Benefits have shared a fierce new track titled ‘Meat Teeth’ – you can check out its accompanying video below.
The latest release from the Teesside punk outfit tells the tale of “overheard conversations and frustrations, underpinned by disillusionment and rage”.
“Where will you be?/ Alone on your meat rack? Poundshop Balzac, where will you be?/ Up against some television piss wall, gimp faced clown in hand me downs. Plastic frowns. Where will you be?” frontman Kingsley Hall – formerly of The Chapman Family – asks as the track begins.
With powerful moments spread throughout its four minutes and 15 seconds, the track builds into a raging crescendo that hears Hall sign off screaming: “So fuck the lot. Fuck the lot. Fuck. The. Lot/ Where will you be? Where will you be?/ When England burns!”
Shot by Steven Bardgett, you can check out the video for ‘Meat Teeth’ below:
Speaking about the new track, Hall said: “There’s a realisation creeping in that everything in the country is at breaking point – that we’re beyond saving, and we’re collapsing in a big heap of red, white and blue streamers, lying Etonians and food banks. People on all sides of the debate have lost all sense and reason and you can feel the aggression building around this once green and pleasant land like the raw sewage currently flowing into every river. It’s a free for all now.”
He continued: “The core of the song was pulled together when the combination of Downing Street party revelations and the sheer greed of the Christmas season started to rip through my battered soul.”
In addition to the release of ‘Meat Teeth’, Benefits have also announced some new dates for their upcoming UK headline tour.
Set to kick off in Birmingham next month, the band will now perform a number of shows in April. Starting in Sheffield on April 18, Benefits will take in venues in Hebden Bridge, Hull, Brighton, Liverpool, Middlesborough, and they’ll end the run at Rough Trade in Bristol on April 24.
“We can’t wait to get out on tour and unite people in their shared anger at the dismal state of things, all overlayed with some heavy beats, a bit of wit and noise. It’ll be oddly euphoric. This isn’t just 30 minutes of Kingsley shouting at the audience,” the band said in a statement.
Tickets are on sale now from here. You can see the full tour schedule below:
FEBRUARY 2022
21 – Birmingham, Hare and Hounds
22 – London, The Grace
23 – Manchester, The White Hotel
24 – Nottingham, Bodega
25 – York, Fulford Arms
26 – Newcastle, Head of Steam
27 – Glasgow, Hug and Pint
APRIL 2022
18 – Sheffield, Sidney and Matilda
19 – Hebden Bridge, Trades Club
20 – Hull, The New Adelphi
21 – Brighton, Green Door Store
22 – Liverpool, Kazimier Stockroom
23 – Middlesbrough, Westgarth Social Club
24 – Bristol, Rough Trade
Speaking to NME back in June, Hall said that he didn’t want Benefits’ live shows to seem “half-arsed” but rather “an explosion of power and anger”.
“We don’t have anyone editing us or telling us what to do,” Hall explained. “We’re not writing to get on radio, we’re not writing to be populist or to be liked. When all that’s off the table, we become more honest, and that’s what seems to be clicking with people. We don’t give a fuck and that’s fine.”
Benefits released a trio of singles last year: ‘Empire’, ‘We See You’ and ‘Flag’.
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