Benefits, the Teesside noise outfit led by Kingsley Hall, have announced details of their debut album, Nails, which marks their signing to Invada Records.
The album compiles material from the band’s early releases in 2019, as well as brand new music. You can watch a video for new single ‘Warhorse’, an immediate and direct cut that sees the band repurpose rhythms from 1970s punk music, above.
"I love punk, I love cartoon punk, I think it’s brilliant," Hall said in a statement about the track. "Sometimes we get all that ‘You’re not shit, you’re not punk’. Bullshit! Yes we are.
"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 curtsy 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."
Speaking about the band’s signing to Invada, the label headed by Portishead and Beak> member Geoff Barrow, Hall said: "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."
Benefits will play an extensive run of tour dates across the UK, Ireland and Europe through this spring. Dates and tickets can be found here.
Invada will release Nails on April 21, 2023.
