UK band Bad Breeding release their fifth album Contempt on June 14th via One Little Independent Records/Iron Lung Records in the US. The album follows their previous LP 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’s released with multiple essays in an accompanying zine, one that follows environmental and humanitarian journalist Aidan Frere-Smith and another that tells the story of a homelessness crisis in a city full of unused housing. Utilizing a mix of propulsive rhythm and furious, explosive guitars to maximum effect, Bad Breeding have weaponised their anger in the fight for survival; “Because these days are ours to take / Seize them with union, love and rage”.

Christopher Dodd explains “Capital and its bourgeois foot soldiers hold nothing but contempt for working people and it’s in that contempt we can find solidarity with one another. Whatever story gets sold and packaged, contempt guides every move of the capitalist class. We see it every day – unspeakable destruction from war and government-sponsored genocide, exploitation of workers and the very gutting of the planet we live on. Only when we realise and utilise the utter contempt held for us can we reach a level of class consciousness that will provide an adequate challenge to capital”.

New single ‘Discipline’ is raw and untethered, and it looks at how capital’s obsession with supposed productivity has poisoned what’s left of the planet and wrought untold physical and mental strain on most of humanity. They continue; “The lyrics map out this obsession and its impact, while the latter half of the song leads a call for resistance by ditching our dedication and co-operation with the structures of capital and the way it robs us of our time, labour and spoils of work. It’s a song that asks us to re-evaluate how we perceive our relationships with the earth and each other in order to free ourselves from the very mental and physical prisons we’ve built under the weight of capital and its hyper abstractions”.

Contempt was recorded and produced at Chapel Studios by Ben Greenberg, an engineer from Brooklyn, one half of Industrial outfit Uniform and ex-member of The Men. He’s worked on a number of bands (The Chisel, Metz, cumgirl8, Drab Majesty) and scores, including multiple for A24 as well as on Johann Johansson’s Mandy soundtrack.

Bad Breeding comprise of Christopher Dodd (vocals), Idris Mirza (guitar), Charlie Rose (bass), and Jimmy Guvercin (drums). They draw influence from the original British pioneers of the anarcho-punk scene; Crass, Rudimentary Peni, and Flux of Pink Indians. They formed in 2013 and their first release, ‘Burn This Flag’, came the following year via HateHateHate Records. 2014 saw them move away from labels and self-release their second single, ‘Chains’, selling it via online auction sites. Their eponymous debut album was self-released in April 2016. In 2017, Bad Breeding linked up with Hackney-based punk label La Vida Es Un Mus and US-based Iron Lung for ‘Divide’.

Bad Breeding
Contempt
Track listing:
One Little Independent

Temple of Victory
Survival
Devotion
Liberty
Discipline
Retribution
Gilded Cage / Sanctuary
Vacant Paradise
Idolatry
Contempt

album credits

Recorded and produced by Ben Greenberg at Chapel Studios, Alford, U.K.
Assisted by Pieter Rietkerk
Mixed by Ben Greenberg at Circular Ruin Studio, New York City, USA
Mastered and cut by Matt Colton at Metropolis Studios
All songs written and performed by Bad Breeding
Album artwork by Peter Kennard

Bad Breeding 2024 Tour Dates

May 9th – Charleroi, BE – Le Vecteur
May 10th – Eindhoven, NL – Stroomhuis
May 11th – Hamburg, DE – Hafengeburtstag
May 12th – Copenhagen, DK – Ungdomshuset
May 13th – Oslo, NO – Vaterland
May 14th – Gothenburg, SE – DDRK
May 15th – Stockholm, SE – Hus 7
May 17th – Helsinki, FI – Sonic Rites Festival
May 18th – Tallinn, EE – Close-Up Båten
May 19th – Kaunas, LT – Lemmy Bar
May 20th – Vilnius, LT – XI20
May 21st – Warsaw, PO – ADA Puławska
May 22nd – Berlin, DE – Obergeschoss Hell
May 23rd – Numberg, DE – Desi
May 24th – The Hague, NL – Sniester Festival
May 25th – Hasselt, BE – Farrm
June 14th – Santa Maria de Lamas, PT – Basquieral Festival
June 19th – Brighton, UK – Green Door Store
June 20th – Nottingham, UK – The Angel
June 21st – London, UK – Moth Club
June 22nd – Plymouth, UK – The Nightmare Continues
June 23rd – Bristol, UK – Exchange

order “Discipline” by Bad Breeding HERE