BAD BREEDING

Booking Agent : Ricky Biondetti

Hailing from Stevenage, England, the first new town to be declared under the 1946 New Town Act, Bad Breeding are an anarcho-punk four-piece delivering punishing blasts of ferocious noise that draws influence from the original British pioneers of the scene; Crass, Rudimentary Peni, and Flux of Pink Indians. More than perhaps any other contemporary punk band, Bad Breeding seem preternaturally able to make music that sounds the way it feels to live in today’s world. After almost a decade’s worth of work, they offer no easy diatribes about the failures of neoliberalism, the war on the working class, and the unfolding horror of climate change. Instead, in complex layers of sound and structure, Bad Breeding projects a viable path forward: envisioning a future unfettered by the state and finding power in community, solidarity and worker-led organisation.

The band released their fifth record Contempt in June 2024 on One Little Independent and Iron Long Records. It follows 2022’s Human Capital, which mercilessly attacked Conservative meritocracy and the exploitative forces of late capitalism. Contempt ups the ante yet again and explores the continued effects that austerity has had on the working public and specifically capital’s destruction of the planet and its inhabitants. It was released with multiple essays in an accompanying zine, one that follows environmental and humanitarian journalist Aidan Frere-Smith and another, written by Alasdair Dunn of metal experimentalists Ashenpsire, that tells the story of a homelessness crisis in a city full of unused housing. Utilising a mix of propulsive rhythm and furious, explosive guitars to maximum effect, Bad Breeding have weaponised their anger in the fight for survival.

Emblematic of Bad Breeding’s distinct style, Contempt is researched, thorough and thought-provoking. Each brutish assault contains within it a weighty and crucial message. The album is direct, and its politics can feel profoundly impactful and dense. It demands attention and draws the listener into the real-world consequences of the hyper-capitalism the band so effectively criticises.

The album’s artwork comes courtesy of seminal photomontage artist and prominent anti-war campaigner Peter Kennard, who has provided the cover art for Contempt alongside a selection of images in the album’s zine and inserts. Described by the late John Pilger as ranking among the most important of the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, Kennard’s art holds a mirror to the wars waged against humanity, creating challenging works that have informed the visual culture of conflict and crisis in modern history.

“Bad Breeding has fomented a beautiful, caustic fury that is as artistically impressive as it is unwavering” – NPR

“Rather than fleeing town for greener pastures, Bad Breeding has only rooted more deeply, putting Stevenage on the map for its cultivation of one of the most consequential punk bands today” – Bandcamp Daily

“Music born of despair has rarely been as exhilarating as this” – Loud & Quiet

 
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No shows booked at the moment.