Benefits - Flag

  

  Has anyone not heard the latest track to be released by Middlesbrough collective Benefits (https://www.facebook.com/benefitstheband/) yet? It's a song that's getting plenty of attention (and attracting comments such as "...this years Bob Vylan") and as such it's tempting not to bother adding my voice to the crescendo and to post something more obscure instead. But they're important. They're fresh and have something to say. So here's another blog that's recommending you give them a listen. 

   Formed in 2019 and featuring a line up of Kingsley Chapman (Guitar/Vocal), Jonny Snowball (Drums), Robbie Major (Synth/Noise) and Hugh Major (Bass), they play noisy songs about the state of the country we live in. They deal with subjects such as xenophobia, repression and the Rule Britannia ethos that's beginning to leave a foul stench drifting up from our green and pleasant land. You can find their music here : https://benefitstheband.bandcamp.com/ 

  Don't expect typical cookie cutter punk rock. It's a sound that hops genres, it's inventive, topical and angry. It says what needs saying. And therefore it's more punk than pretty much any of the bands that you like.

  This is Flag

  And this is what they say about it;  "Flag" is about trying to understand Great Britain's place in the world today behind its shambolic and angry appearance. It's a reaction against British politicians using nationalism as a red, white and blue seducer to drag the country's eyes and brains away from the calamity they live in. The weird obsession the country has with war; the arrogance of how illustrious it thinks it is perceived to be by the rest of the world; and the misguided view that by simply waving a flag you somehow paper over the crack of simultaneously despising millions of your countrymen, presumably including fellow patriots.

This place stinks of old wars,
Subservience, semi-final defeats
God and flags
Pulling your mask down for a fag.
You’re a musty relic,
Hiding behind that tatty sheet, shouting, screaming, getting pulled back by your mates. Stamping on cans, raw neck in the sun. Dog water on tap.
What even are you?
You’ve been had mate
The Italian job is on, sit down, shut up, quote the funnies, laugh at the foreigns, drink yer tea, tell the kids everything is shit these days,
wave yer fucking flag, wave yer fucking flag, WAVE YER FUCKING FLAG
Feel powerful, feel proud,
Subjects oh subjects, we used to be this, we used to be that, and we want it back,
but no one is jealous, no one cares, so wheel it all out
Break that emergency glass, parade forever, make it meaningless,
Bow down to that tatty flag. But what does it mean? What does it mean?
WAVE YER FUCKING FLAG
You still hate your fucking neighbour, the clothes you wear are foreign anyway, expensive or cheap and your car is German and its nice, good runner, decent milage, reliable…
The other town down the road are all inbred you said, they all talk funny don’t they - fucking weirdos - Oh and That London eh, don’t get me started, what a shithole ey ey ey?!
You’re fucking broken, your heads gone,
Imagine some good old days you think existed, we deserve better than this…
BLUE BLOOD STILL RUNS RED

Privilege won’t save you.
Eton won’t save you.
People who speak Latin WILL NOT save you.
That stiff upper lip will crumble, THAT silver spoon will be sold, you’ll be forgotten.
You’re nothing to them, NOTHING.
Stop falling for their bullshit,
Throw those plastic chairs, puff out your chest, rule Bri-fucking-tannia, rule those foreign fucking waves, you can’t even swim straight - armbands on - yer getting dragged down, yer drowing in it all, DROWING IN IT ALL
That flag won’t protect you forever, it’ll sink, it looks worn, the colours are running, wasn’t even made here
It’s all a lie.
This isn’t politics, you’re just holding a flag, you’re just a fucking pole.
Wave yer fucking flag
Wave your flag
WAVE. YOUR. FLAG.

Old City (Ft. Murs) - Sixers

 

"My story ain't like yours..."

  Old City (https://www.facebook.com/oldcityphl) are from Philadelphia and may be a band that you'll enjoy if you're looking for more music in the vein of current UK faves Bob Vylan. Blurring the boundaries between hip hop and punk rock, they rather splendidly line up thus; Billy Joel Armstrong (guitar), Tre Coolio (vocals), Flea Ving (bass), Madonna Summer (vocals), Alanis Morrissey (drums), Chuck Berry White (vegan noise) & Marky Mark Ronson (turntables). 

  They released an ep in 2017 titled Black Bastards and returned late last year with a new 5 track Self Titled offering. You can get both here : https://oldcityphl.bandcamp.com/album/old-city 

  This is the track which is getting most attention, not only does it feature a guest appearance from West Coast rapper Murs (who tells us the story of his life on the punk rock scene), it also samples from Black Flag's classic Six Pack (and listen out for a tip of the hat to Cockney Reject's Police Car). It's called Sixers... 

Rats From A Sinking Ship - Wuhan Calling

  

  Looney Lefties, Rats From A Sinking Ship (https://www.facebook.com/RATSFROMASINKINGSHIP/) return today with a track from their excellent new album Glamorous Terrorists. The Ilkeston rap punk outfit features a core duo of Lusty on vocals and Jamie Price on guitars and for this new album they welcome Kev Frost on drums (he's a genre veteran having been in numerous bands such as Sick On The Bus, The Backstreet Abortions, The Varukers etc). 

  The album will be out in time for Halloween and whilst it's too early yet to feature my favourite track from it (Dedicated Follower Of Fascism), I've had permission to give it a play on next Sunday's Just Some Punk Songs show so don't miss it. As for the rest of the album, it's unmistakably Rats From A Sinking Ship lp; Lusty spits out his sharply observational punk rhymes over a menacing rap/metal soundtrack. Aim is taken at worthy targets and hits dead centre. I did comment to Jamie that this time around I was picking up somewhat of a Bob Vylan vibe from the album to which he replied "Oh. Yeah I like their stuff. We'd actually demoed everything just before I heard We Live Here. I saw the similarities but it's just coincidence or synchronicity or whatever you'd call it. We keep trying to do something we've not tried before." 

  Other highlights include Out In The Woods Where She Finds Peace in which the first part of the track comes across like a hauntingly atmospheric piece of poetry backed with something approaching a delicate Nick Cave type soundtrack and Lewis Collins As Bodie which is one for the nostalgia freaks conjuring up memories of everything from The A Team, Grange Hill, R White's Lemonade, The Two Ronnies and J R Hartley! Closing track Death To The Ex is particularly hard hitting (and the most like Bob Vylan). It's an album not to be missed. 

  This is the video they've just released. It takes it's inspiration from a classic and updates it to comment on 2020's biggest issue (that's if you don't think climate change is an even bigger issue as that's the one that'll make this year seem like happy days!). It's titled Wuhan Calling... 

 

Bob Vylan - We Live Here (Guest Review By Dave Decision)

  It's always good when I can rope in someone to do a guest review, especially when they make as good a go at it as Dave Decision has today. Dave's featured on here before as lead vocalist & guitarist with Falmouth punks Rash Decision (https://www.facebook.com/rashdecision/) and with his other band F. Emasculata (https://www.facebook.com/F.Emasculata/). He also runs Dead Invoices Records (https://www.facebook.com/Dead-Invoices-Records-108058390800098/).

  Dave wants to recommend you all check out Bob Vylan (https://www.facebook.com/BobVylan/), a London duo that are currently blowing up big....

And so it started like any other day, scrolling through my feed when a thumbnail of Bob Vylan’s singer appeared for their single ‘We Live Here’ on YouTube. Their singer is wearing a big fake fur animal patterned overcoat, bleached jeans, boots, sports long dreads and a Crass t-shirt, enough to peak my interest in looks alone. Then the song ‘We Live Here’ plays. Finally a band with something of actual, immediate and relevant substance to say. Something that screams honesty and arresting delivery. The song starts with a distorted and lo-fi guitar before a racist sample pauses the song, allowing the full chorus riff to kick in and pin your shoulders to the wall. Some distorted, rapped vocals pepper scenes of recognisable working class British hotspots including the pub, the corner shop, high rises, police cars, and chips. Sounding strongly autobiographical, the singer talks about elements of his life growing up in London as a mixed-race child with a white mum. The delivery of the chorus line ‘we didn’t appear out of thin air / we live here’ batters and bruises its way to its intended target. Racists, bigots and nationalists are placed squarely in the crosshairs. Sonically, the lo-fi recording is clear enough to make sure they lyrics are heard and their impact can be felt, with the instrumentation grotty enough to broadcast their allegiance to their DIY punk rock roots. And judging by the 6K additional views since I first saw the video a couple of days ago, it looks like Bob Vylan are hitting home. They could be the next Sleaford Mods, or the next Idles in terms of their impact on the modern musical and political landscape…they’ve perfected the acute lyrical snarl we’ve come to expect in punk rock, but it is incredibly rare to hear something so honest and to wear their personal identities and struggles on their sleeve. It’s easy to write about why you don’t like the government, or against animal abuse or climate change, or to reel off well-worn lines about death/war/destruction: there’s plenty of lines to lift from other bands that have trodden this lyrical path for you. Bob Vylan is for those who are a bit braver than that, and are inviting you into their own personal hell. Their live gigs showcase the live delivery of a hardcore band, and their tones display the type of filth and grot that you can’t manufacture in an expensive studio. They’re the real deal, and they’ve got bigger balls than everyone else. They sound…dangerous. How many bands have recently achieved that? Looks like they’ll be working with Venn Records soon, which is owned and managed by Lags from Gallows, so expect to see a lot more of these guys soon. Personally I’ll be shocked if I hear anything better by anyone else all year.

https://bobvylan.bandcamp.com/

  This is We Live Here...