Back in May I spoke to Izzy Bee Phillips, the iconic front woman of one of the indie scene's coolest bands, Black Honey.
Your videos and cover artwork for your singles all have a very distinctive style; is visual art something that you’ve always been interested in? Yeah, I love art, I had an art scholarship at school and it’s something that comes very naturally to me.
There has been a narrative flowing through quite a few of your videos, was this a conscientious decision when choosing which singles to put out and who to work with? If so, is the artistic direction more band led or a collaboration? It’s usually myself and the director of our videos creating the narrative. A lot of the videos we planned, then realised we could connect them. There are certain people and characters that I will always find interesting. You’ve said previously that you’re massively into vintage cars and have even had one of Roy Orbison’s Cadillacs in a video, what is your dream car? I love Mustangs. But on a more practical level I would suit a Ford Figaro. You’ve been very open politically on your social media, do you believe that more people with a platform should be using it to encourage political involvement? I think everyone is different. It would be bad advice to say that people should use their platforms to be more politically engaged if they had no idea what they were talking about and had no interest in it. Social media posts should be comfortable and sincere.
Is there a song that you particularly enjoy playing live? Yeah, I love playing Corrine and singing it with the crowd. When you’re touring, is there anything you guys particularly like listening to or watching on the road? We loved the “This American Life” podcasts. We love playlists and rotate DJ sets in the van. Movie wise everyone winds down with their own choices usually. I get car sick so I sit in the front and listen to music. Via your social media, you have an awful lot of interaction with your fans including the new Bad Black Honey Art Club, is interacting with your fans something that is important to you? One hundred percent, I feel like its keeping me sane and happy. We are so lucky to be able to connect our community. On the topic of fans, obviously the live sector has been the aspect of the music industry most visibly effected by COVID-19, has this affected many of your plans for the year? Yeah, we have cancelled touring for the foreseeable future, this included a Pencils arena support tour and our biggest UK headline tour yet. It’s something that we have to adapt too and we are working on some releases and cool stuff for the internet world in the mean time!
How would you suggest that fans can go about supporting unsigned bands like yourselves at this time? Buy their merch, or donate to their Spotify artist donation button! (The donate buttons appear to only be available via the app on phones but if you are wanting to donate via a laptop or desktop, you can do so here)
Do you have anything in particular coming up that we can look forward to? Yes, so much. Things are about to be set on fire in the world of Black Honey. Expect the weirdest world we have made yet!
While we are waiting for new material from Black Honey, you can join in with their Isolation Collaboration playlist. Each week a new theme for the playlist is shared over their social media platforms and for 24 hours, you can submit your favourite tracks that fit the theme. If, like Izzy, you enjoy visual art, you can use #badblackhoneyclub on Instagram and Twitter to share any art inspired by the band and potentially feature on Black Honey's official feeds.
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