Continuing a run of top notch recent releases from Batpiss, Cable Ties, TV Haze and Mere Women, Melbourne’s cult Poison City label is welcoming Melbourne post-punk quartet BENCH PRESS to their family. The likeable foursome have a debut LP in the works, but for now they’ve drip-fed us a video for their single ‘Group Anxiety’ and a nice Melbourne launch show.

‘Group Anxiety’ chugs along with vibrant bass tones and bright, clean guitar sounds. Brash and brittle vocals. Propelled forward by a constant rhythmic groove, ‘Group Anxiety’ lurches between cool, simplistic restraint and an explosive chorus, with guitarist Morgan Griffiths injecting the perfect amount of chiming, loud-quiet-loud dynamic. “Hand in hand, back and forth, worse and worse.” This is a cathartic exercise. Lyrically, it revolves around the simultaneous surrendering and enabling of anxieties through the dynamics of share-house living. This microcosm extends to the increasingly claustrophobic, rapidly-expanding experience of modern urban living. This is reflected in the busy imagery of the video.

Don’t miss them in the close confines of Melbourne’s Grace Darling Hotel, giving ‘Group Anxiety’ a more literal meaning, with Moody Beaches and Loobs. Thursday June 29 is the date. Ten buckeroos entry. Or catch them at Footscray’s legendary Reverence Hotel’s 5th birthday party alongside The Bennies and Mere Women on July 23. Or, on Poison City’s characteristically huge Weekender Fest line-up.

BENCH PRESS
‘GROUP ANXIETY’ SINGLE LAUNCH

Thursday June 29
The Grace Darling, Melbourne

w/ Moody Beaches & Loobs
8.30pm – $10 on the door