Presented by Social, Bud Heron and Soundsphere Magazine

In their four years of existence, much has changed for Teesside agitators Benefits. Over lockdown, they morphed from spirited guitar-led punks into overwhelmingly brutal harsh noise-wielders, whose furious, eviscerating music garnered them the kind of word-of-mouth following most artists can only dream of. Frontman Kingsley Hall’s spoken (and screamed) vocals acting as a righteous rebuke to the divisive, xenophobic, poisonous rhetoric coming from elsewhere, spread by those who stand to profit from the fallout, that had all but overwhelmed our public discourse.

Every time one of the band’s bracing polemics arrived, it would spread rapidly across social media like an antidote to that disease and gather more to Benefits’ cause. High-profile fans like Steve Albini, Sleaford Mods and Modeselektor were among those on board from the off. Effusive coverage from the likes of NME, The Quietus, Loud & Quiet and The Guardian and more soon followed. Through it all, the outfit remained staunchly DIY, operating entirely without a label, press team or industry leg-ups.