‘Father and State’ is the latest incendiary single from Boxing Club, the London-via-Glasgow quartet who made a huge splash with their debut track ‘Barbra’ just last year. With tastemaker legends like Steve Lamacq (BBC 6 Music) and John Kennedy (Radio X) behind that first release, many listeners have been keeping their fingers on the pulse of this hotly-tipped band. For us, this is the first time that Boxing Club have been on our radar and that’s thanks to the undeniably unmissable ‘Father and State’.
Taken from their debut EP, What’s the State Done to You?, this track instantly satisfies our craving for bruised post-punk narratives that rip the curtains back on societal fallacies and poorly patched-over trauma. One line that stands out for us, “you’re defined by everyone you meet, you’re prescribed by everyone he treats, you’re designed by nothing new at all.” It’s a deeply humbling, equalising and philosophical perspective, one that might seem Nietzschean, but in reality it’s a momento of solidarity.
Listening to ‘Father and State’ from a working-class purview, one can’t help but pick up on those hints to life at the short-end of the stick; it’s echoed by the sandpaper guitars, pummeled drums and those yearning lead vocals. Those biting words lash out at all the systems, whether they be familial, institutional or religious, that continue to inflict scars on each new generation. In this way, Boxing Club goes beyond the punk aesthetic; they’re punk to their very core.
You can also listen to ‘Father and State’ in our Indie Rockers playlist.
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