They've always been a reliable source of hard hitting punk noise and things aren't about to change with the release of a new album titled Human Capital. It's due out on July 8th and on the evidence of the 3 tracks they've drip fed us thus far it's going to be pretty damn special. If you're in the US, you can order it on red vinyl (500 copies available) from Iron Lung Records (https://ironlungrecords.bigcartel.com/product/bad-breeding-human-capital-lp) and this is the first paragraph of a decent synopsis from the label...
Stevenage based, Bad Breeding, call for solidarity with their fourth album ‘Human Capital’, a pointed and brutal display of aggression steeped in political awareness. Across twelve merciless anarchopunk inspired tracks they attack Conservative meritocracy and the exploitative forces of late capitalism with a cacophony of blistering guitars and thunderous drums played with an intensity that refuses to abate.
Stevenage anarcho noise merchants Bad Breeding are preparing to return all guns blazing with a new album titled Exiled. It'll be out on One Little Indian Records and Iron Lung Records on June 21st and on the evidence of the 2 songs they've teased us with so far it's going to be something special. You can check out those tracks and preorder the album here : https://badbreeding.bandcamp.com/album/exiled
Their third album, it's accompanied by a statement from the band :
"There are homeless young people in Stevenage town centre and in order to feed themselves they are begging people for money. There is a food bank in Stevenage. It provides meals to families who can't afford them; many of them are in work. Demand for the food bank's services, funded and staffed by the generosity of local working-class people, has increased rapidly over the last three years. Yet Stevenage is just over thirty miles from one of the richest cities on earth.
"There is no complexity or ambiguity to these facts - they are a deep, visceral shame on the political forces that have held power for the last forty years. They are not circumstances visited on us by some remote force like the weather. They happened because of savage ideological choices designed to humiliate and psychologically kneecap the great majority of us who are the victims in this sickening charade.
"There is resistance in the face of the brutality. The quiet dignity with which communities have borne this violence and sought to staunch the bleeding wherever possible is one. The inarticulate outbursts of rage, collective and progressive or isolated and reactionary, are another. But neither the coping mechanisms of the kind, or the refusal to cooperate from the rebels, can bring change quickly enough. The entrenched logic of capital and the callousness it breeds within us lies like a suffocating smog over our towns, choking out the sun and the infant cries of our aspirations.
"In these desperate circumstances it is still seen as puerile utopianism to demand that children go to school fed or that young people might have a place to live not at the mercy of a venal landlord or a change in circumstance. Basic human empathy is treated like an unfortunate weakness.
"Sadistic military machismo is unquestioningly lauded. The ability, the desire, to detonate bombs which kill hundreds of thousands and scorch the earth for generations are praised as a sign of strength rather than the mark of a bloodthirsty sociopath. The urge for fascistic violence is slowly winked at and nudged forward.
"Because no one is saying the obvious doesn't mean that it shouldn't be said. When manicured centrists in a detached media-class bubble stack up likes and retweets for being 'radical' enough to say things that any decent human being should feel as a matter of course it is clear other voices are vital.
"To sneer at their self-congratulatory mediocrity.
"To demand more.
"To point out that if you are in the middle of the road you get run down.
"It's not radical to live with dignity. It's not radical for people to be able to feed, house and clothe themselves. But in this country that is a right extended to fewer people by the day. The chance for genuine human flourishing, for a good and fulfilling life in concert with your community, is an ever more remote possibility to millions crushed under the pressure of their postcode."
As you can tell from the statement, and the lyrics to the song you'll find below, Bad Breeding don't just make glorious noise. They also put a lot of thought into the message they're trying to convey. Definitely one of the UK punk scenes most important bands, they deserve your attention. This is Whose Cause?
Another timely scapegoat plastered on the cover a portrait of mistrust to march you up the hill Demonised faith, an all-too-familiar face Whose truth to trust, who will twist the blade? See they’ll simplify you and they’ll simplify me to sanction a war on solidarity Another barbed tool to facilitate division through suspicion, fear and hate
And they’ll lead you down the path to show you all that’s wrong Milk you until the veil is pulled … now it’s your turn So whose cause are you really bending for?
Another timely scapegoat plastered on the cover Same monied lobby boys punching down on easy targets, to dig out the weak see you might find comfort in the chuckling heap but who really wins when you recycle their shit? Just because it fits, doesn’t mean it is Rank nationalism, what really was it for? A timeless con trick to keep you from scratching at their door
Bad Breeding are from Stevenage, Hertfordshire, got together at the end of 2013 and feature Chris Dodd (vocals), Charlie Rose (bass), Matt Toll (guitar) and Ashlea Bennett (drums).
Pay a visit to their website ( http://anageofnothing.tumblr.com/ ) and you'll be confronted by a montage of various images and sounds, click the small audio tab at the top and you'll receive a free download of their excellent self titled album. It's loud, it's chaotic, it's unapologetically in your face and it's one of the best albums of 2016.
They'll soon be touring the UK so watch out for them (dates here : http://anageofnothing.tumblr.com/live), if the album is anything to go by, the live shows will be a riot.
"A simple four-chord nod to old anarcho songs" this is Burn This Flag.....
if it tastes like ash it's probably your future i hate to say i told you so found it hard to define what was written in your mind swishing blades around your mouth just to make you feel alive if it tastes like ash it's probably your future i hate to say i told you so long grown sick of killing time red-stained morals colour bleak through lines burn this flag if it tastes like ash it's probably your future i hate to say i told you so numb from the pressure brought by the strain a heavy crown weighs on a desolate age
