Vital, skilled, talented, and whip-smart, Brighton-based broken-beat-makers Polite Bureaux have been making waves at their high-energy live shows and on BBC Radio 6. Formed by Joe Smith and joined on stage by his blood sister Maya Lili and Raver Viv Maher, the band buzzes with righteous kinetic energy and razor-sharp political commentary. London-born, Bradford-formed, Joe uses bass lines and beats with alt-electronic production, reflecting the diabolical truths of John Cooper Clarke. After successfully touring with Meryl Streak and Benefits They have recently released their masterful incendiary album Cunt Monday rich with insight, wit and rigorous social commentary and will launch their album with a show in Brighton on 9th April. They have just announced a Made in Broke Britain tour of the UK in September including dates in Manchester, Birmingham, Bradford, Nottingham, Bristol, Southampton, Brighton and London.
Album favourite, ‘Scratchcard ‘ been played on BBC Radio 6 Music as part of their New Music Fix by Deb Grant and Tom Ravenscroft, with Deb saying, “I’m really enjoying that one,” as well as being played by Melita Denitt on BBC Introducing. Frontman Joe Smith told GIITTV ‘Scratchcard’ is about those times moving around after my dad lost the house, I was about 16 and Maya was 14. The M606 is a motorway outside Bradford that connects to the M62, It’s a true story of almost running out of fuel and mum buying a scratch card and winning enough to fuel up. But it’s also about the ‘scratchcard’ that seems to be a good representation of how the country is going, there is hope and desperation for some in buying a scratch card and as for Britain it just seems to get harder to afford to live here, but we cling on and hope.“
Polite Bureaux were handpicked for the Sound of 2024 at GIITTV and are the prescient voice of our times. Describing their new album the band frontman Joe said it’s about “How a bunch of C words became the subject of our debut album. It’s about how Britain is not only broke, it’s broken.” Expect brutal honesty and searingly witty, smart insights into modern society. Stories include social antics that could only be made in broken Britain.
“The album ‘C*nt Monday’ started as stories and poems written about the hard time by our Dad
‘Robert’ who also did our artwork for the front cover. He wrote a lot of the stories about things that happened and shaped our lives that started in 2016. The first story and track ‘Rollercoaster’ is about how we lost our house and the people and experiences that affected us as he navigated the seemingly simple things like finding a place to stay. This has driven the other songs on the album about experiences, like dealing with the universal credit system that he (dad) has always insisted sets anyone coming into that system on a path to fail.“
“The album starts by telling the stories about moving around the country as this became a thing for Myself and Maya since 2016, after our parents lost their home and we moved from one place to another, there were a lot of nights where it was uncertain if it was going to be spent in a car, a friend’s house and there was a lot of Travelodge, I think my parents have moved over 30 times since“
“Sharing our own stories and taking them out on tour with Meryl Streek has warmed our hearts, we have met people who relate to the stories and by talking about these sometimes-difficult moments in the joyful way we have put these stories to music has helped us escape, even if it’s just for an hour, it has certainly made us feel happier.“
Cunt Monday is out now on Bandcamp and all streaming platforms. Polite Bureaux will do an album launch gig on 9th April in Brighton and a tour of the UK in September. See politebureauxband.com for tour details and tickets.
