‘That is artwork you fucking heathen’

‘That is artwork you fucking heathen’    BENEFITS interviewed 

Frontman Kingsley Corridor talks to Louder Than Wars Ged Babey in regards to the bands second album Fixed Noise which is launched on Invada on Friday 21 March 2025

When you have heard the three tracks launched to date; Land of The Tyrants, Relentless and Divide then you definitely partially know what to anticipate from Fixed Noise.  An entire new chapter and new sound from Advantages the Band, now simply Kingsley Corridor and Robbie Main.

I’ve spoken to Kingsley earlier than, a number of instances and at last met him in particular person and noticed them dwell in October 2024.

We’ve got an odd artist/journalist relationship in that Kingsley and I at all times are likely to disagree. Not on-purpose, we simply do. (There are variations in age, background, tastes, outlook and so forth).

Apparently, I try to painting him as issues he isn’t: – ‘spokesperson for a era’, punk iconoclast, heroic class warrior… and so forth. He isn’t any of these.

He destroys my preconceptions each time I converse to him.

He ridicules me (for enjoyable) He loses his mood with me (in non-public) I get annoyed with him, however fear about him. I ponder if he’s bought ‘Oppositional Defiance Dysfunction’ – that’s not a severe beginner prognosis, it’s a joke – however the most effective jokes at all times have a tiny kernel of fact…

(GB)  Fixed Noise is a shocking piece of labor and the way in which you’ve got tailored is nice – on account of circumstance: dropping members, not getting a everlasting drummer… and by design – not eager to repeat your self… so sure, album quantity two is sensible – Artistically and by way of socio-political significance – however I believe the operating order is just not fairly proper …. You wanted the ‘punchier’ dancey tracks FIRST….

(KH)    I don’t care what you assume.

It’s predictable as hell to frontload albums with punchy stuff: hits first, prick up the ears, seize the eye and so on. Boring. As. Fuck. Plus, extra importantly, we don’t have any hits.

I do know we dwell on this age the place consideration spans have been left to rot however come on, we’re simply making an attempt to present the viewers some credit score. The pacing is completely deliberate, I’m glad it’s pissed you off. Depend your self fortunate that we didn’t go for our unique thought the place you’d have to attend even longer for the beats to kick in, to completely take a look at your persistence. For a time I didn’t need to put any heaviness in till about six songs in, so be grateful I used to be talked out of it. It’s all in regards to the build-up and when it peaks, and we figured the most effective place to do that can be the center of the album not the beginning.

The start is your French onion soup, the center is your roast dinner with all of the trimmings. Yorkshire puddings, the lot. That is artwork you fucking heathen.

I do love that the album has numerous selection on it – and the individuals collaborating have had very important enter (the scream on Tyrants, Shakk on Divide…)

We’ve at all times been a collaborative band actually; it was the entire level of the band after we began. We’d flip as much as a apply room on a Thursday evening and make a racket, however it was not often the identical individuals two weeks on the trot, you had been free to dip out and in. Individuals have at all times been welcome to be as concerned or uninvolved on this factor as they need to be, however our approach of doing issues works for some however not everybody. We’re not correct conventional musicians who create songs in apply room classes by way of blood, sweat and vape smoke and we don’t jam. Me and Robbie ship one another emails and finalise songs through textual content – we created each albums with out being in the identical room as one another at any time. Likewise, with Shakk and Zera Tonin, all executed by way of texting. The entire album is initially a collaboration between me and Robbie, after which with the producers James Welsh and James Adrian Brown, however we by no means all sat down and chatted about it or plotted it out. We simply bought our heads down and bought on with it. I get what you’re saying about there being a little bit of selection on the album however it’s far more coherent than NAILS, it’s bought focus.

I completely love the primary 4 seconds of the album: no music, simply your voice saying; “I’m wanting up in awe at a pile of shit.” What an opener! Is that meant to be comical?

I’m very glad you loved the primary 4 seconds of the album. We peaked too early clearly.

Okay let’s speak about “I’m wanting up in awe at a pile of shit” … and I don’t imply your Fb feed Ged.

Ahem, assume rock star voice, I believe you’ll be able to take it in a severe approach or a comical one, no guidelines right here, it’s nice. There’s a few issues happening actually. Firstly, it’s designed to cease you in your tracks because it’s a ridiculous assertion. Secondly, I suppose there’s a little bit of an in-joke about us being a band with a fame for beforehand pushing noise and quantity to the max, but right here we’re opening an album ominously referred to as “Fixed Noise” with no harsh energy electronics or heavy drones, only a single voice main right into a delicate choral part. However yeah, I imply, it’s a ludicrous line, isn’t it? I believe the following line is humorous too – “piled on after pile on after pile on after pile on” – so there’s pile on within the preventing sense of piling on; pile on which means fairly actually piles of shit on prime of piles of shit; pile on however possibly it’s pylon; and pile like piles, haemorrhoids, which aren’t humorous actually, however they characteristic in Viz fairly a bit. There you go, a few jokes to open the album. Laughs galore from the Advantages boys.

Fixed Noise (monitor 1) appears to be about you weighing up expectations of your self /Advantages – What is going to I be required to hate at present?

Possibly yeah, looks as if one other little in joke while you say it like that. We’ve offered ourselves over the previous couple of years as a gaggle that likes to have a little bit of a moan haven’t we? All this complaining, all this politicking. Simply shurrup lads, cheer up. Sing us a pleasant track. Chippy shouty northerners manging on about no matter has upset them this week. Yeah, in that respect it could appear to be a little bit of a self personal however that’s unintentional. It’s all about that shitty feeling of waking up, clambering on your telephone on the bedside, pinging it on and blearily what horrendous drivel greets you that morning. Some warfare. Rapist freed. Royal go to. Then you definately swipe to the following website and it’s extra of the identical. Then the following. Then the following. Endlessly scrolling by way of pages and pages of ill-informed bile, canine memes, soccer outcomes, superstar gossip and fascism. And also you all of the sudden realise you’re ten minutes late for work however fortunately know the whole lot about this 12 months’s Eurovision entry.

Inform me about this couplet – are you on about social media (which you appear to spend far an excessive amount of time on, as a result of you’re the bands PR man) We’re drowning in a sea of mass center class laughter. / An avalanche of twee self-congratulation for the nation.

Not essentially social media, it’s the whole lot, it’s all over the place, admittedly amplified by the dreaded socials. It’s pub chat, window shows, promoting, telly, grocery store journal racks, choreographed dance strikes, politicians, the lot. It’s about not with the ability to determine with the dominant voices in society. Know all of it fucks on all sides who don’t appear grounded in actuality. Obsessive about some type of glorified good instances previous that didn’t exist, whether or not that’s a rose-tinted fantasy land of tea events and Britpop, or a correct good quaint Empire of conquest and bloodshed, the place misogyny, bigotry and big chunks of historical past are casually swept beneath the large union flag knitted carpet. It’s trendy smugness, figuring out winks to the cameraphone, condescending tones. And you already know what, possibly it’s me. I’m the one with the issue. Why can’t I simply cheer up and associate with all these things, take an image of my dinner, put a pleasant filter on it, say one thing like “you already know really he has some extent” when some egotistical crank spouts the standard hate stuffed drivel, and simply crack on, regain my ignorance. However I can’t, and I do know you’ll be able to’t both, you’re worse than me. It’s not like I’m eager for the previous days both as they had been a load of shit too. Simply looks like there ought to be higher choices.

You appear very self crucial and really decided to cease any myth-making in regards to the band – you “over-share” on social media explaining each transfer you make – is that this deliberate demystification?

Once more, it’s only a continuation of one of many ideas we’ve had with the band from the beginning – to try to break down the assorted façades that encompass this crooked business, yeah. Look, we’ve all been in bands earlier than, and we all know how simple it’s to romanticise about good ol’ rock and roll – the bravado, the posture, the pose – it’s intoxicating. From a fan perspective – and I see myself extra as a music fan than anything – the mythology of all of it is a large draw, Bowie is my favorite artist on the planet and his complete profession was primarily based on it to an extent. I get it. As a performer the attract is even worse. The temptation to dip into drained previous cliches is powerful, everybody falls for it and I don’t blame them, I do know I’ve.

It wasn’t even the realisation that the antics of Freddie at Reside Assist had been sadly out of attain that made us rethink how we should always current ourselves, I’m fairly certain it was primarily simply boring issues like power stage fright and nervousness. Plus, from our earlier bands we’d seen backstage a bit – the egos, the bullshit, the grimness – and struggled in eager to be a part of it once more. It looks as if it’s all simply singing songs and pratting about on stage, however that is no sport for the weak, it would defeat you ultimately, you have to be sturdy, and I don’t assume me and Robbie are reduce out for it. We like a battle, and we’ll gladly battle for the issues we consider in, however I’m unsure we consider within the music business.

We’re simply being life like and sincere about our limitations, nothing extra. Saying that although, I discover the music business fascinating, it’s thrilling but repellent, the enjoying area is comically uneven and, as with most issues on this capitalist hellscape, the sport is completely rigged.

A Victory Lap For Surviving is a good title. You might be fairly an achieved poet (though I do know they’re written for efficiency with music).

I put it you Kingsley, that you’re actually a POET hiding behind being a musical performer. Your ‘phrases’/ lyrics have the circulate of poetry, if not sticking to the conventions of the shape, the lyrics on Fixed Noise are 2025 Grim Northern Shakespeare at instances. They are surely fucking sensible.

That’s very variety champ however what I do isn’t poetry and I’m not a poet, I simply get pleasure from writing. I used to be going by way of a little bit of a depressing interval within the first lockdown and reached out to Tom Robinson for a little bit of steerage. He spurred me on to strive writing in much less typical methods and to cease being so self-conscious about all of it. It was a liberating expertise, so I simply began to write down with no concern about verse construction or refrain hooks, not for writing for radio or even when the factor rhymed – to only write from the intestine – to not dilly dally about making an attempt to be intelligent – suck it up and get punchy and expressive. It’s not poetry although, I do know correct poets and have seen how they work and carry out, it’s not my sport.

You might be additionally accused of getting the presence and strikes of a (semi-pro) DANCER – you’re nice onstage – and within the movies, the way in which you progress is balletic at instances. I’m certain you’ve got had dance-training in some unspecified time in the future – if not, you’re a pure.

Hahaha! Sadly not!! I do love prancing about on stage however nope, I’m not a dancer. All the time been afraid of the dancefloor. I bear in mind once I was a child getting the dance to some Black Lace songs completely improper on vacation, completely humiliated within the children membership. I by no means actually recovered.

Do you’re employed out at a health club or simply train at house or jogging/operating around the neighbourhood … (or was that only for a video approach again?)

I similar to operating about with headphones on. When my previous band cut up up over ten years in the past now, gawd, I used to be a little bit of a wreck and didn’t look very nicely so took myself to the docs and advised them about all my varied illnesses, aches, and pains which – lengthy story brief – resulted in two main operations and a enjoyable number of tablets and injections to maintain me going. I attempted to get match to assist with my restoration and it went on from there actually. I used to be actually unfit and the primary run I did was brutal. I believe I went about 100 metres in some reduce off shorts and it felt like my lungs had been on fireplace. It’s a psychological factor now in addition to bodily, it’s very important to unplug your self from all this contemporary toss, go get some recent air. Saying that although, the fittest I’ve ever been in my life was once I labored on the bins. It was a enjoyable job however I handled it as train, misplaced a denims measurement inside a fortnight and jogged from bin to bin for miles daily, completely liked it. Not a lot recent air thoughts.

Am I proper in pondering you don’t drink / don’t smoke / don’t do medication – so what do you do? To unwind?

I nonetheless have the occasional drink however nothing like I used to. I’ve fortunately developed a capability to cease or say no, attributes I sadly didn’t have up to now. I took a can of lager to a video shoot the opposite day – probably the most just lately purchased can of lager in the home – thought I would want it for Dutch braveness functions. Seems it was a 12 months previous its promote by date. As for smoking, simply stop. Simply cease instantly. I do know you most likely know this, however I care about you and it seems they’re actually, actually, actually dangerous for you. The entire packet tells you ways they’re going to kill you, and also you stink. Your garments stink, your breath stinks, your hair stinks, your home stinks. You stink of loss of life. I remorse each single one.

I additionally assume you’ve got a secret craving buried deep, to be an ACTOR – you’ll deny it – however these movies – the digital camera loves you with ya chiselled cheekbones and coal-black eyes. Possibly 5 years time? If an important script got here alongside like Lifeless Mans Footwear you need to do it.

Dam proper I’ll deny it. My display ambitions are easy: I’d wish to learn a bedtime story on CBeebies. I’m good at them now. After I first began studying tales to my little woman it was all a bit uncomfortable, you undergo the motions, you don’t dwell and breathe the story, you play it straight. Not anymore although, I do voices, actions, the lot. For those who’re half first rate at a few totally different accents, it’s a complete breeze. Use Cornish for something pirate-y or farm associated; Yorkshire is nice for giants; and reserve your finest Cockney twang for baddies.

the ultimate monitor Burnt Out Household Dwelling, – There has bought to be a ‘back-story’, however I hesitate to ask, because it sounds very personal-to-you, so there isn’t any cause why you need to inform me, except you need to?

All of the songs are tales Ged. The album is fairly descriptive I believe, I hope it’s evident as to what many of the songs are about, whether or not that’s anti-war, anti-capitalist or no matter. That track is an attention-grabbing one I believe and I’m glad you’ve picked it out. I used to dwell in a seaside city not too removed from right here and I’d stroll the canine each morning from the home to the seafront, through a reasonably forgettable part of suburbia. Anyway, one morning I walked previous a home that had burnt down within the evening or the day earlier than and on the garden had been scattered bits of furnishings, melted toys and a few bouquets of flowers. The track is successfully a memento of that second and a reminder of my very own mortality. I wrote most of it years in the past from once I was nonetheless dwelling by the ocean, however with occasions of latest years like watching my daughter develop up and the loss of life of my father, I dunno, it felt like a very good time to revisit it.

Land of the Tyrants is an excellent piece. Who’s ‘the thief’?

You might be.

Have you ever heard of Oppositional Defiance Dysfunction? 

First rate band, I favored them earlier than they had been well-known.

I’m gonna speak to Robbie subsequent time.

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Fixed Noise will likely be launched on LP, CD, and cassette by Invada Information on March twenty first 2025. Pre-order NOW 

BENEFITS web site 

Interview performed by  Ged Babey for Louder Than Struggle (C)

Pictures by Tom White