Honeyblood

Pure dead brilliant! It only takes these three words to sum up the performance of Scottish duo Honey Blood.
From the first slam of her guitar, singer Stina Marie Claire Tweeddale, owned the 1,145 capacity crowd, me included, becoming the centre of our collective universe.

I'd even go further and speculate that, for one hour on December 1, Tweeddale and her skin banging bandmate Cat Myers, were the most important thing happening in gigland, anywhere in the world at that moment.
I say this despite knowing The Cure were playing down the road at Wembley Arena.

And if you weren't one of the sweaty people stuffed into that windowless space at London's Scala then whatever you were doing, you were wasting your time.

It's not often than this reviewer gushes in such a snot dripping fashion, but I'm prepared to make a exception on this occasion.

There's something raw about this band's performance, their need to play, their need to make a noise.
And I get the feeling that even if they did not have an audience, they would still be banging out tunes together wherever they were.

The 14 song set began with Ready For The Magic, from second album Babes Never Die, released last month, and included the majority of tracks from the record including the title song, single Sea Hearts and ballad Gangs.
The pair even hammered out a handful of self proclaimed "old tunes", though they only formed in 2012.
And throughout the gig their energy didn't lapse, only stopping briefly for Myers to dash off stage to grab herself another bottle of beer.

But the killer track of the night was actually an impromptu love note jam entitled "Hazel sitting at the merch table", the result of cat calling from the audience about the group's actual merchandise seller Hazel ,who Tweeddale informed the crowd was sitting alone in the foyer.

It's this genuine ability to connect to their audience that makes Honeyblood so exciting to watch, unlike most live acts, their performance seemed organic and fluid.

And rather than nip away for the obligatory "encore" break, the pair simple kept playing, ending the electrifying set with first album rockers Super Rat and Killer Bangs.

But despite the racket she is capable of making with her six string, Tweeddale is a remarkably quiet front woman, with most of the banter coming from quiffed rhythm keeper Myers.

And when she did speak Tweeddale was remarkably humble, profusely thanking the audience for making the gig their "biggest" to date.
But who needs words when you have ear bleeding distortion.

Two months ago I'd never heard of Honeyblood, with their self titled debut passing me by completely, but now I am a die hard fan, though I have to admit I did not buy any merch from Hazel.

The band will finish their official UK tour in their home city of Glasgow at St Luke's on December 8th and will then play a last minute addition at London' Koko on June 16th.
Go see them or miss out.