DANNY WORSNOP
THE BLACK HEART, LONDON
Asking Alexandria frontman gets candid and countrified
“this is just for me to get some self-validation,” says Danny Worsnop. love him or hate him, the Asking Alexandria frontman is raucously, refreshingly honest, and his decision to release a country music solo album is a brave move. Taking advantage of a week spent in the UK to sort out his visa, the now-US-based Danny has bagged an intimate gig in Camden Town to play acoustic songs from The Long Road Home and the soon-to-be-released album, Shades Of Blue. Whether his stetson-parading songs of horse-slapping hangover music appeals to the Asking Alexandria massive is hard to judge in a room the size of a bedsit, but the hardcore contingent are lapping it up while some tanked-up lads at the back joke around loudly during a particularly mournful number. It’s safe to say people are here for Danny, not country. Neither the best of the genre nor a honky tonk homage to pre-wrecking ball-riding Miley Cyrus, tonight’s show, peppered with a few AA songs, is enjoyable in its variety. Guitar and vocals duo Stereo Snakes do backing duties and Nicole Allan’s voice is out of this world, adding soothing dapples of light to Danny’s more depressive moments and invigorating his bro-country tunes like I Got Bones and Don’t Overdrink It. This is still the same Danny Worsnop – there are boozing and dick jokes throughout – but his whiskey-soaked vocal cords are perfectly suited to this environment. Fiercely candid, funny and proud of his musical labour of love, the often vilified frontman is actually a joy to watch.