It is always a special occasion when two of Brighton’s finest up and coming acts come together to play an almighty show. In this case we had Black Honey and The Wytches taking over The Haunt. Black Honey have long been on our radar after their excellent debut single ‘Madonna’, with impressive local live shows and more recently their dreamy love soundtrack of a new single ‘Corrine’. The Wytches are one of those bands, where you only need to see them once to become instantly obsessed. Releasing their brilliant debut album Annabel Dream Reader on Heavenly Recordings last year as well as their wondrous Thunder Lizard’s Reprieve EP (free to download) which shows another side to the band ability, they have quite rightly become one of the UK’s must see rock bands.

 

After being hit by a bellow of musky hot air as I walked through The Haunts doors, it was safe to say the atmosphere was already electric, and Black Honey had only just started their second track. Taking refuge on the balcony at the venue, a swell of bodies covered the ground floor, surging to the breezy nostalgic rock. The impeccably cool four piece – Izzy Baxter (vocals, guitar), Chris Ostler (guitar), Tommy Taylor (bass), Tom Dewhurst (drums) – commanded the stage with an overriding confidence, being able to whip up the willing crowd into an instant frenzy. Ranging from the fierce Quentin Tarantino inspired dirty rock’n’roll to the more accessible airy rock-pop songs that just make you want to move, there is always something that is so enticing about Black Honey. This is partly down to the unwavering energy and charisma of frontwoman Izzy Baxter, who’s crooning (sometimes haunting) vocals mixes everything that is great about Lana Del Ray and Nancy Sinatra with her own engaging persona and makes for a mesmerising performance.

 

With the audience more than happy for a short respite after a thrilling set from Black Honey, round two kicked off in the usual Wytches epic fashion. Aggressive dark up-tempo scuzzy rock overwhelmed the venue, turning the overflowing sea of people into a choppy mess of flailing limbs and hair – raucous is an understatement. The trio consisted of screeching vocals and heavy guitar riffs from Kristian Bell, thrashing basslines from Daniel Rumsey and held together with thundering drums by Gianni Honey to create an almighty sound. The band’s horror vibes that are so prominent on their debut album were slightly less distinguished live, being far more of an early Nirvana, Josh Homme era Arctic Monkeys and Black Sabbath concoction with weighty strains of psychedelia throughout. It was as an enthralling set as you would expect, with excessive moshing and continuous crowd surfing that left the whole audience covered in sweat. The only negative from the frankly awesome performance was that the band still seemed very disconnected to the crowd (as they were at DRILL:2015), almost like there was actually a fourth wall. However, in a way this weirdly added to the The Wytches dark hostile feeling that is imprisoned in their music.

Iain Lauder