New Music: teethin – TOERAGS

Cardiff’s teethin follow up last October’s bruising GREED BETWEEN THE LINES EP with the mechanical mayhem tones of TOERAGS.

Vocalist James Minas leads his bandmates on a crunching and cathartic bastardisation of industrial and breakcore on TOERAGS, as harsh and unforgiving as the comment that triggered the lyrics. It takes apart the hard-to-comprehend class system in the UK, one where your birthplace can easily define you.

I can understand that reaction to hearing about people being called toerags, because grew up on a huge expanse of council houses. One where you were automatically barred from certain pubs as a result, and your job and career options were limited by people who never even met you. TOERAGS doesn’t go for blind rage – it throws those comments back, not letting them slip away, instead fighting for those regarded as an underclass.

“Being around people who talk negatively about where we’re from, from a privileged or uneducated place, drives us mad,” reveals Minas about what led to the song’s creation.

He continues, “On the surface it’s easy to write someone off as a mess or a scumbag when they fit the mould, but as our friend Raz puts it, the difference between us and someone without a home is two paychecks. TOERAGS exists to add nuance to that judgement, but also to tell those privileged pricks to do one.”

TOERAGS is out now via Silent Kid Records. The band has festival appearances lined up in Edinburgh, Southampton, and Bedford in the coming weeks. Connect with teethin on Instagram for more details.

Header image by Ren Faulkner