The two members of the band Benefits
Credit: Tom White

NEWS: Benefits releases new single ‘Divide’ + announce album + tour

Teesside’s Benefits return with new single‘Divide‘ taken from their second album, Constant Noise set for release on 21st March via Invada Records. The new track features guest vocals from Middlesbrough rapper Shakk.

Constant Noise follows the band’s 2023 debut album NAILS, which landed in April last year as a passionate expression of anger and disillusionment about divisive, xenophobic, and toxic rhetoric, told through the filter of brutal, eviscerating music.

The new single ‘Divide’, which was premiered by Steve Lamacq on BBC Radio 6 Music last night, sees the duo find a middle ground between their early heavier sensibilities and their new electronically driven material. Combining hyperactive club rhythms and Berghain-heavy basslines, as vocalist Kingsley Hall and Middlesbrough rapper Shakk bob and weave around each other with acerbic lines around the divisive state of the nation, and indeed, the world-at-large. Speaking about the track vocalist Kingsley explains:

“‘Divide’ is a punk song about society at war with itself over every conceivable issue. It’s angry about everything from war, inequality, misplaced patriotism and poverty; to greed and the industrialisation and monetisation of hate.

It’s an attempt to bring together everything that Benefits in 2025 represents, both sonically and lyrically. We wanted to merge heavy electronica, traditional punk and protest, to create an assault on the senses in the best possible way. Along with producer James Adrian Brown, we threw beat after beat at it and brought in our friend Shakk to add pure fire and heart. It’s a piece about division but done in the spirit of unity.”

Shakk is just one of the many collaborators on the new record, the previous single featured Peter Doherty of legendary indie band The Libertines. whilst their return single ‘Land Of The Tyrants’ also saw Zera Tønin, the singer of queerpop-electro duo Arch Femmesis, join on guest vocals, whereas ‘Lies And Fear‘ features Neil Cooper of Therapy?.

The album promises to glean as much from the likes of Underworld and Leftfield as it does the likes of The Streets or Beastie Boys in their pomp, or even the 90s / early 00s so-called Indie Sleaze era, with some ideas mined and reworked from some of Hall’s former musical endeavours. Thematically, the album still has an inherent Britishness about it, digging into the misinformation touted by political parties, and their attempts to build a sense of nostalgia you’re not even sure was real in order to manipulate your future. Another looming subject is the spectre of war, the helpless fact that it is ever present in the background of our privileged day to day lives, and the realisation that our troubles and concerns are utterly insignificant buy comparison. The album also segues into the band’s most personal material to date, with Hall examining the existential dread that comes with ageing, the fast passage of time, and the journey of parenthood. It also examines mortality, grief, and the passing of his late father. Speaking further on the record, Hall shares:

“none of this sounds joyous, but believe me, it is, we strived for a dark euphoria, plus it was a thrill to make. It’s an album we’re all immensely proud of. We knew it was going to be a risk to go against the formula of our debut, especially as it was so well received by critics, but we never wanted this band to become predictable or get stuck in a rut. We prefer being on the edge of not quite knowing what we’re doing, our discomfort driving creativity. Benefits was designed as a collaborative project and whether that means we get our mate onstage to sing a folk song or ask the drummer from Therapy to play for us, that’s how it survives, and that’s how it will remain.”


Alongside the new single, Benefits have also shared details of a short run of *in-stores in March to support the release. These come ahead of their UK tour dates for April 2025.

Benefits Live Dates

March
21 MIDDLESBROUGH Unit 41 [Sold Out]
22 SHEFFIELD *Bear Tree
25 LONDON *Rough Trade East
26 BRIGHTON *Resident
27 COVENTRY *Just Dropped In
April
5+6 CROYDON Cro Cro Land
22 HEBDEN BRIDGE Trades Club
23 HULL Social
24 NOTTINGHAM Bodega
25 LONDON Lexington [Sold Out]
26 BRISTOL Louisiana
27 BIRMINGHAM Hare & Hounds
28 LEICESTER Firebug
29 GLASGOW Rum Shack
30 LEEDS Attic
May
01 MANCHESTER The White Hotel
02 GATESHEAD Glasshouse

For more information on Benefits please check facebook and instagram.

God is in the TV is an online music and culture fanzine founded in Cardiff by the editor Bill Cummings in 2003. GIITTV Bill has developed the site with the aid of a team of sub-editors and writers from across Britain, covering a wide range of music from unsigned and independent artists to major releases.