Benefits announce debut album ‘Nails’ and share powerful lead single ‘Warhorse’

Benefits, 2023. Credit: Michael Sreenan.
Benefits, 2023. Credit: Michael Sreenan.

Teesside punks Benefits have announced their debut album Nails, as well as sharing the passionate lead single, ‘Warhorse’.

The band, who shared tracks such as ‘Thump’ last year, have signed to Invada Records, the label led by Portishead’s Geoff Barrow, for the album. It arrives on April 21.

“We could have released a record at any point over the last couple of years but held back because I wanted to wait until the right people came along,” frontman Kingsley Hall said of the record deal and forthcoming debut.

Describing the debut single ‘Warhorse’, he said: “At some point if the boot continues to stamp on us, we’re going to react. Things bug me. They start as little irks and become fiercer. It can take days, sometimes minutes. The phrase “cost of living” being blurted out by an MP when confronted with the poverty of their constituents. Simpering and grovelling to decrepit hierarchical systems. Pageantry and pomp in a time of austerity and cuts.

“‘Warhorse’ is a battle. It’s about being tired of being told there’s no options left – being told to bow and courtesy and to shut your face. ‘Warhorse’ is about the need to push that boot back from our faces, raise our heads, stand up and fight.”

You can view the album’s tracklist below, and pre-order ‘Nails’ here.

1. ‘Marlboro Hundreds’
2. ‘Empire’
3. ‘Warhorse’
4. ‘Shit Britain’
5. ‘What More Do You Want’
6. ‘Meat Teeth’
7. ‘Mindset’
8. ‘Flag’
9. ‘Traitors’
10. ‘Council Rust’

This spring, Benefits will also head out on their latest UK tour. Check out those dates in full below.

APRIL 2023
21 – Glasgow, The Rum Shack
22 – Leeds, Lending Room
23 – Manchester, Soup Kitchen
24 – Cardiff, Clwb Ifor Bach
25 – Tunbridge Wells, Forum
26 – Brighton, Chalk
27 – London, 100 Club
28 – Hebden Bridge, Trades Club
29 – Birmingham, Hare & Hounds
30 – Newcastle, Cluny