There are three certainties in life: death, taxes and the fact that nature abhors a vacuum. You don’t have to be a philosopher to know this to be true. Whenever something’s finished, has died or withered, a new thing always comes along to take its place. It’s never a carbon copy of the old, evolution is the driving force of progress and the new is usually different and a better version of what was there before. The same rules apply to our own development as a society. In sciences, arts, psychology – a new trend, a new theory, a new discovery replaces what was already known. Music evolution is a great example of this. One genre morphs into another, new band takes the place of those who have split up – panta rhei as Heraclitus used to say. Everything flows and I’m very happy to go with the current of new music than look to the past. Times are hard but the music has never been better as Steve Lamacq was kind to remind us several years ago.
Official bio: Benefits are a band from a forgotten corner of the north east of England who play noisy songs about the dismal state of the country they live in. Forming in 2019 and consisting of Kingsley Hall on vocals, Robbie Major and Hugh Major on synths and noise, and Dale Frost on drums they quickly evolved from a fairly standard IDLES-lite shouty punk rock outfit to a highly politicised group that merges noise, hip hop, industrial rock, electronica, garage and an angry twitter feed to get it’s point across. A completely DIY outfit, (no management, no label, no PR) and despite having zero radio play (due to the nature of their lyrics), through their releases in 2021 they managed to gain fans as diverse as Sleaford Mods, Black Francis, Garbage and Elijah Wood as well as getting significant features in the NME and the Quietus. Their newest single “Thump” was released on 21st of October 2022.
One of the new bands that we have been super excited about, right from the time of their formation, are the Benefits. They perfectly filled the void left by SLAVES and in the last 2 years released some spectacular tunes. They are political to the bone, brilliant writers, poetic in their observation about the current affairs. I have always loved the way they chronicled what is happening around them – the brutal onslaught the conservatives unleashed on the poor (aka austerity), voting for Brexit, coming out of the EU, sleaze and corruption of the political elite and recent scandals. They are a northern band, working class, strong principles. When you mix this with their impressive ability to merge different genres (hip hop, post punk, punk rock, grime, rap and EDM) into a mesmerizing cacophony, you get a truly inspirational, absolutely splendid piece of work.
When Benefits released “Taking Us Back” in 2019, reviewers wrote that they are inspired by SLAVES and IDLES. “Imperfect” released in 2020 with its retro beat brough comparisons with Beastie Boys and (strangely) NWA. By the time “Shit Britain” was released a year later, everyone from NME to your local music zine were at a loss for words. Nobody knew how to categorize a band that escapes all generalizations, plays extremely ear friendly and radio friendly tunes with poetic but highly unfriendly lyrics. If journalists were struggling back then, then the newest offering by the band named “Thump” will utterly confuse all of those who like to tidily fit all music creators into musical boxes.
“Thump” is not a song; it is a 3-minute adventure in sound. It’s experimental, brutal, gritty and slow. Dirty and poetic. It’s a hypnotic, rhythmic recitation, a mantra of some sort. If I was to describe it, it would be IDLES covering “Insomnia” by Faithless with lyrics by Kae Tempest, Extreme Noise Terror behind the guitars and Phil and Paul Hartnoll of Orbital producing. Seriously.
Maybe Benefits are creating a brand-new genre of music that will dominate the independent airwaves in the next decade? Will it be called an industrial electro as nicknamed by the Rolling Stone? Or garage electronic beat? Or post punk grime? Poetic noise punk? Whatever it is, or whatever it will become, the sound of Benefits is brilliant, thrilling and addicting. And evolving.
Not everyone will be a fan of course. Some of the oldest followers of the band are complaining on Twitter that “Thump” is like Marmite. And while I detest Marmite myself, I absolutely love the music made by Benefits.
In my opinion, they are one of the most exciting rock bands we have at this moment.
Benefits will go on their debut tour this November. Catch them at:
18th – Stereo, Glasgow
19th – Pop Recs, Sunderland
20th – Joiners, Southampton
21st – Cavern, Exeter
22nd – Strange Brew, Bristol
23rd – Oslo, London
24th – Bodega, Nottingham
25th – Yes, Manchester
26th – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
Follow the band online at:
https://www.benefitstheband.com/
https://www.facebook.com/benefitstheband
https://twitter.com/benefitstheband
https://www.instagram.com/benefitsuk/
https://www.youtube.com/benefitstheband
https://benefitstheband.bandcamp.com/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5nrO8X72nFeyu3sqYIkskQ
Pictures by Benefits
Rita Dabrowicz
Indieterria 