Benefits have shared ‘Missiles’, a powerful new anti-war single. Check it out below.
READ MORE: Meet Benefits: an instant punk battlecry against flag-shaggers (and Chris Martin)
The track is taken from the Teesside duo’s upcoming second album ‘Constant Noise’, which will arrive on March 21 via Invada Records and serves as the follow-up to 2023’s ‘NAILS’.
So far, they’ve shared lead single ‘Land Of The Tyrants’, as well as ‘Relentless’, which features Pete Doherty of The Libertines.
Now, on Christmas Eve, they’ve shared their ominous, “wildly angry” and “anti-war” single ‘Missiles’. Speaking on the song, frontman Kingsley Hall said they aimed to channel their message in an “unconventional way”.
“There’s no shouting or obvious sloganeering here, yet it’s still seething with fury,” he said. “Lyrically it’s an attempt to look at our own comfortable, mundane, western lives and question why the terror and horror of others can fade so far into the background that it barely registers when it’s mentioned on the news or pops up on your phone.
Benefits (Credit: Tom White)
The experimental, six-minute track slowly builds to an intense finale, culminating in a harrowing atmosphere as Hall sings: “And the man says the missiles are firing again.”
Alongside the track, the band have shared a dramatic video that features Hall performing alone in an empty theatre. According to Hall, the video was an attempt to “mirror the glacial slowness of the song”.
He continued: “There needed to be a certain level of intensity so we went back a little to the aesthetic of some of the earliest Benefits videos where next to nothing would really happen – just a lone figure in front of a static camera – in doing so, the smallest gestures become important. I essentially play a fool – performing to no one, applauding myself, patting myself on the back by doing the bare minimum – emphasising the core themes of ignorance and pomposity at the heart of the song itself.”
Check it out below.
In other news, Benefits recently shared details of a new tour across the UK, that will kick off on April 22 and see them make stops in Hull, Nottingham, Bristol, Birmingham, Glasgow, Manchester and more. A slot at the Lexington venue in London is also scheduled for April 25. Tickets are on sale now and available here.
Following the announcement of the tour, the band confirmed that they will be making the shows more accessible for fans by implementing both a price cap at £12 per ticket and enforcing a 10pm curfew.
Explaining their reasons for the decision, the band wrote: “You might remember us asking what could be made to improve gigs in this age of spiralling costs + venues closing. We got loads of suggestions and took them onboard. So for our tour in 2025, all tickets are £12, all shows are two band bills, and all music will be over by 10pm…”
“We pushed the ticket price down as much as we could to make it more affordable. Two band bills seemed to be popular, more opportunity for the opening act. And while we can’t fix crap public transport, we hope that finishing by 10pm gives people more of a chance to cheaply get home,” they added.
“Stage times will be published weeks (if not months) in advance and not just on the night so that gig-goers can properly plan, especially if they’re having to travel in. Thank you to everyone that got in touch, we read through the lot and have tried to implement as much as we can.”
The post Listen to Benefits’ powerful new “anti-war” single ‘Missiles’ appeared first on NME.
