Forum Basement: Bloody Knees
Bloody Knees + Honey Lung + MUFFIN
Entry Requirements: 18+
Line Up
Bloody Knees
Formed in late 2015, four-piece Honey Lung came on to the alternative rock scene in a storm.Influenced by the likes of Smashing Pumpkins, My Bloody Valentine, Dinosaur Jr, and contemporaries such as Alex G and Yuck!, they bring together fuzzy, driving bass lines, thunderous drums, soaring guitars and melodic, introspective vocals into one brew of nostalgic 90's-esque alternative rock with a modern twist.
Honey Lung released their debut EP, 'Kind of Alone' with RYP Recordings in November 2016. The single off the EP: 'Something' was chosen as John Kennedy's 'Xposure Big One', and has been played, along with the second single 'End of Time', on his Radio X show, where they also went for a recording session and live interview. They were also BBC London Introducing's featured artist of the week, as well as having being featured in Louder Than War, The Metro Online and Line of Best Fit.
Most recently, they became a four piece, with Jamie Batten on vocals and guitar, Charlie Gardner on guitar, Omri Covo on drums and newcomer Kerstin Resander on bass. They will be taking a short break to record a new single and B side during the winter of 2016/17, returning for more in the new year.
After a debut EP dubbed “energetic, thrashing, and very alive” & “hugely impressive – complex and dynamic”, what’s next for Leeds Grunge/Punk/Alt-Rock hybrid, MUFFIN? The answer is bigger drums, bigger bass, bigger guitars, bigger vocals, bigger production, and bigger balls. Their new single ‘swim.float.drown’ takes its influence primarily from the waves of 90s US Punk & Grunge that came across the Atlantic in the forms of Nirvana, Soundgarden, Audioslave and Rage Against The Machine, with heavy riffs and crashing drums the heartbeat of the track. But they don’t stop here; MUFFIN look to take their songwriting to the next level, blending powerful vocals with eerie falsetto harmonies, whilst also looking to 21st Century UK Alt-Rock to help balance a sound that is both heavy at its core, but danceable and exciting throughout. Pairing up with producer Chris Mulligan has enhanced the production value on previous releases, enabling a sound that aptly replicates MUFFIN’s bare-knuckle approach to their live shows.
Taking influences from the likes of Queens of the Stone Age, Fizzy Blood, and Audioslave, MUFFIN offer “a bass-heavy sound, dynamic tempo changes and jangling guitars, which meet danceable, hymnic choruses” (JMC Magazine). The 5-piece have developed a sound that rightly highlights their ability to create music that both makes you want to dance and sing, but also to let loose and get stuck in.
This summer, MUFFIN travel down to Kent for this year’s Neverworld Festival, joining the likes of Bastille, Clean Bandit, Declan McKenna, YONAKA, and a whole lot more for the UK’s “mini-Glastonbury” (Annie Mac), as well as an August Bank Holiday 'Assault on the South' with shows in Bournemouth and Tunbridge Wells. Further shows in Bristol, Hull, Newcastle and Glasgow are currently in the process of being organised.
August 2nd-5th: Neverworld by LeeFest, Kent August 25th: Madding Crowd, Bournemouth
August 26th: Forum Basement, Tunbridge Wells
“To describe something like this as being simply ‘grunge’ is way too modest […] This isn’t just a song, it’s a drama, a drama that takes place over three and a half minutes.” Local Sound Focus on ‘Welcome To The Modern Age’.
"If Nirvana and Queens of the Stone Age had a baby, they'd call it MUFFIN." Top40 Charts Music News
