Teesside noise rock spoken word punk band Benefits are set to visit Ireland in May for the first time with the announcement of a debut album this week.
Lead by Kingsley Hall’s righteous vocals, Benefits announced the debut album NAILS is to be released on Geoff Barrow’s Invada Records (BEAK>, Billy Nomates) on April 21st, along with releasing a new single ‘Warhorse’ that exemplifies the band’s M.O. The album was produced by Barrow after he saw them play in his native Bristol.
Benefits’ songs are agit pop music, informed by Brexit, and the divisive nature of modern Britain. About ‘Warhorse’ , Hall says:
“At some point if the boot continues to stamp on us, we’re going to react. Things bug me. They start as little irks and become fiercer. It can take days, sometimes minutes. The phrase “cost of living” being blurted out by an MP when confronted with the poverty of their constituents. Simpering and grovelling to decrepit hierarchical systems. Pageantry and pomp in a time of austerity and cuts. ‘Warhorse’ is a battle. It’s about being tired of being told there’s no options left – being told to bow and courtesy and to shut your face. ‘Warhorse’ is about the need to push that boot back from our faces, raise our heads, stand up and fight.”
Watch ‘Warhorse’:
Irish dates include:
May 4 – Belfast, NI, Deer’s Head Music Hall
May 5 – Limerick, IRE, Dolans
May 6 – Dublin, IRE, Workmans
An extensive UK, EU and Ireland tour has been announced for April, May:
April 21 – Glasgow, UK, Rum Shack
April 22 – Leeds, UK, Lending Room
April 23 – Manchester, UK, Soup
April 24 – Cardiff, UK, Clwb Ifor Bach
April 25 – Tunbridge Wells, UK, Forum
April 26 – Brighton, UK, Chalk
April 27 – London, UK, 100 Club
April 28 – Hebden Bridge, UK, Trades
April 29 – Birmingham, UK, Hare And Hounds
April 30 – Newcastle, UK, The Cluny
May 4 – Belfast, NI, Deer’s Head Music Hall
May 5 – Limerick, IRE, Dolans
May 6 – Dublin, IRE, Workmans
10/05 – Paris, FR, Supersonic
19/05 – Rotterdam, NL, Rotown
20/05 – Amsterdam, NL, London Calling
26/05 – Catton Hall, UK, Bearded Theory Festival
The band announced their signing to Invada with a video in the style of a football signing.
It lead to Kingsley Hall explaining the band’s decision to sign to a label rather than stay strictly DIY, in a Twitter thread that is worth a read.
About Benefits
In their four years of existence, much has changed for Benefits. Over lockdown they morphed from spirited guitar-led punks into overwhelmingly brutal harsh noise-wielders, whose furious, eviscerating music garnered them the kind of word of mouth following most artists can only dream of. Frontman Kingsley Hall’s spoken (and screamed) vocals acting as a righteous rebuke to the divisive, xenophobic, poisonous rhetoric coming from elsewhere, spread by those who stand to profit from the fallout, that had all but overwhelmed our public discourse.
Every time one of the band’s bracing polemics arrived it would spread rapidly across social media like an antidote to that disease and gather more to Benefits’ cause. High profile fans like Steve Albini, Sleaford Mods and Modeselektor were among those on board from the off. Effusive coverage from the likes of NME, The Quietus, Loud & Quiet and The Guardian and more soon followed. Through it all, the outfit remained staunchly DIY, operating entirely without a label, press team or industry leg-ups.
Now, however, they are stepping things up a level, signing to esteemed indie imprint Invada who will release their debut album ‘NAILS’ on April 21. “We could have released a record at any point over the last couple of years but held back because I wanted to wait until the right people came along,” Hall says. The label’s co-founder Geoff Barrow of Portishead was one of the many who’d been drawn to the music as it made waves online, and when he came to see the group perform live in his native Bristol was immediately hooked. His faith in the band has been repaid and then some, producing a record that not only confirms the group’s brilliance, but also redefines what you thought was possible. It captures all of that validating rage that established them one of the most exciting acts in the country – skull crushing fan favourites ‘Flag’, ‘Empire’ and ‘Meat Teeth’ are all present and correct – but also pushes their sound into bold new territory, both sonically and emotionally.
Take lead single ‘Warhorse’ for instance. A playful riposte to those whose limited musical horizons have seen them question the band’s ‘punk’ credentials, the band gathered a series of crushing drum fills, and transformed them into a relentless, inherently danceable electro banger. “I love punk, I love cartoon punk, I think it’s brilliant,” Hall says. “Sometimes we get all that ‘you’re not shit, you’re not punk.’ Bullshit! Yes we are.” He also, however, knows that sometimes the best way to deliver his kind of message is to get people moving. “An iron fist in a velvet glove,” he says, hence the intensified focus on pure rhythm.
