Benefits have returned with their new single ‘Land Of The Tyrants’, marking their first new material since their debut album ‘NAILS’, released via Invada Records in April 2023.
The Teesside band have undergone changes since their debut, now operating as a two-piece comprising frontman Kingsley Hall and electronic musician Robbie Major, leading to a shift in their musical approach.
“Maybe it’s better to just give up,” muses Hall, reflecting on the past year. “A year of endlessly stopping and starting, building up, getting knocked down, transforming, imploding. I’m sure we split up at one point, but it just slipped our minds, so we carried on. Audiences came intrigued by what they’d heard about us in the music press, some stayed, some fled to the nearest exit their hands cupped tight round their ears. We supported Warmduscher and a guy in the front row recommended I get therapy. We got album of the year accolades for something we recorded in our bedrooms. It was a strange old time.”
Despite the tumultuous period, the band have persevered, exploring new musical territory with ‘Land Of The Tyrants’. Hall explains: “Our songs are still angry, WE are still angry, but we are approaching it all in a different way. This is a punk move from us, this IS punk, but not as you might know it.”
The new single features guest vocals from Zera Tønin of Arch Femmesis, whom Hall describes as delivering “the most intense, horrifying and strangely musical scream I’ve ever heard” when supporting Benefits in Nottingham. The track was produced with input from electronic musician James Welsh.
An accompanying video, directed by John Kirkbride, takes inspiration from the 1980 film ‘The Long Good Friday’. Hall comments: “I’m not very good at being Bob Hoskins but Robbie is surprisingly good at being Pierce Brosnan, that’s my hot take. If the people who make Bond movies want to get in touch our DMs are open. There’s something really gratifying about having a daft idea in the middle of the night – like wanting to recreate the final scene in The Long Good Friday – and then seeing it materialise with a few wonky edges, a few days later on your laptop screen.”
Benefits are set to embark on a UK and EU tour this autumn, including festival appearances at Left Of The Dial, Iceland Airwaves, and Transmusical. The tour dates are as follows:
SEPTEMBER
21 Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow, UK
OCTOBER
5 The Parish, Huddersfield, UK
6 Kanteena, Lancaster, UK
7 The Hug and Pint, Glasgow, UK
8 The Wee Red Bar, Edinburgh, UK
9 Tunnels, Aberdeen, UK
10 Tolbooth, Stirling, UK
11 Play Brew, Middlesbrough, UK
12 Shipping Forecast, Liverpool, UK
13 The Ferret, Preston, UK
17 Left of the Dial, Rotterdam, Netherlands
18 acu, Utrecht, Netherlands
19 Left of the Dial, Rotterdam, Netherlands
20 Cafe de Zwerver, Ostend, Belgium
22 Joiners, Southampton, UK
23 Hope and Ruin, Brighton, UK
24 Where Else, Margate, UK
25 The George Tavern, London, UK
26 Le Pub, Newport, UK
NOVEMBER
9 Iceland Airwaves, Reykjavik, Iceland
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