Being clever in times of crisis might solve little but having fun as the world ignites is on the agenda for Brian & The Onions, a band of no fixed members but emerging as a duo to release the reactive Small Boats – OUT NOW. Purposefully addressing tired diversionary rhetoric on migration with supercharged punk spirit and curled-lip vocals, the newly formed collective churns in the wake of kindred spirits, Sleaford Mods and Benefits, to take on the absurd, the cruel and the misled.
Largely nameless save for the double drummers that appear on Small Boats (Scott and Elliot) and Denny on guitars, the antagonists fronting the operation from day one are highlighted only as Andy and Tom. Working across a creative ley line that links towns in Manchester and Leicestershire, the cross-country outfit recorded their debut with human hand at Glasshouse Studio in Abingdon yet remain incognito as artificial intelligence and intricately crafted onion headwear conceals their identities. For now.
After bonding over lively discussions that cover art, music, sex, culture, literature and the savoury ironies of both present day and historic British and international politics, the collective declared themselves whole sometime in 2025. Brian & The Onions arrive in complete service to their mission as “part art-terrorist cell, part franchise opportunity.”
Collectively, Brian & The Onions say: “’Small Boats’ has enough vim to remove the scales from your eyes, it’s sharper than Rylan’s tooth line, 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.
“It’s an ironic take down of current dog whistle politics with the nerve-tingling klaxon accompanying the Noam Chomsky inspired linguistic programming of the chorus lyric. It’s a stark critique of the populist mainstream nonsense of the Farage driven immigration moral panic of mid 2020’s domestic politics.”
Brian & The Onions are expected to support the single’s release with a number of barely announced live appearances, including a rumoured Manchester debut at The Britons Protection with Akoustik Anarkhy on Fri 13 March 2026.