Black Honey

Pitched as a marriage of Lana Del Rey-esque vocals and shoegaze à la '90s band Lush, Brighton, England indie rock quartet Black Honey mix girl group pop and alt-rock guitar.The seeds of the band were sewn in Brighton when Izzy Baxter Phillips (vocals, guitar) met Chris Ostler (guitar) at university and the pair began writing together. Tommy Taylor later joined on drums, followed by a string of bass players. The group was originally known as What's Your Vice? before switching to Kill Moon, and it was around this time that Taylor swapped percussion for bass and his housemate Tom Dewhurst joined on drums, completing the lineup. The band gigged persistently throughout their hometown of Brighton, honing their sound and image, and finally settled on the name Black Honey as they were drawn to the contrast of its dark and sweet overtones. Inspired by Andy Warhol, Kurt Cobain, Blondie, and the Milky Bar Kid, Black Honey were ready to present their band in earnest. In 2014, they released both their debut single, "Sleep Forever," and a self-titled EP followed by a series of singles including "Corina," "Teenager," and "Madonna" in 2015. Following their second EP, Headspin, in 2016, and having built a strong foundation through their recorded work and live shows, the band were invited to play Alexandra Palace with Royal Blood, Glastonbury Festival, and Reading and Leeds Festivals. While touring, the band began work on their debut LP, and later enlisted the production skills of Emre Ramazanoglu (Lily Allen, Noel Gallagher) to record the album. Their eponymous debut appeared in 2018, which they promoted with a European tour. Black Honey returned to the continent in 2019 to perform at numerous festivals including Vestrock in the Netherlands and Rock Werchter in Belgium. Dewhurst left by the end of that year and his replacement, Alex Woodward, was unveiled at a January 2020 Brighton gig.Between mid-2020 and early the following year, Black Honey released five singles: "Beaches," "Run for Cover," "I like the Way You Die," "Believer" and "Distinct." Each track appeared on their second album, Written & Directed, which arrived in March of 2021, boasting a heavier sound and a more blusterous presence than their debut. The 2022 singles "Charlie Bronson" and "Heavy" continued in the same vein, eventually featuring on March 2023's A Fistful of Peaches which, like its predecessor, reached the U.K. Top Ten.In 2024, Black Honey contributed to the soundtrack of the Netflix series My Lady Jane, with a cover of "Wild Thing," the song with which the Troggs enjoyed a U.S. number one in 1966. The band previewed material from a fourth album on a short April 2025 U.K. tour, primarily organized in support of the previous month's single, "Psycho." Soak appeared that August ahead of a longer run of U.K. shows.
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