Honeyblood @ The Brudenell, Leeds (w/ Bloody Knees & The Orielles) - 19/09/14 GIG REVIEW

The Orielles seem to have grown up a lot in the past 12 months. When a year ago I remember them as quiffed-up, cutesy teen jammers, tonight showed they now prefer to rag their pop around  with a same blend of summery psychosis familiar with Best Friends. The creeping bass that builds up ‘Sugar Tastes Like Salt’ stands out as their very own Fleetwood Mac moment. I need to keep a closer eye on these guys.

Bloody Knees get the arteries pumping with their tales of mutilation, self-inflicted and otherwise, setting the wildest pace of the night. ‘Headspace’ dips its toes into Title Fight’s ‘Floral Green’, but with sparse visits from their Stateside contemporaries the odd similarity here and there is welcomed warmly.

‘Daydream’ and ‘Never Change’ bang their frustrated heads against the wall and I joined in, smiling. ‘Eyes, Ears, Ohs and Yous’ and ‘Stitches’ make up for the absence of the biting ‘Bedtomb’, which I’ve been promised will appear on their next Leeds visit.

Honeyblood stepped out just last week to finally bring their debut album on a full tour. However, in a so-far unexplained freak twist, two shows have been cancelled and the two piece became one as drummer Shona McVicar left the band. How daunting for the lone remaining member of the band, stuck on the road trying to pull together the rest of the tour on her own. Thank god Cat Myers stepped in with aplomb to help salvage the Leeds show and beyond.

There was hearty support from The Brudenell each time singer Stina Tweedale addressed the new drummer, who perhaps only once or twice needed a moment to find the right timing of a song; otherwise she hammered away and pulled the collapsing situation back on its feet with a sure grip.

Stina, unfazed on the surface at least, rolled through her most recent release with a passionate charge. Dressed in black with hair falling over her face, she snarls through ‘Choker’  at her past as a pushover to an Ex “I don’t think he would hurt me, I know that he would/ It’s in his blood”.

'No Spare Key' and 'Super Rat' tell opposing tales of admiration and eventual hate, but the frank nature of both claw themselves out of Stina's broken heart; a beautiful exorcism.

‘Bud’, popular for good reason, was the first time Shona stood out as missing when new drummer Cat’s vocals didn’t project as well as her hands, but that’s a nitpick from a performance otherwise loaded with brash emotion and gleeful hatred, and now we’re all full up on Honeyblood.