Black Honey the Brighton band talk Iggy Pop, a new album and playing in their hometown

A Brighton band reveal to Charlotte Harding what is was like to share the stage with some of their idols.
Picture: Lauren MaccabeePicture: Lauren Maccabee
Picture: Lauren Maccabee

Queens of the Stone Age, Iggy Pop, and The Hives: as far as line-ups go it is up there with the very best.

“I cried when Iggy Pop came on stage,” enthuses Izzy B Phillips the lead singer of Brighton band Black Honey.

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“To be part of that line up was simply amazing. For me you couldn’t get a better mix of bands.

Picture: Lauren MaccabeePicture: Lauren Maccabee
Picture: Lauren Maccabee

“I was a massive fan of The Hives growing up so to be on the same stage as them was amazing. We met them backstage and they were really cool. I don’t always like to meet people I like as you don’t want to be disappointed but I wasn’t at all.

“It was probably a good thing I didn’t meet Iggy Pop though I think I would have cried and become a real fan girl.”

Black Honey officially hit the music scene in 2014.

Izzy met guitarist Chris Ostler at college in Brighton. At the time Chris was living with bassist Tommy Taylor and drummer Tom Dewhurst.

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“Initially Tommy played the drums and we had a run of bad bassists and then we found Tom who could play drums and Tommy took on the bass,” explains Izzy.

“The band had a number of different incarnations before we became Black Honey.”

The name comes from Izzy’s fascination with dark and light, the sweet and sour something that also filters into her song writing.

“It is about taking the light with the shade,” she explains.

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“I like the darker side of things. If something is unusual or weird it will get my interest. I like that feeling when you are really happy but also at the same time sad that it could all go away.”

With a slight edge to their music it is no wonder that she has been referred to as ‘the Milky Bar kid meets Blondie’s Debbie Harry’.

“We started as quite grungy as part of the indie rock scene in Brighton,” she reveals, “but we sat down last year and said ‘how do we do this and that’, and ‘what do we do if we have a pop style song’.

“I really love hip hop at the moment so Beastie Boys were a big influence for this album but its DNA is still very much Black Honey.”

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The band’s self titled debut album is out on September 21 and includes singles ‘Bad Friends’, ‘Hello Today’ and ‘I Only Hurt The Ones I Love’.

“I think people will be surprised by the album as there is a real mix of songs,” enthuses Izzy.

“We have some disco style ones, orchestral pieces and ballads.”

The lead single is Midnight which came out in August and it seems the band had a lot of fun with the video.

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“The video is in a (Quentin) Tarantino style where we kill everyone,” she laughs.

“It is a disco song and there is even a dance routine. It is very tongue in cheek, whenever myself and the band and our girlfriends are together at say a festival we all know the dance moves and everyone just starts doing it.”

Izzy describes her writing style as ‘open journal’ which means she is constantly writing about what is going on around her.

“I’m quite a last minute type of person really,” she says.

“Some of the songs are quite old and from when we first starting writing together but I wrote quite a lot in between us finishing the Royal Blood arena tour and January so in the space of three months I wrote all these songs while we were working on the album.”

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With the new album comes a UK headline tour next month and the band play Manchester, Birmingham, Nottingham, Bristol and Brighton.

“We have played the Concorde 2 in Brighton before but to be going back there is amazing as we used to go there loads for gigs when were growing up,” reveals Izzy.

“To have people relate and sing your songs back to you is the best thing ever, I can remember where I was when I wrote each one.

“Touring is one of the most rewarding things we do.”

Black Honey play Concorde 2, Brighton on October 14 and the Electric Ballroom in London on October 24.

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For more information, visit the band’s page on Facebook www.facebook.com/BlackHoneyUK

Black Honey are heading to Brighton Resident Records on album release day, September 21, for an acoustic set and to sign copies of the album.