Bench Press

About Bench Press

Bench Press are a Naarm/Melbourne based post-punk band who play high energy, cathartic, danceable music inspired by the likes of Devo, Fugazi, Talking Heads, Television and much much more. Bench Press are excited to announce the release of their third LP, Personal Best – their first new album in more than five years – out Friday 30 August via their long-term musical home, Poison City Records, along with sharing the second album cut, the angular single ‘Filter’. Pre-order the new album via Poison City's e-store here. After a global pause, an international exchange and a regrouping that welcomed two new members, Anna Lienhop (Moody Beaches) and Paulo Junior on drums, Bench Press re-emerged after their extended break with a catchier, rhythmic, and more textured sound, with Anna’s additional guitarwork facilitating the band’s multi-layered approach and contributing to the group vocals that heighten lead vocalist Jack Stavrakis’ absurd lyricism. Personal Best, the band’s third long player, continues to meditate on themes of self and mental health lyrically but through a new lens, as the album follows Stavrakis’ journey of making a career change into mental health social work. Where Stavrakis has previously dwelled on the politics of personal action, he now looks outwards and critiques what and who he sees in our increasingly chaotic world.