey Pie founder Eric Weiner stepped up to the mic and took a playful shot at Ticketmaster, the kind of jab that hits differently when every dollar of ticket sales goes straight to charity anyway. The crowd loved it. I loved it. It felt less like a concert and more like a dinner party where the entertainment happened to be one of the most beloved indie acts of the last twenty years.

That’s the Wild Honey Pie in a nutshell. If you haven’t come across it yet, you’re about to.

There’s a version of the music industry that peaked in the blog era, when independent voices built real audiences, real communities, and real taste, and then slowly got swallowed whole. Pitchfork got absorbed by Condé Nast in 2015 and effectively shuttered in 2024. Most of the rest just went dark. Most people who were in it moved on. Eric Weiner didn’t.

Back in 2009, Weiner was wrapping up his last semester at the University of Colorado Boulder and had landed an internship at MTV UK in London. He had a food blog. He had a feeling. “I always wanted this to be my career,” he says. “But when I started The Wild Honey Pie, I moreso thought it would help me get a job. It was right after the Great Recession, a pretty rough job market. I was just trying to do something to differentiate myself from other job candidates.” If that framing sounds eerily familiar, it should: he can’t help but note the parallel to today’s grads navigating a market being upended by AI. Some things rhyme louder than others.

What Weiner built over the next fifteen years, alongside co-founder Lucy Harumi Dunning, is one of the genuinely strange success stories of the internet era. The Wild Honey Pie survived the blogosphere’s total collapse not by growing fast or landing a big acquisition, but by growing slow, staying weird, and caring, almost stubbornly, about the right things. “The blogosphere was a collection of passion projects from the start,” he says. “Few writers were getting paid by anyone, and the whole ecosystem wasn’t built on a sound business model, The Wild Honey Pie was no different.” The difference is what they became instead.

“We grew slow and steady. There was no big moment for us. While we couldn’t figure out how to do this as a blog or publication, we morphed into a community and creative agency — and that gives us the flexibility to focus on the most powerful thing in the world: friendship.”
— Eric Weiner, founder of The Wild Honey Pie

Today the shop produces music videos for artists like Eric Clapton, Queens of the Stone Age, and Iron & Wine, handles merch for acts like Passion Pit and yeemz, and throws events that people talk about the way they used to talk about discovering a great blog. The Pizza Parties — and their slightly more formal cousins, the Dinner Parties — are the beating heart of it. Roughly 130 to 150 people in a room, great pizza, and an act playing close enough that there’s nowhere to hide.

The same week Passion Pit played the Rivian Space in Venice, Ra Ra Riot was doing the same thing at the Rivian Space in New York. Two cities, same energy, same model — and come June, Phantogram takes it upstate to Hotel Lilien in the Catskills. This isn’t a local party series anymore. It’s a circuit.

Having been in that Venice showroom for the Passion Pit + yeemz night, I can tell you the feeling is hard to describe to someone who’s only experienced music at scale.

“It’s more about making new friends, meeting strangers, discovering a new side of your favorite artist that ensures you’ll be listening to their music the rest of your life — versus the iPhone video you get of the one single at a festival with a sea of people and a sea of phones held high in the air.”

— Eric Weiner

That contrast, intimate versus massive, meaningful versus transactional, is essentially the counter-programming Wild Honey Pie is running against the whole Ticketmaster-industrial complex. And the model is more radical than it looks. Every dollar of ticket sales goes to charity, primarily environmental causes. Composting, no single-use plastics, plant-forward food. Not as branding, but as baseline.

“I just want to be able to look at myself in the mirror and know I’m doing everything I can to create something I can be proud of. We practice what we preach.”

— Eric Weiner

Brand partners Rivian, Verizon, Spindrift cover the costs: artist fees, production, the works. “Everyone really can win,” he says. “Artists can get projects paid for, brands get valuable visibility and connect with new customers through culture.” The idealism and the business logic aren’t in tension. They’re the same pitch.

Since trading Brooklyn for Saugerties just down the road from Woodstock — Weiner has locked in a multi-year partnership with Hotel Lilien in the Catskills and Brooklyn’s Paulie Gee’s, anchoring the operation in the Hudson Valley’s quietly thriving food and music scene. Welcome Campers, the adult summer camp festival concept TWHP has been developing for years, feels like the next serious chapter.

Ask about the fantasy event — any artist, no budget, pure vision — and it comes quickly. Death Cab for Cutie across a full camp weekend: orchestral set under the stars, Ben Gibbard solo by the campfire, full band at the waterfront at golden hour. And Charli xcx arriving by pontoon boat from somewhere out on the lake, music drifting across the water before anyone can see who it is. “Dancing on a water trampoline? Watching the set from a canoe ten feet away? Yes, yes, please.”

Standing in that Venice dealership, with a slice of Prince St. Pizza in hand and people genuinely losing it to “Take a Walk,” it didn’t feel like a far-off dream. It felt like the blueprint was already drawn.

Check out our interview with Eric Weiner below:

FRANK151: The Wild Honey Pie started as a food blog that became a music blog that became a creative agency. That’s like three career pivots before most people finish their first one. When you were at MTV UK in London back in 2009, was there a specific moment where you thought, “Okay, this little blog thing might actually be the thing”?

ERIC: For me, it was always THE THING, but I didn’t know it would become other people’s thing the way it has. I had high hopes from the start for sure, I always wanted this to be my career. But when I started The Wild Honey Pie, I moreso thought it would help me get a job. Remember, it was 2009. It was right after the Great Recession and a pretty rough job market. So I was just trying to do something to differentiate myself from other job candidates. Much like college grad-aged adults have to do these days because of AI.

You’ve talked a lot about the blogosphere era, Pitchfork, Stereogum, Brooklyn Vegan, all those names. Most of those blogs either died or got absorbed into bigger media machines. What made Wild Honey Pie survive when so many others didn’t? Was there a point during the pandemic pivot where you thought it might not?

I’ve been kinda somewhat confident in our ability to survive? Definitely more confident than I should have been at the time when the writing was on the wall for the blog world. These last 5+ years though, since me and Lucy really focused on rethinking our business model from blog to agency, have instilled a new sense of excitement and confidence in all of us here. 

The blogosphere was a collection of passion projects from the start. So you could expect a lot of those blogs not to stick around. Not all of them were really trying to be a serious business. Some were though, including us. But the whole blog ecosystem wasn’t built on a sound business model, and The Wild Honey Pie was no different. Few writers were getting paid by anyone, I know we struggled for years to take care of our people like we wanted to. That sucked. Pitchfork and a few others figured it out; regardless of their situation today, they found a way to make the business of music journalism work for a while. 

I think that is one of the reasons that we’re able to create this modest moment we’re having right now is because we grew slow and steady. There was no big moment for us. While we couldn’t figure out how to do this as a blog or publication, we morphed into a community and creative agency which allows us the flexibility to not be too focused on web traffic and display ads. Instead we’re focused on the most powerful thing in the world – friendship – which benefits everyone, including artists, fans, brands, and The Wild Honey Pie. We are less dependent on a number of people coming to our website and more dependent on the power of the energy that we create at these parties and in the videos and social posts that come from them. It’s all about music lovers meeting their favorite artists in the world – falling in love with new music and each other. From a business perspective we’re less concerned about the number of ad impressions and completely obsessed with the individual impact we can have on each and every person we touch.  

The Pizza Parties and I heard also the Dinner Parties have such a specific vibe. 60 people, unlimited food, an intimate set from somebody like Passion Pit or Phantogram. For people who haven’t been, how would you describe what it feels like to be in one of those rooms versus, say, standing in a crowd of 10,000 at a festival?

To me, it’s way better. I can guarantee you’re more likely to find forever friends with this new format of experience. The Passion Pit and yeemz Little Pizza Party at the Rivian Space in Venice was 150 people the other night, and it felt like a room of friends. I think that’s the difference – it feels like everyone is on this adventure together. So it’s more about making new friends, meeting strangers, discovering a new side of your favorite artist that ensures you’ll be listening to their music the rest of your life – vs. the iPhone video you get of the one single at a festival with a sea of people in a sea of phones held high in the air. It’s definitely more about the music and the food than whatever drugs you took. The natural euphoria of being in a room with so many special people feeding off of their energy just can’t be beat.

You donate 100% of ticket sales to charity, you compost everything, no single-use plastic at any event. That’s not exactly the standard music industry playbook. How do you make the numbers work on that model, and do you ever get pushback from the business side of things, or do the brand partners actually want to be part of something that operates that way?

The brands love it. And that’s how it works, honestly. This only works with brand dollars coming in, allowing us to pay the artist, crew, and ourselves modestly while donating all the ticket sales. 

As far as our sustainability programs, I just want to be able to look at myself in the mirror and know I’m doing everything I can to create something I can be proud of. We practice what we preach: composting, no single-use plastics, plant-forward food. So we donate our ticket sales, and that’s 100% of the ticket sales, mainly to environmental charities. I think that there’s an opportunity to set an example in our own small way for the rest of the industry, and while I don’t expect everyone else to really do this, maybe Live Nation events can learn a thing or two from what we’re developing. 

You’ve been pretty vocal about the idea that brand partnerships don’t have to kill credibility, that labels and brands can actually function in similar ways for artists. I think a lot of people in the indie world hear “brand partnership” and immediately get suspicious. What’s your litmus test for knowing when a collab is authentic versus when it’s just a logo slapped on a flyer?

It really is a gut feeling and a team effort on our end, knowing when a partnership makes sense – but it all starts with taste. The same taste that made our blog so beloved. 

We can help position brands like Verizon, Rivian, and Spindrift so that they are showcasing support for small business while doing something radical. I think it’s really powerful that big brands can look at a small business like The Wild Honey Pie and get behind the systemic industry changes we’re striving for – for artists, fans, and our community. 

Beyond our parties, there are so many opportunities for brands to pay for things that most record labels don’t want to anymore. Take music videos, album release parties, and merch drops for example. It’s not a stretch to say the vast majority of artists could use a little extra money to pay for things. So there’s an opportunity for everyone to win. Everyone really can win! Artists can get projects paid for, brands get some valuable visibility and connect with new customers through culture. And we’re here to make sure everyone is getting everything they want and need.

You moved from Brooklyn up to Saugerties, right next to Woodstock, and now you’ve got this multi-year deal with Paulie Gee’s and Hotel Lilien for events in the Catskills. Is the Hudson Valley becoming its own kind of music-and-food scene the way Brooklyn was ten years ago, or is it something completely different?

I think there are so many good restaurants up here. It’s definitely not us leading the charge upstate, although we’re really fortunate to be doing something unique for the community. There’s amazing food in Hudson Valley from Beacon and Kingston to Hudson and Rhinebeck. There are so many good restaurants like Lucky Catskill, Garden Cafe, and Chleo. I’m so lucky to live up here. We’re only 2 hours from the city, and quite honestly, this is where the food the city eats is grown. Pretty cool to go on a quick drive and be at an apple orchard. 

You’ve produced music videos for Iron & Wine, St. Lucia and Jason Mraz, merch for Passion Pit, yeemz, that’s a pretty wide creative range for one shop. Is there a thread that connects all of it, or does The Wild Honey Pie just follow wherever the interesting work leads?

Totally! The thread that connects it all is our specific taste. Our ability to design the cutest art for artists and with artists. We designed a lot of merch over the years – for Passion and yeemz most recently. We also produced music videos for Eric Clapton, Queens of the Stone Age, Iron & Wine, and a bunch more of my all-time faves. And going back to something we already touched on, but there’s a really unique opportunity to tell artists and labels who are willing to pay us to create music videos, merch, etc., that we can help cover some of those costs through brand partnerships in the future. That’s where we are heading.

The tagline has essentially become: breaking down the barrier between artist and fan. That’s a mission a lot of companies claim but few actually execute. What does “barrier removed” actually look like at a Wild Honey Pie event, what’s the moment you know it worked?

These are all amazing questions and that’s funny, it’s a tagline I used for a really long time. I haven’t been saying as much lately, but it’s a good one. Thank you for reminding me about it! I think it’s about the opportunity to meet your favorite artists and fans while making new best friends. It’s about the artist as a keystone of the community. Maybe that comes to fruition just saying hi after the show, or more through a 20-minute conversation over a feast at one of our Dinner Parties. At most of our parties, the artists is just hanging out the whole time, eating pizza with everyone, crafting friendship bracelets with new friends at Welcome Campers. This isn’t the right format for all artists – maybe Chappel Roan wouldn’t be a perfect match for this. The most important thing is to make sure the artists feel safe and cozy in these environments. This is best for artists who can feed off the infectious energy of inspired people. 

Okay, last one.. and this is kind of a FRANK151 tradition, so bear with me: If you could throw the ultimate Wild Honey Pie event, anywhere in the world, any artist dead or alive, any chef, no budget, no logistics, pure fantasy, what does that look like? 3 artists, dead or alive. Paint me the picture.

Joni Mitchell? The Beatles? I am a diehard Death Cab for Cutie fan. Having Ben and the band at our summer camp weekend Welcome Campers would be dreamy. I’m envisioning 3 sets over the weekend: one with an orchestra under the stars, one solo by the campfire, and one full band setup at the waterfront while the sun is setting. I think that would be pretty awesome. Maybe we light off some fireworks or do a drone show using art from our animators. 

Charlie xcx would be pretty wild. Maybe she could perform her album Charli in full? I think we’d have her arrive on a pontoon boat from a distance, so people are hanging out in the lake and they hear the music from a mile away and as she gets closer and closer, it all becomes so surreal. Dancing on a water trampoline? Watching the set from a canoe 10 feet away? Yes, yes, please.