Ahead of their upcoming date at Middlesbrough Town Hall, Kev Short caught up with Kingsley of Teesside outfit, Benefits, to discuss Glastonbury, drummers, and playing hometown shows.
It’s February 2023 and you’ve just finished your set at the Empire. Looking back, did you expect this year to pan out how it has?
We had a few things ready to go at that point so it was a really exciting time. We’d been booked for Glastonbury and we knew the album was coming. We didn’t think ‘Nails’ was going to be as well received as it was; we thought we’d get a couple of decent reviews and maybe one big write-up in NME as they seemed to like us – but it ended up getting reviewed all over the place. The French newspaper Liberation said it was like being tied into a cement mixer on fire falling down 75 flights of stairs. I love that.
You’ve recently added drummer Michael Kitching to the ranks. How’s he fitting in?
Michael is absolutely perfect for us. Firstly, he’s an amazing drummer, right up there with Neil and Cat, he’s powerful and rocks. Secondly, he’s local so it makes songwriting and recording much easier. Thirdly, he gets what we’re about. Some people struggle with us and that’s ok – I know how hard we work and how much we push ourselves. We haven’t taken any easy routes or options and we’re not doing it to crowd-please.
Speaking of drummers, you’re going on tour with Dave fucking Lombardo’s latest band, Empire State Bastard. How did that come about? And how buzzing are you on a scale of Carling Cup Final to the winner against Steaua?
Ha! Mike Vennart of the band (and Biffy Clyro and Oceansize) is a fan of Benefits so we were approached to do some early shows with them but we were unavailable. I kept in contact with Mike, and when I heard they were going around Europe, I asked if we could tag along – and as luck would have it, we were top of their list. It’ll be interesting as we’re ‘heavy’ but in a totally different way; Mike was keen to not just get another hardcore or thrash band on. But yeah, playing before Dave Lombardo every night is going to be a bit intimidating! At least I’m not the drummer…Live, Laugh, Love, Reign in Blood.
What are your plans going forward?
With all the shenanigans of continually rotating drummers, we’ve not written as much new material as we should have. I think we’re settled now though so we can crack on. The point of the band was to be reactive and urgent, so we’re clicking back into gear now. We work and record really quickly as I don’t feel like you have time to hang about, certainly in this industry. My dad died unexpectedly last year and I have a little daughter, so I feel the earth spin so much quicker than I used to and there’s no time to waste.
You’ve got a homecoming gig coming up. How important is it to you to play in Teesside?
My old band had management based in London and they didn’t know where we were from – they literally didn’t know where Stockton or Teesside were. They remembered Juninho from the ‘90s but that was about it. We played SXSW in 2010 and they’d listed us as ‘The Chapman Family, London, UK’ and I absolutely hit the roof. I’m not someone who is in love with the Transporter or anything, I find localism and pride in a postcode a strange trait, but I can’t hide my identity. The songs I write are all culled from my life here: I’m fascinated by its history and how it was effectively built on the migration of workers. The area is incredibly important to me and the band. Plus, it’s cool to be from Teesside – UTB.
Benefits head to Middlesbrough Town Hall on Saturday 16th December. Tickets, priced at £15.00 in advance, are available from seetickets.com.
