Benefits / Arch Femmesis (live at The Grace)

London
22 February 2022

OK, so what with Covid an’ all, I haven’t been to a gig in OVER TWO YEARS (Julian Cope at The Barbican, if you must know, and yes, he was ace, and yes, once again I got lost in the venue for ages because Barbican) so it’s with some trepidation that I venture into The Grace to break this ridiculous losing streak. And while I can’t deny it feels a bit weird to start with, it soon becomes apparent that it was well worth it.

Tonight’s first band are Arch Femmesis, and not to put too fine a point on it, they fucking RULE. It’s the Suicide set-up, “vocals” and “instrument”, although there’s Zera Tønin where Alan Vega would be, and she has an amazing voice, taking in both Patti Smith and Diamanda Galás at various points. The venue fills up as they play (it’s an early show, so a lot of people aren’t here yet) and by the end she’s got a proper crowd to play off, and uses it well.

They’re angry, they’re funny, and most importantly of all they’re absolutely fucking BANGIN’. Imagine a punk Chris and Cosey doing songs about the fashion industry and being harassed by “coked-up dickheads” and you wouldn’t be far off. I never realised a punk Chris and Cosey was what I needed, but it turns out it very much is. Outstanding.

And of course, next up are Benefits, the first new band I’ve been this excited about in ages. I was tipped off to their existence when both Sleaford Mods and Steve Albini started singing their praises when Empire was released, because hey, they’re not only both artists I respect but they’re a VERY interesting combination. And oh boy, did Empire rock. Sleaford Mods / John Cooper Clarke-style rapping / ranting / reciting married to big slabs of power electronics noise? Get in. Found my new favourite band.

And Empire live is an even scarier proposition. Adorably and openly nervous between songs, front man Kingsley Hall was clearly born to front a noise band. He’s got the Mike Patton / Henry Rollins stage crouch down to a fine art, and the second the music kicks in he’s a righteously angry preacher, only a righteously angry preacher with flow. “Where will you be? WHERE. WILL. YOU. BE???” he repeats in “Meat Teeth”, getting more and more intense with every iteration.

They encapsulate the anger and frustration of living on a mean-spirited and increasingly racist island in the ashes of its own empire, and while “always be punching up” is usually a thing, they don’t shy away from recognising our own complicity in the system that keeps us down. The anger is externalised, internalised, all-encompassing. Oh, and also, which is key, invigorating.

See, to my mind where punk went wrong was in allowing itself to become a genre roughly defined as “playing rock and roll real fast and dirty”. Now, there’s nowt wrong with that — in fact, I love it — but it’s a little restrictive. Hip-hop, probably the first true successor to punk in terms of examining unfiltered reality (as Chuck D famously said, it’s “black CNN”), is happy with including new types of street music like grime and drill without slating them for non-conformity and is all the healthier for it.

Punk always seems too wedded to the classics. And I haven’t seen anything this punk in a long time (Covid notwithstanding) and there’s not a guitar to be seen. They’ve apparently foregone most of their rider just so all tickets for the tour can be under a tenner, and if that doesn’t say “Crass Records” to you then it really should.

But it’s not all atonal grinding — whenever they get a beat going it’s a fucking hefty one. There’s stuff to dance to as well as to quake before, and it’s all loud as fuck and glorious. I hate to sound like a wanker, but there’s a real sense of being in at (or relatively near) the start of something epic. At the absolute minimum they’re introducing the joys of noise to a new generation, but there’s nothing retro about this.

Benefits are about as 2022 as it gets. And by Christ, we really need anti-fascist noise right now, especially since Alec Empire seems to have thrown his lot in with the AnCaps and libertarians.

If you get a chance, DEFINITELY check them out. It’ll be under a tenner, and an absolute bargain at twice the price.

Punk is dead. Long live the new punk.

-Justin Farrington-