BENEFITS + POLITE BUREAUX – THE HOPE & RUIN, BRIGHTON 23.10.24
Teesside, made up of Middlesbrough, Billingham and Stockton-on-Tees among other places, is home to approximately 376,633 citizens. In 2019, four of that 376,633 suddenly became a stomping ground for a vocal resurgence in the modern range of post-punk and electronic music. Benefits is a project masterminded by Kingsley Hall, exercising its right to protest and create stances and points of view of working class life in broken Britain. Their April 2023 release ‘Nails’, caused a heatwave among the deeper musical hotspots, where Kingsley’s vocabulary of brutal honesty atop soundscapes of beats, noise and synths resonated with music fans across the counties.
Since ‘Nails’, I’ve been keeping myself abreast with the music of Benefits, including the September release of ‘Land Of The Tyrants’, the lead single from their currently unreleased sophomore album. This track has been heralded as an exciting development on Benefits’ cracked and turgid electronic persuasions, connecting with their audiences further through vocal clarity and a single artwork featuring young photographs of the now-duo of Kingsley and his aide Robbie Major who joins in live performances via synths, violin and beats. Tailing towards the end of an 18-date tour across the UK and Europe, Hall and Major (sounds like a solicitors…) found themselves heading for Brighton’s Hope & Ruin on Wednesday night courtesy of Love Thy Neighbour.
Opening for Benefits is one of my favourite bands of all-time, the post-punk and spoken word outfit Polite Bureaux. Formed in Bradford and now Brighton based, this group, spearheaded by Joe Smith, collates poetry and storytelling of the dark corners in this city of culture, backed with synth from sister Maya, bass guitar from Viv Maher and drums from session player Connor Griffiths. Catching them support Benefits was truly a testament to my dedication to Polite Bureaux, making this my 17th time catching them! Back in March this year, Joe dropped a DIY release entitled ‘C**t Monday’, a project of epic proportions which acts as a prelude to the ‘EXCEPT YOUR SKINT’ album that is scheduled for early next year.
The Hope & Ruin crowd began to simmer down as the quartet made their way onto the stage and broke through the walls with title track from ‘C**t Monday’. The aggressions of Joe’s vocals are made evident straight away with repeating shouts of “c**t in a white Tesla!” screeching atop pinging synths and driving basslines. ‘Dollars And Dimes’ and ‘Dirty Tw*t’ drive up the energy even further, with the former’s tempo beginning to push breaking point as Joe delivers his sermon to the Benefits crowd and the latter featuring the unmistakable backing vocals of one Dave Mulvaney, AKA Meryl Streek.
The heavy and glitch-layered ‘UAMELON’ evokes memories of The Prodigy, which should make no surprise to long-term fans given the band’s collaborations with ex-drummer Kieron Pepper being a stoic driving force, while ‘Stink’ features a more propulsive and hyperactive sonic interplay, with darker lyrical themes of alcoholism taking hold of the audience’s throat. Joe and his cohorts end the set with a three-song streak that conveniently heralds what I believe to be his best songs yet. Starting with ‘BODYROCKER’, a track which, since I heard it circulating live shows as early as November 2022, constantly sticks in my head and psyche, with its unmatched chorus line of “dealing with mess, stress, I confess, SOS” and illustrious stories surrounding autism enveloping the listeners wonderfully.
Now, it’s very likely that I could claim that ‘Scratchcard’ has the real potential of being my favourite single of the year. Comprising some infectious 8-bit based electronic patterns and propulsive rhythmic grooves, this song details an experience of winning enough money to cover a fuel journey across the M606; all this, while enforcing the audience does not refuse to bounce along to the song. Closing out the set is the beautifully hypnotic ‘Broke Biscuits’, a track which has a very New Order flair to it, all the while capturing snapshots taken across the ‘C**t Monday’ in the form of lyrical snippets that appear in virtually every song in the set, and the album itself. Packing down, Polite Bureaux became prone to various levels of congratulations from Benefits fans and newbies, continuing to cement the band as one of the most exciting DIY outfits out there.
Polite Bureaux:
Joe Smith – vocals
Maya Smith – backing vocals, synth
Viv Maher – bass guitar
Connor Griffiths – drums
Polite Bureaux setlist:
‘C**t Monday’
‘Dollars and Dimes’
‘Dirty Tw*t’
‘UAMELON’
‘Stink’
‘BODYROCKER’
‘Scratchcard’
‘Broke Biscuits’
Twenty minutes pass over and we are slowly spoonfed the introduction to the hour-plus Benefits set with a spacey electronic opening track, backlit by dark blue lighting and glow-in-the-dark green tape scattered across the floor and equipment. Both Kingsley and Robbie patiently make their way onto the stage and musically engage with the introduction piece with synth drones and atmospheric textures before heading into the opening track ‘Constant Noise’, an equally patient piece that paints a depiction of the perils of continual everyday living as the lyric of “What am I required to hate today?” permeating under deep sub bass tones. The duo seamlessly transition into ‘Land Of The Tyrants’ with its deep electro rhythm and cries of “Hail to the thief!” (a phrase that is still applicable to the current political landscape), powerhousing the room with gravitas. One of only four tracks in the set from their ‘Nails’ album, ‘Warhorse’ comes complete with pounding electro kicks and 808 snares, as well as some utter annihilating synth growls, completely amplified from the original song’s soundscape.
Where the material on the ‘Nails’ album was openly topical around British society and the downfalls of it, it’s evident that the material on this next album, particularly on the songs ‘Lies’ and ‘Missiles’ is centred around climates that are more omnipresent and devastating, namely the ongoing genocide in Gaza. The former of these two tracks is short and harrowing, backed by flashing red lights and free form drum collisions, while the latter includes some violin textures from Robbie and a unique build of mania and intensity from Kingsley’s vocal stanzas. The track ‘Blame’, oddly enough, reminds me of a Polite Bureaux song, with its four on the floor electro beat making for some of the most rhythmically entrancing moments of the Benefits set, as well as some strong rave/house keyboard samples painting the backdrop of the song. ‘Divide And Be Conquered’ plays around with that rhythmic beguilement, albeit more erratic, with Kingsley standing on the podium in front of the stage, looking out to his congregation across a patient bridge that leads to an intense drop toward the song’s back end.
Out of all the songs in the set, ‘Relentless’ was a moment that really felt out of its time for me; the combination of electro beats, violin and electric guitar samples really took me out of comfort for a totally different reason than the rest of the performance, this feeling of questioning transcendence that is indescribable at best. Now, my favourite track of Benefits came next, ‘Flag’; but like other songs from ‘Nails’ that was played, the duo are able to completely tear apart the song’s cinematics, warping the lyrics’ rhythmic spacings and creating menacing walls of sound that seem somewhat harsher than their recorded counterparts.
Following the sleazy and trippy ‘Dancing On The Tables’, Robbie requests to take a quick toilet break, which Kingsley approves before performing ‘Shit Britain’ in his absence. A fan favourite, this track seems more in line with low-key shades of garage music than ‘Nails’s typical post-punk palate, but the audience chanting the title lyric with Kingsley was such a joy to behold, leading Kingsley to state “that must have been how Freddie Mercury felt at Wembley!”. He takes a moment to discuss how talking to the audience at gigs aids him in overcoming stress and anxiety before he turns quizzical at the sound of one audience member cheering at the mention of Bognor during a story about playing ‘Rockaway Beach’.
Robbie sets back up again before he and Kingsley enter the most peaceful and serene song in the set, ‘Everything’. A painting of guitar clatterings and field recordings against some idyllic lyricism from Kingsley culminate in such blissful moments that it’s hard not feel some kind of heartwarming passion for the band. Somehow, that bliss is carried through to the penultimate track of the main set, ‘Burnt Out’, backed by cathedral organs and some low-end and warm vocals that Kingsley brings to the table in the form of the lyrics “I’ll live and die for this land” / “and you can take me home”.
However, the last song before the encore, ‘Traitors’ from ‘Nails’, completely takes hold of that bliss, chews it up and spits it out, deformed, crooked and twisted as the bulk of this song is contorted with distortion, noise and an array of power electronics and screaming vocals – easily the most harrowing and nightmarish moment of the entire set. As Robbie and Kingsley take a minute to breathe, the audience demands for one more song, prompting the pair to play ‘Taking Us Back’, a much needed comedown from ‘Traitors’ with its sinister synth electro beat and nonchalant vocal delivery. Kingsley departs promptly to head towards the merch table, leaving Robbie by his lonesome to make four final demands:
“Thanks to Polite Bureaux.
Thanks to Phoebe on sound.
RIP to Geoff Capes.
Free Palestine”.
Benefits:
Kingsley Hall – vocals, synths
Robbie Major – synths, beats, violin
Benefits setlist:
‘Constant Noise’
‘Land Of The Tyrants’
‘Warhorse’
‘Lies’
‘Missiles’
‘Blame’
‘Divide And Be Conquered’
‘Relentless’
‘Flag’
‘Dancing On The Tables’
‘Shit Britain’
‘Everything’
‘Burnt Out’
‘Traitors’
(encore)
‘Taking Us Back’
