Bees Make Honey were an influential band in the early pub rock movement in the UK. The band were formed in 1971 in north

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

by Barry Richardson, who had a residency in a jazz band at the "Tally Ho" pub, when

Eggs over Easy Eggs over Easy were an American country rock band, of the early 1970s, who visited London to record an album, and then became a resident band in a London pub, launching what subsequently became known as pub rock. Formation Although both haile ...

started playing pub rock there. He invited Ruan O’Lochlainn, Deke O’Brien and Mick Molloy to see Eggs over Easy and they formed a band with American drummer Bob "Cee" Siebenberg, who would later rise to fame in

Supertramp Supertramp were an English rock band that formed in London in 1969. Marked by the individual songwriting of founders Roger Hodgson (vocals, keyboards, and guitars) and Rick Davies (vocals and keyboards), they are distinguished for blending ...

. Richardson, O’Brien and Molloy were former members of Irish showband The Alpine Seven, and of Dublin's first

Rhythm & Blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

band Bluesville (with Ian Whitcomb). They initially performed as an unnamed band at the "Tally Ho", where Richardson had previously performed, eventually naming themselves Bees Make Honey in January 1972. Allmusic Biography by Dave Thompsonretrieved 18 November 2008 While touring heavily on the emerging pub rock circuit, Bees Make Honey signed with record label

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

who issued their first single "Knee Trembler" / "Caldonia" (EMI 2078 (1972)), and their debut album ''Music Every Night'' (EMI 3013 (1973)). The album was recorded at

Rockfield Studios Rockfield Studios is a residential recording studio located in the Wye Valley just outside the village of Rockfield, Monmouthshire, Wales. It was originally founded in 1963 by brothers Kingsley and Charles Ward. Facilities Rockfield is a tw ...

and produced by their manager Dave Robinson, who also managed

Brinsley Schwarz Brinsley Schwarz were a 1970s English pub rock band, named after their guitarist Brinsley Schwarz. With Nick Lowe on bass and vocals, keyboardist Bob Andrews and drummer Billy Rankin, the band evolved from the 1960s pop band Kippington Lo ...

, but by the time the album was released, O’Lochlainn and Siebenberg had left. Drummer Fran Byrne, guitarist

Rod Demick Roderick Demick (born 17 March 1947) is a British guitarist and bassist who has played with many leading musicians. Life and career Born in Prestatyn in north Wales, Demick moved with his parents to Belfast, Northern Ireland, aged 5. He learned ...

(ex

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) and keyboardist Malcolm Morley (ex Help Yourself) joined, and toured to promote the album. They supported T. Rex at the Brixton Academy, but most of the audience were teenage girls desperate to see Marc Bolan, and the band was booed heavily. They appeared on BBC2 ''In Concert'' in 1973. In 1974 original members O'Brien and Molloy left, and Morley joined

Man A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromo ...

,Biography of Help Yourself by Phil McMullen
retrieved 18 November 2008 so guitarists Willy Finlayson and Ed Deane, and keyboardist

Kevin McAlea Kevin () is the anglicized form of the Irish masculine given name (; mga, Caoimhghín ; sga, Cóemgein ; Latinized as ). It is composed of "dear; noble"; Old Irish and ("birth"; Old Irish ). The variant '' Kevan'' is anglicized from , a ...

, joined. This line up recorded the second album, but EMI dropped both the unreleased album and the band. Another album was cut for

DJM Records DJM Records (also known as Dick James Music) was the British independent record label, set up in the late 1960s by British music publisher Dick James. It was distributed by Pye Records in the UK, and various other companies around the world, ...

, but when this was also not released, the band broke up in late 1974. After the break-up, Byrne moved to

Ace An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the ca ...

, Demick and Finlayson formed Meal Ticket, and McAlea went on to work with Kate Bush on her 1979 tour and her series of concerts in 2014 in London. A 4-track EP ("Sylvie"/"Namalee"/"Boogie Queen"/"Don't Stop Now") entitled ''Bees Make Honey'' was released by Charly (CEP 117) in 1977. In November 1996, Bees Make Honey were included along with other notable UK pub rock bands on a two-disc compilation by EMI ''Naughty Rhythms: The Best of Pub Rock'' (EMI Premiere 37968). Subsequently, in 2003, label Acadia released a two-disc anthology entitled ''Back on Track'', combining studio sessions and representative live performances by the band. The Bees also contribute three tracks ("What Have we Got to Loose", "Indian Bayou Saturday" and "Dance Around") and Meal Ticket one ("Day Job") to ''Goodbye Nashville, Hello Camden Town: A Pub Rock Anthology'' issued by Castle Records in March 2007 (CMEDD1451).

References

Sources

*
Bees Make Honey - Music Every Night
* AMG: Naughty Rhythmsbr>Pub Rock
a
irishrock.org
{{Authority control British pub rock music groups Musical groups established in 1971 Musical groups disestablished in 1974