A new punk provocateur has arrived, and they’d rather you didn’t see their faces. Brian & The Onions, a shape-shifting collective of no fixed members currently operating as a duo, have released their reactive debut single “Small Boats,” out now.
The track takes aim at tired diversionary rhetoric on migration with supercharged punk spirit and curled-lip vocals, churning in the wake of kindred spirits like Sleaford Mods and Benefits to take on the absurd, the cruel, and the misled. The band remain largely incognito, identities concealed by a mix of artificial intelligence and intricately crafted onion headwear, with only double drummers Scott and Elliot, guitarist Denny, and frontmen Andy and Tom acknowledged. Working across a creative ley line linking Manchester and Leicestershire, they recorded the debut by human hand at Glasshouse Studio in Abingdon.
The collective don’t mince words about their intent. “‘Small Boats’ has enough vim to remove the scales from your eyes,” they say. “It’s a punk antidote to the mid-life meanness so often acquired by ageing icons, once loved for their support of marginalised groups like the lonely or the foreign.” They describe it as “an ironic take down of current dog whistle politics” and “a stark critique of the populist mainstream nonsense of the Farage driven immigration moral panic of mid 2020’s domestic politics.”
Declaring themselves whole sometime in 2025 after bonding over discussions spanning art, music, culture, and politics, Brian & The Onions arrive in complete service to their mission, calling themselves “part art-terrorist cell, part franchise opportunity.” It’s a sharp, funny, and fearless introduction.