BLACK HONEY + OPUS KINK – THE GREEN DOOR STORE, BRIGHTON 29.01.20
The Green Door Store hosts this evening of musical talent under the station in it’s very trendy and almost crust-punk Esq venue. We are invited to come and ease the January blues with a one off show from indie rockers Black Honey in their hometown of Brighton. NME and STAR have joined forces to put on this night of raucous music to raise music for Student Action For Refugees. All ticket money from this performance goes towards STAR National who will use the funds to directly help refugees rebuild their lives within the UK.
Opus Kink
First to the stage at exactly 8:15 is Opus Kink. They are a six-piece formed in Brighton in late 2017 with a desire to marry groove-based, jazz-inspired rhythms to an apocalyptic narrative. Clashing guitars, dancing keys and powerful horns sit on top of a formidable rhythm section providing a landscape for a weird lyrical trip.
The Jazz-punk six-piece all come to the stage wearing blazers and looking like suave “gentlemen”. They launch into their 45 minute 9 song set with powerful brass sounds being provided by their saxophone and trumpet members blasting us with toots from their horns. They get the packed crowd riled up with their driving bass lines that can shake through your core and vocals that are both lyrically dense but also delivered in a quick punchy succession. They are all Brighton boys and proud of it with the frontman pounding his chest while addressing the crowd. The instrumental portions of the set are when the jazz in jazz-punk really comes out and when much of the most musically dense portions are unleashed. These moments are aided by the excellent keyboard player and sharp rhythmic talented drums come out of the background and into the forefront. Their set ends at exactly 9 pm and leave the stage to applause and hollering from the audience
Opus Kink are: Angus Rogers (guitar/lead vocals), Sam Abbo (bass), Jazz Pope (keys), Jed Morgans (saxophone), Johny Giles (trumpet) and Fin Abbo (drums).
Opus Kink setlist:
‘I Am A Man’
‘Wires’
‘Better Be Good’
‘No Trouble’
‘I Love You Baby’
‘Mosquito’
‘Faster Than The Radio’
‘Wild Bill’
‘Doin’ It Myself’
Further information on Opus Kink HERE.
Interlude with speech from STAR.
During the interlude between Opus Kink and Black Honey two members of the Students Action For Refugees take the stage and give a speech that praises everyone for coming along and the two bands for performing tonight while also drawing attention to their cause.
For more information about Students Action For Refugees see their website at: star-network.org.uk
Black Honey
Black Honey, the headliner for tonight, takes to the stage at 9:30. Shaping a spaghetti western universe out of squalling guitars, vivid colours and cinematic vignettes, there’s no other British band out there like Black Honey. The four-piece from Brighton formed in 2014 and is comprised of Izzy Baxter Philips, Chris Ostler, Tommy Taylor and Tom Dewhurst. Their musical style is that of an indie pop rock band with many diverse influences from their surroundings and other musicians. Within their 14 song set, they traverse a varied mix of their music from early 2015 singles to new songs prepared for their unannounced but upcoming album!
There is a definite air of excitement from the crowd when Black Honey comes on stage, being met with a wall of shouting, whoops and applause. They start the set off with the song ‘I Only Hurt The Ones I Love’. The lead song from their 2018 album and it goes down well with the audience. The heavy driven guitar and bass really put some energy through the crowd of students and fans bringing some murmurs of movement. This energy continues to build until eventually everything is unleashed in a mess of beer and sweat to the 5th song ‘Corrine’ their biggest song from Spotify with over three million streams. The mosh is quite tight due to how stuffed to the doors of the Green Door Store is tonight. The crowd is singing along and it’s a really enjoyable moment.
After ‘Corrine’ finishes the vocalist Izzy delivers a speech to the audience which goes as follows:
“Let’s get to the point, We are in a crisis of humanity. We make music to bring people together. To unite us. Together is the only way forward. Thank you to STAR for tonight. Thank you to everyone who came tonight and for your contribution to the future. The whole world may be burning up but as Greta says no one is too small to make a difference”.
After this speech has finished they tell the audience that they are going to play a few new songs from an in progress but unannounced new album. The songs are all on top form and keep up the pace being lapped up by the crowd. The audience is mostly comprised of students which makes the atmosphere feel youthful and energetic, but half the downside of having an air of “Babies first rock gig” being unsure of the etiquette and expectations of what to do within a tight crowd, either doing too much or nothing at all when it comes to involvement in the spectacle.
The show comes to a close with Black Honey’s 2018 single ‘Midnight’ an absolute slapper of a song. Izzy proceeds to leave the comfort of the stage and enter into the crowd for a rough singalong to their last song. She is pulled onto somebody’s shoulders and is spun while still shouting off the last chorus of the tune. After this it’s hugs through the crowd and the band graciously leaves the stage to thunderous applause from a lot of very sweaty and intoxicated fans.
Black Honey setlist:
‘I Only Hurt The Ones I Love’
‘All My Pride’
‘Somebody Better’
‘I Don’t Ever Wanna Love’
‘Corrine’
(Speech Thanking STAR)
‘I Like The Way You Die’
‘Bad Friends’
‘Into The Nightmare’
‘Cadillac’
‘Spinning Wheel’
‘Run For Cover’
‘Hello Today’
‘Midnight’
Black Honey online:
Facebook / Twitter / Soundcloud / Instagram / Spotify
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