Honest Work, Sebright Arms: Live Review

Honest Work told us they were very hungover, then played like anything but.

Honest Work © Rosie Heard Edwards

The Sebright Arms basement is dark, dingy and far too hot. Only a few dozen people were in, and Honest Work played like it was a full house.

SHLUG got the night going and were properly chaotic. Their frontman threw himself into it and used every inch of the room. Loud, frantic and hard to look away from, they left the basement well and truly warmed up.

Honest Work then showed how good they are as musicians. The guitars were tight, the rhythm section hit hard, and the whole group played with enough intensity to make the hangover claims harder to believe. Their old bassist has been filling in for the last couple of gigs, but there was no sense of anything being out of place. Between songs, they were affable, charismatic and funny without letting the chat take over.

Then the kick pedal broke. While a replacement was sorted, the two guitarists started riffing off each other and turned the dead time into a little show of its own. Even the equipment failure got a support slot.

The three released songs, ‘Horses for Meat’, ‘The Final Prose’ and ‘Alone’, were by far the best of the night. They hit the hardest and sounded the best of the lot.

Watch Horses For Meat Official Video

The moment that stayed with me was the end of ‘The Final Prose’. Vocals were shared throughout the set, but Curtis Connor stood out here, shouting the final section in a gravelly roar so close to the recorded version that it took me by surprise. It sounded amazing.

With only three songs out, most of the set was unreleased material, and it was great too. The classic rock influences come through even more strongly in those songs, but they still sound like Honest Work rather than a band raiding someone else’s record collection. The released tracks had the edge on the night, but I want to hear these new ones properly.

A cover of Beastie Boys’ ‘Fight for Your Right’ was a lot of fun, and the band looked like they were enjoying it as much as we were, and it fit the tone of the setlist perfectly.

The sound was okay, and the energy on stage covered the rest.

Their debut EP, Another Broken Glass, is out on 23 September, recorded at Real World Studios with producer Xav Sinden.

A small crowd, a broken kick pedal and a hangover barely slowed them down.

Alex Battman
Contributor, BritRock Heaven