13 minute read
BLACK HONEY
from CLUNK Magazine 001
WE’VE BEEN BIG FANS OF BLACK HONEY since their stunning self-titled debut album released back in 2018. Since then the band have grown exponentially, having toured across the UK, supported Queens Of The Stone Age, and released their latest album ‘Written & Directed’. It’s been a wild ride for the band to say the least having just recently opened for IDLES at Eden. Since witnessing their live performance, I have been eager to chat with the band. Earlier this year I was joined by Izzy, Alex, and Chris via zoom for a chat on a sofa in Glasgow before their sold-out show.
Advertisement
WORDS: KIERAN WEBBER PICTURES: LAURA ALLARD FLEISCHL
How’s the tour been so far? You’ve been up and down the country, right?
Alex: “It’s been good, we’ve been on and off the road for the last few weeks. We’ve played a variety of festivals too which has been great! The shows have been really good actually. It’s been so good to get amongst it, Izzy in particular has been getting people hyped, jumping in the crowd and crowd surfing. It’s been great.”
Does it feel weird playing shows again? It must be pretty surreal to be back on stage and mingling with the crowd again. Is there any apprehension when it comes to this or are you just good to go? shut down again. I think we just want to make the most out of this and oppertunitize, is that a word?”
It is now! Let’s get the Webster Dictionary involved!
Izzy: “I’m not worried about us when it comes to Covid, but I hate the idea of someone catching it in the crowd. But this is the window, it feels like at some point it could get
Izzy: “Okay but credit me yeah? It’s an opportunity to go full ham and make it an extremely fun time and even a highlight of the year. The most surreal experience for us was being at Latitude Festival back in July, there was 60,000 people walking around without masks on, that was a real deep experience.”
Chris: “Yeah, that was fully weird. Afterwards you’d walk around and go in the shops and be like oh shit yeah, there’s still a pandemic”. Alex: “We’re in an incredibly privileged position to be able to do this at the moment and you never know when the last gig might be, so you need to take the moment and make the most of it. I will say though that Latitude felt like an alternate reality, as it was so close to the last lockdown.”
So, across the shows you’ve played in the past month has there been any particular high or shows that have stood out?
Izzy: Eden Project with IDLES.
Chris: Eden Project with IDLES was fucking insane.
I’m so glad you said that as I was there shooting. That show was mind blowing!
Both you and IDLES killed it. Such great performances!
Chris: “What an amazing setting Eden Project is, the way they put the lights on in the domes is so insane. It was such a special event.”
Alex: “We got to walk around the biomes to during the day. We were so tired as we had driven such a long way. The night before we played a pub garden to about 20 people! Which is mad because the night before that we played at Rochester Castle to about 5000 people. It was so nice to be able to cruise around and take it all in, the food is amazing there as well. It was so nice to be able chat with the IDLES guys as well, just an all-round enjoyable gig.” It’s such a unique place to play and for people like myself down here in Cornwall it’s a real treat to be able to see bands such as yourself and IDLES commutable from my house. Cornwall is often overlooked so I am always grateful when artists decide to play here.
Izzy: “It’s so far though, it took us so long to get there. I often forget England even goes that far down.”
(laughter from everyone).
Chris: “Although it took a while it’s arguably one of my top 5 gigs we’ve ever done, I loved it.”
We’ll have to get you guys down here again soon. Maybe Boardmasters 2022?
Alex: “That has been on our radar for a while actually.” Izzy: “Yeah, everyone really rates that festival.”
It’s a great festival! The location is insane, you’re literally on the top of a cliff overlooking the whole of the North Cornwall coast.
Talking of tours, I was curious to know what are your top five essential items to bring when you hit the road?
Izzy: “Always plenty of knickers. I plan for at least two pairs per day.”
(All) A DAY!
Izzy: “Right, I always run out knickers. Listen, you wear a pair of knickers in the morning, you play a gig. After the show you might not shower because you get too drunk. You’re not going to go to bed in dirty knickers, so you
change them to get into your pjs, then to go to bed. Then when you wake up you’re obviously not going to wear the knickers you slept in, so you shower and then put on a new pair. Numerically you need about 2-3 knickers per day, I have worked this out numerically.”
Alex: “So, Izzy takes about 45 pairs of knickers on tour we found out. Chris, you always bring a soldering iron too actually.”
Chris: “Yeah soldering iron is such a great tool. Unfortunately, we’re not at the stage where we can afford loads of roadies or guitar techs, so I have to maintain my guitar myself. It keeps falling apart.”
Alex: “Chris soldered one part of his guitar before a show not long ago, then got off stage and something else had broken.”
Chris: “Yeah, if anyone reads this and wants to give me a new guitar I will be very thankful!”
So, I want to talk about your most recent album; ‘Written and Directed’.
Was there anything that you did differently on this one when recording it compared to your debut album? Could you talk us through the process of this release?
Chris: “Yeah. Quite a lot different. I think with this one we felt we had established what we wanted to do a bit more. So, we tried to do the most raw and true to ourselves version on this record.”
Izzy: “But then saying that we also had brass and stuff and we weren’t really sure if it was going to work.”
Alex: “It was also with different people which really helped as it made the process a lot easier.”
Izzy: “Yeah, it was more experimental. Our producer had a very avant-garde thought process. For example, on a previous record there was an orchestral part and he recorded the whole thing with one microphone. Instead of putting microphones on each instrument he just kept moving the instruments physically around the single microphone.”
Alex: “Yeah, with us for example if there was anything quirky or perhaps out of tune instead of saying “go back and do it again”, he would keep it in. He loved that.”
Chris: “He’s all about the feel and energy, and that made us have a lot of confidence in our record. He was always searching for something interesting, it doesn’t always have to sound perfect. It needs to grab your attention in some way. He always would let the song be the song if that makes sense? It’s kind of how the brass element came in as he was just like, “let’s try it!” We didn’t walk into this record with the intention of having brass. The idea of that sounds awful but it really works. We were really lucky to work with the Haggis Horns who work with Mark Ronson, they absolutely smashed it.”
So, you released it through your own label, ‘Fox Five Records’. I’m curious, what was the idea behind this and why did you start your own label?
Izzy: “Well, the real answer to that question is that we never really found any major label that wants us or is willing to put down the sort of money that we would want to make our record. That for us is a really big thing, if someone wants the rights to our music we’re not going to sell that for £2.50. I would love to say that we’ve always wanted to be independent but that’s not necessarily true, but it has worked out weirdly perfect for us. You have to think about what you want as an artist, you want to have the freedom to create what you want, and you want to be able to have a say in how it’s released and marketed.”
“We have that luxury, we’re still broke and we have no money, we haven’t taken a huge pay-check like other bands. However, we have the main things that are fundamental to us as artists. Not to say we wouldn’t sign something in the future, but we’ve done this for so fucking long it would have to be for the right price. We have had offers come in recently but it’s still not what we want, so no thank you.”
Chris: “The problem is it will be like a thirty-year contract with a pay-out which will cover my rent for probably 6 months.”
Alex: “Also, we’ve done it for so long now that we’ve invested so much into our own independence it’s starting to tipple over now where it’s almost not worth it. The band as a whole is almost itself now, so it would be stupid to take the first offer that comes along.”
Izzy: “We’re not fully unsigned mind you, we work with The Orchard on licensing, so we have teams working with us. We have what we call a family that works with us on making our product if you will. It’s not just some rogue guy sat at a desk.”
Alex: “We’re a very tight knit team and everybody’s heart is truly in it.”
Chris: “Yeah and a lot of them are friends who work with us too, which is why it all works so well you know? We try to make sure we’re involved in every step, whereas some bands may be happy to sit back and let others work for them.”
Izzy: “Yeah, our photographer is literally upstairs right now designing our t-shirts as we speak.”
I think in today’s world you can be more independent and there are more tools at our disposal, thanks to the internet. You can truly empower yourself as an artist in today’s world.
Obviously, it’s nice to be signed to a major label and there are benefits, but the DIY approach is great. You guys are living proof of how to be successful whilst remaining independent. Izzy: “I think the traditional music business format is deeply flawed and the new way of thinking actually supports bands better. The days of labels chucking millions into a band and hoping the hit the big time are kind of over. It’s like a lottery. Personally, I don’t want to be someone lottery bet. I would music rather carry on at our own pace instead of having that pressure.”
Bringing it back to the album I wanted to know if you have any favourite tracks on the album and if so why?
Alex: “‘Believer’ just for that drum fill.”
Izzy: “Yeah ‘Believer’ is a great track. I’ve enjoyed playing that live too. I am just at the point where I can play it confidently, whereas tracks such as ‘I Do It To Myself’, I did loads of guitar on and I am always so worried it could go wrong.”
Chris: “I really like the heavier ones. I love playing ‘I Like The Way You Die’ and ‘Run For Cover’, that track always kicks off pure chaos at the end of the set.”
Alex: “I love our current set as we have such a good mix of old and new tracks such as ‘Corrine’. It’s great to watch everyone reacting to that. There’s such a great mix of tracks actually.”
Izzy: “Yeah, it’s nice to see our older tracks sitting so nicely with our newer ones.”
Chris: “It feels like we have a really good blend of old and new so that everyone can walk away satisfied by one of our shows.”
So, the album took some inspiration from Tarantino films and I was hoping you could rank your favourite Tarantino films
Chris: “Inglorious Basterds!”
Izzy: “I feel ‘Django’ is a great all-round Tarantino film. In fact, ‘Kill Bill’ is amazing, especially ‘Kill Bill 2’. In fact, this might be controversial but ‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’.”
Chris: “I love ‘The Hateful Eight’, that film was amazing. The first two hours you don’t know what the fuck is going on but at the end it all clicks and you’re like oh shit!”
Izzy: “It’s weird at the moment as I am having a bit of a Tarantino realisation as he’s a problematic person.”
Chris: “From a creative stand point though, you know, looking at it solely from a creative.”
Izzy: “Yeah, I do really like the way he portrays women in his films though, they’re actual protagonists. Kill Bill was the first film where I saw a woman as an actual super hero.” Lastly to wrap things up what advice would you give to any aspiring musicians or creatives?
Izzy: “I would say find a job that can help you do what you do, something flexible that gives you the opportunity to work on your shit whilst you can remain supported. Use what’s available to you as well, don’t afraid to use Universal Credit, look at all options. Also, be sure to look at what you create and ask yourself if what you’ve made is really good or “do I just like it?” People will discover you if the work is good enough.”
Alex: “Don’t get complacent and think what you’ve done is enough.”
Chris: “Always strive for more. It’s not easy though, we’ve all got jobs on the side of this as well. Don’t compromise when you’re writing too. Always be true to yourself and write what is you. As soon as you try being what you’re not. People will see through it.”
Izzy: “I would say authenticity is the main goal.”
Alex: “Don’t forget to be good live as well, work on that performance. Don’t forget that although your songs are the main thing you need to be able to bring it live. Practice as much as you can, work with good musicians, look at doing merch.”
Izzy: “Oh my god, this is a lot of information.”
Chris: “Welcome to the Black Honey degree of music (laughs).”
Izzy: “Basically, pay attention to all areas, think about all of it.”
Chris: “And stay true to yourself.”
Izzy: “And get a job that supports you.”
PHOTOGRAPHER SPOTLIGHT
WILLOW SHIELDS
WILLOW SHIELDSis a London based freelance photographer who captures images in both analogue and digital formats. Her work focuses mostly on portraiture and live music and has captured some of London’smost noteworthy upcoming musicians.
Instagram: @wwillla
PICTURES: WILLOW SHIELDS
