Black Honey, one of the UK’s most notoriously good upcoming live bands, are about to embark on their UK next week. The tour culminates at The Wedgewood Rooms on Albert Road. The Brighton four-piece are no strangers to Portsmouth, they were one of the headliners at Dials Festival in 2015. I didn’t have the pleasure of seeing them a Dials but there were one of my highlights at last year’s Blissfields festival.

I recently caught up with Izzy B Phillips to find out more about the origins of the band, their favourite tracks and what you can look forward to at the Wedge on the 15th May.

Could you tell me about how you initially got involved with music? and who influenced you most?
I have a few really early memories of my dad playing piano and jazz trumpet kinda badly. Though I think I first got involved with music in school I played the flute and hated it. I used to program ringtones for my friends 3310s in the playground. I would figure them out by ear on a keyboard and then reprogram the melodies in. I loved it so much I used to write my own.

Black Honey by Lauren Maccabee

Could you tell me about how the four of you met and came to create Black Honey?
We had a real love for classic psych, the 60s and Nirvana records and just wanted to create something that felt a bit more sincere in a world where everything seems to be just so disposable. It feels like it built up really gradually over time, trawling genres, I remember we had a real Krautrock phase, now we are completely obsessed with pop.

For those who are new to your music which three tracks would you encourage them to check out first and why?
‘Spinning Wheel‘ I love how this nails our Tarantino identity. ‘Corrine‘ so you can sing it to your best mate drunk on tequila. Our new tune ‘Bad Friends,’ this song just speaks to me.

We had a real love for classic psych, the 60s and Nirvana records.

Was creating the video for ‘Dig’ as much fun as it looked? Are there some funny outtakes that we could see in the future?
Yes… Mainly everyone walking around with these crazy model rifles and handguns that one of the actors brought in for us in case we needed more guns in the scenes!

What bands and artists are you currently listening to and are they inspiring you to explore and implement new ideas with your music?
I love this band Nova Twins you should check them out!

How do you feel when you share your music for the first time? Do you prefer to share new music live where you can see the crowd’s reaction first hand or online perhaps? 
Crowds usually wanna hear what they already know so they can be drunk and scream their hearts out at you. so I guess online I suppose.. though I’d say the best feeling is when the songs dropped, connected then you really feel it from the crowd.

Can you remember much about your early experiences of going to watch live music?
Yeah, I went to see Good Charlotte with my friend Charlotte! It was pretty good.

What can those fortunate enough to have tickets expect from your live show?
Amazing people coming together, singing their hearts, losing themselves, crowd surfing, stage invading and blowing our minds. New tunes. New lights. New merch. Be ready.

What does the rest of 2018 have in store for you?
So, after our headline tour in May, we are gonna announce a secret show then go on a mad festival season run, so far, we’ve got Bestival, Latitude, Rize, Truck, Tramlines, Kendall Calling and tons more TBA. Then maybe along the way we are gonna drop the tracks videos and announce the album release date! Watch this space 2018 is fucking exciting.

Facebook: facebook.com/BlackHoneyUK
Twitter: twitter.com/BLACKHONEYUK
Instagram: instagram.com/blackhoneyuk

SoundCloud: soundcloud.com/blackhoneyuk
Apple Music: itunes.apple.com/gb/artist/black-honey
Spotify: open.spotify.com/artist/blackhoney