Narc. Magazine Online
Reliably informed
Snarling Teesside collective bring their furious blend of electronica, industrial rock, hip-hop and garage to a hometown show
Image by Eddy Maynard
What do Black Francis, Steve Albini and Elijah Wood, aka Frodo Baggins, all have in common? They are all vocal advocates of Teesside’s very own Benefits… but then again, of course they are; they’re only human (and a hobbit).
The snarling collective head out on tour again this spring, but will first be dipping a proverbial toe into the waters of the live scene with a triple combo of gigs in early February, including a hometown tear-up at The Empire in Middlesbrough on Friday 3rd February.
Melding aspects of electronica, industrial rock, hip-hop and garage to riotous effect, Benefits’ infectious urgency and unforgiving political agenda has catapulted them to a richly deserved status as one of Britain’s most important underground bands.
Slashing at the artifice of a mainstream post-truth discourse through frontman Kingsley Hall’s loquacious, ranting diatribes and a backdrop of punishing, savage beats, the group rally and rail with a vital fury that has to be witnessed to be fully appreciated. Formidable and looming larger and larger, Benefits kick lumps out of everything in their path, whether it be the confines of musical pigeonholes, or the heaps of bullshit that the megalomaniacs who run this broken island force us to wade through day after day.
Benefits play Middlesbrough Empire on Friday 3rd February.
