Big Special get real on ‘Butcher’s Bin’: “The working classes are used as nothing but a commodity”
Big Special have shared the politically aware new single ‘Butcher’s Bin’ – check it out below.
Announced today (March 13), the new single is the latest to be taken from the duo’s upcoming debut album ‘Postindustrial Hometown Blues’, which is set for release on May 10 via SO Recordings.
Following on from the lead single ‘Dust Off / Start Again’, the new track sees Big Special hone in on a synth-dominated sound, and shed light on the attitudes shown towards the working classes in today’s Britain.
“‘Butcher’s Bin’ is about class awareness and the realisation that the working classes are used as nothing but a commodity and set against each other at every turn, their existence trivialised and struggles denied; the off cuts tossed to feed the rabid hounds of neoliberalism,” said lead singer Joe Hicklin of the inspiration behind the track.
“The song is about all of this from the perspective of declining mental health whilst trying to make a living as an artist and to break through in a time and place where a life In art is seen as a luxury granted to those of a higher social class or a fruitless pursuit for idealistic fools.”
Check out the single below.
The alternative duo first announced details of their debut album last month, when they revealed the details around the LP and dropped the first teaser ‘Dust Off / Start Again’.
According to the band, both tracks capture the essence of the forthcoming album, and look to unite them with listeners through their “common struggles”.
“‘Postindustrial Hometown Blues’ is an album about depression. It’s about the different shapes it takes; personal, social, generational… and it’s about coming face to face with those ghosts and what we do or how we feel when that happens,” the frontman explained.
“The album offers no answers, it is just an honest expression of a working-class experience in modern England through the eyes of ill mental health, a pursuit of art and political disenchantment; a story of rumination, realisation and reaction.
He continued: “‘Postindustrial Hometown Blues’ is about learning that we are connected by our common struggles and though dark and rageful, the album holds a quiet sentiment of love and hope. It’s about laughing at the face of the void, recognising its oppressive weight, holding hands and moving forward.” Pre-order the album here.
The new track also comes ahead of the band playing their biggest UK headline show in London to date at The Forum, as well as an upcoming tour across South America with Placebo later this month. Visit here to find tickets.
Speaking to NME back in September, Big Special discussed the politics of the band as being “on the side of the people”.
“I don’t want to sound like a dickhead or like we’re above our station, but we’re just on the side of the people. All of the music comes from a personal place and is about experience and everything around it,” said Hicklin. “Obviously I fucking hate the Tories, I fucking hate Keir Starmer, it’s all against the people. There is nothing there looking to look after the people. The working class might as well be completely fucking invisible. It’s all wank.”
He continued: “I just wish it would all burn down so we could start again. At least it would be different. Every day there’s less and less hope to seek, and it breeds either ignorance, confusion or hatred.”
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Liberty Dunworth
NME
